Science has never been my best subject. I usually average a B but I have never had a hard science teacher. When I looked at my schedule for sophomore year and I saw I had Mr. Bisbee for Biology, my heart dropped. The word around the school was that he was the hardest teacher at Arrowhead and no one could get an A in his class. But I later found out that being put into his class was a blessing in disguise.

I knew Mr. Bisbee because he is a golf coach. He seemed like a nice guy so I came into the room with optimism but still my nerves were on high. After the first couple classes, I felt alike have never felt before. I couldn’t wait to come back the next day and learn which was weird for me because science was never a class I was thrilled to go to.

As the year went on I wanted to do good in the class and wanted to stay up late studying. He made science easy to learn which was never the case for me with my past teachers. He would make the funny science jokes; they were actually funny and the whole class would laugh.

One day Mr. Bisbee said, “Ladies and Gentlemen please bring your dancing shoes tomorrow and be ready to learn.” The whole class was confused. I come in the next day and I saw Mr. Bisbee holding a chicken dressed in a cowboy outfit. I was confused. It ended up being for our lesson of the day. He was teaching us the Meiosis square dance and the chickens were his from his chicken farm. He taught us the stages of Meiosis through dancing and acting it out. It was the most fun I ever had in a science class and the most learning I have had in a science class.

When it came to finals week, I was nervous because I am not a good test taker and especially with Mr. Bisbee’s tests I was nervous. I asked him if there was anything I could get to help me study. He told me to come in 6th hour (which was my study hall) to work through the review packet and if I had any questions he would help me out. I came in 6th hour and he has a class going on so I went and asked him if I had the wrong time. He said I was correct and told me to take a seat. To have a teacher take time out of his day while teaching a class to help me out made me feel like he cared and wanted me to do good on the final. I ended up getting a B- on the final and a B in the class but I was so proud of the B and worked my butt of to get that B.

I am nominating Mr. Bisbee for this award because he is a teacher who wants you to succeed but is not going to make it easy to make sure you put the effort in. He is a teacher that makes the classroom enjoyable to be in. From his plays about the new topic, his pet snakes he carries around while we are doing lab, or even the fun ways he helps us learn the material.

I have never repeated a teacher here at Arrowhead like many people have, and most of the times they forget who I am. But every morning on my way to physics class I say hello to Mr. Bisbee and he gives me a head nod and says, “Good Morning Mr. Knetzger,” with a smile on his face and even jokes around with me sometimes. Mr. Bisbee deserves teacher of the decade for all he’s done for Arrowhead and students academic career.