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Sara Anderson is BCSD Employee of the Month |
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March 4, 2017 |
By Principal David Miles II
Boundary County Middle School
Sara Anderson is starting to make her name known
at Boundary County Middle School. Ask just about
any seventh grader who their favorite teacher is
and they are likely to respond, Mrs. Anderson.
You might hear parents say the same thing.
What is surprising is that Mrs. Anderson is our
seventh grade MATH teacher! That is correct, our
seventh grade math teacher is being tagged as
arguably our students’ and parents’ favorite
teacher.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise then when
staff frequently states that she may be one of
our best teachers. I agree with everyone. Sara
Anderson is a rare talent who can explain math
in a way that connects with students, tries her
hardest to do what is best for students, is
excited to be a part of our program, and uses
all opportunities to reflect and grow.
Sara is a great math teacher. She has a special
way of describing the math process which most
students can understand and grasp. But more than
that, she recognizes when students do not
understand and spends time to make sure they do.
She teaches a variety of ways to do the math and
complete the problems and uses great real world
problems to make a connection to the math that
students will understand. On one lesson, she
used musical rappers and the fastest speaker on
record to teach about rate and unit rate. She
uses hands-on experiments like bags of colored
marbles to help students understand
probabilities and percentages. She uses her own
class participation rates as a precursor to
lessons she teaches.
Amazing! Connecting real world student interests
to math and making sure the proper time is spent
on topics so that students understand is what
every teacher should seek to do.
Sara is also dedicated to students. She is
constantly trying to find a way to connect with
students on a more personal level while at
school. She takes notes, asks questions, and is
willing to try just about anything to get
students motivated and helped in the right
direction if that is what they need.
She comes to me with ideas about how to help
students, even in other classes and/or with
their behavior!
When she doesn’t have ideas, she is the first to
seek out solutions to any problems she might
have (she is a math teacher after all). She has
instituted Brain Gym in her class out of a
desire to solve the boredom and lack of physical
movement during the school day.
Brain Gym is a short time each day set aside for
students to “move” in a precise way to music she
plays. It is rare to see students not engaged in
this activity.
Sara is also the first to participate in any
event we have going on at school. She loves to
be a part of our entire program. Is it a hat
day? She will be a crazy hat! Is it a dress up
day? She will be wearing a crazy outfit. Is it a
competitive day? She will be signed up and
competing against students or staff.
She is very active in our school and the
visibility helps her connect to the students at
their level.
Finally, Sara is very open to growth
opportunities. Just a short discussion with her
about what even needs discussed will lead her to
think and reflect and make changes if needed.
She is always looking for opportunities to learn
more and grow as a teacher. It is refreshing to
have a staff member who wants to learn and
always improve.
Every building needs a Sara Anderson. She is
uplifting for the whole staff and makes her mark
daily. It is my privilege to have Sara Anderson
make student connections, help students in need,
participate in our school events, and make math
awesome! |
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