I spent five years in the classroom as a history, art history, and writing teacher. And I can tell you that it takes passion, dedication, and innovation to succeed as a teacher.
The best teachers choose their profession because they believe that education matters and that children deserve to learn. They did not choose teaching to get rich but having a calling to educate should not mean going into debt. Unfortunately, that is the reality for teachers across the country who fund their classrooms out of their own, often too small, paycheck.
Education should be a priority in our country because without education, there is no democracy, no equality, and no brighter future. So, the Max Moms are working in collaboration with the national “A Day Made Better” cause founded by OfficeMax and nonprofit Adopt-A-Classroom to help erase teacher-funded classrooms: “Annually in October, they host a national event that recognizes and rewards over 1000 teachers with a total of $1 million in school supplies to help alleviate the financial burden and thank them for their hard work.”
I will be helping to surprise a teacher at a local school and I have the privilege of honoring a teacher here on Naturally Educational.
Join us and give back to a deserving teacher by nominating your favorite teacher to receive a $100 gift card for school supplies donated by OfficeMax.
Entry Requirements
1) For a chance to enter and win, please post a comment below that describes why the teacher you’d like to nominate is 1) Passionate; 2) Dedicated and 3) Innovative.
2) As an additional entry, you can visit the Welcome tab on OfficeMax’s Facebook page and post a comment on this blog telling us what you think of their Facebook donation campaign benefiting Adopt-A-Classroom.
Please leave your contact e-mail address in the e-mail field. If you are a teacher nominating yourself, you may use either your first or your first and last name. If you are nominating another teacher, please use just the first name or a nickname (e.g.: “Mrs. Z”). The winning card will only be sent to a valid school address. This contest will close October 5, 2010, 11:59 PM EST — national “A Day Made Better” day for teachers!
Terms & Disclosure: No purchase necessary to be eligible for a chance to enter or win. The winner will be selected randomly from qualifying entries. The gift card was provided by OfficeMax as part of its cause for teachers. The views written here are my opinion.
Here are other bloggers running the same giveaway…enter here, too, for more chances to win!
I nominate Ms. Lenore from Kids Quest in Mt Sinai on Crystal Brook Hollow Road. She is such a warm and caring person and that reflects in the way she runs her class. Her students respect her and love her. Her love for her students carries through to the rest of the family. I have had such a great experience with my daughter in her class. She is a very dedicated teacher and remains dedicated to her students even after “graduation”. Even though she is no longer in her class, Ms Lenore will still take the time to check up on her. We know that she is one teacher who has made a lasting impression on my daughter and the rest of our family. I cant wait until my next daughter is in her class. She always is looking for new ideas to use in the classroom and keeps learning fun. As a teacher I always keep in mind that “they dont care how much you know, until they know how much you care”. Ms Lenore is the prime example of this.
I’d like to nominate my friend, and a wonderful teacher, Ms. Luongo. She is such a hard working, passionate, and kind teacher. I have seen first hand that she often buys things for her classroom and students out of her own pocket. She works in the city at a school that has some kids that have problems in school, but she’s always happy to reach out to her students and to help that remember that no matter your situation in life, you CAN do amazing things!! 🙂 Thanks so much!
I think Adopt-a-Classroom is an AWESOME idea! I think that today’s youth truly is our future, and we need to take care of it. Job well done to Office Max for reaching out!
Is it possible to nominate 2 teachers to split the $100? I’d like to nominate my 2 sons’ teachers. They get to class as much as 2 hours before the kids do and stay after school for at least an hour to meet with parents and keep everyone up to date on their child’s progress. I think they are both very dedicated.
I like Office Max on Facebook (Mary Happymommy) and I think it’s great that for every Facebook fan they will donate $1 to adopt-a-classroom!
Mrs. Martin was my son’s 5th grade teacher. She is passionate because she doesn’t allow any name calling in her classroom. She soothes tears and makes the kids happy. She is passionate about teaching also.
She is dedicated because she doesn’t allow the children to do half jobs, they have to get the job done well. She stays until 5 pm to help students that may need it.
Let me tell you about innovative! She had the children do a solar system with planets, comets, satellites, space station, etc. last year. It took up a good part of the stage. The children were SO excited to show this off to family. The children did really well on their tests too!
Mrs. Walker is the most passionate, Dedicated and innovative teacher I know! It was always fun learning in her kindergarten class. (I STILL remember her lessons!) Whether playing old records of children’s songs to help us learn or doing special snacks to study the clouds, I just remember feeling like a family every day in class.
She would even do a nice quiet time after lunch if “we were good” (But I think it was really if we were too roudy!)
Mrs. Walker seriously changed the way I work with kids even today. She proved how dedicated she is by STILL continuing to be a teacher… 15 years later!
LIKE and wrote on the OfficeMax Facebook wall! (Erin Mize)
http://www.facebook.com/officemax?v=app_4949752878#!/officemax?v=wall&story_fbid=439959305874&ref=mf
Can you enter as a homeschooling teacher?
If not feel free to delete, but I’d like to nominate myself as being passionate, innovative, and dedicated. I work hard to provide new and different ways for my kids to learn. We love to read our history lesson and act it out with Legos, or try a new art idea. It’s a lot of fun to me.
I would like to nominate my mom Patty. She is a special needs teacher for elementary school age kids. She mostly works with autistic children that need alot of TLC. I think she is amazing for the work that she does because only certain people have the heart and the patience for this job. She forms amazing bonds with these children and I’m sure most of them will remember her forever!
Thanks!
I liked Office Max on Facebook and I think that it’s amazing that they are donating a dollar for everyone that “likes” them. I know alot of teachers, and they are so dedicated to their students that they spend so much money trying to make their classrooms better. It’s nice to see a big company realizes this and helping out.
I also wanted to add on my comment above b/c I forgot to state why my mom was innovative…..
My mom is one of those teachers that spends alot of money on her classroom. She actually works a second job as a bartender to help. Alot of her students, being special needs, need special learning tools that the school doesnt always provide. Last year she ran a craft/ bake sale to help raise money for extra learning supplies. The students made crafts and the parents helped bake goodies for the sale. This really helped them out alot!
misscasey(at)woh(dot)rr(dot)com
I’d like to nominate my friend and fellow teacher Ms.Kelley. She’s taught for about 10 years, coming to teaching as a second career. We taught together for 5 years and I have known her for 3 additional years since that time. For the last 8 years, she has taught in an inner city school where almost all the children are from families under the poverty line. During that time, there has been an almost 100% turnover in staff at the school. She has chosen to stay and teach where she is most needed by children. To say that teaching at that school is a challenge is the understatement of the year! Certainly that commitment to children shows overwhelming dedication! She is passionate about teaching and brings excitement and personal experience in her daily classroom lessons. While teaching full-time, she has also gone back to school at night and during the summers to earn her master’s degree. That endeavor will take her numerous years to complete. She is so passionate about the math strategies she is learning and utilizing in her classroom! If you look up “innovative” in a book of outstanding teachers, I am sure you will see Ms. Kelley’s picture. She uses items from her own childhood, things from her family members like her grandmother, and other interesting things she finds here and there and incorporates them in her classroom lessons. If I had a child of second grade age, I would love to have them placed in Ms. Kelley’s class. As a fellow teacher – now retired – I can think of no other teacher more deserving of this honor. Ms. Kelley is a shining example of the best in teaching : a passionate, dedicated, and innovated educator! It is an honor to nominate her for this special recognition.
I think their Facebook donation campaign is a wonderful opportunity to benefit those in the field of education via Adopt-a-Classroom!!
I nominate my son’s teacher, Mrs. Deci. This is the second time we’ve had the joy of having Mrs. Deci as a teacher for our children. She’s passionate about the kids in her class and is very proactive with letting parents know about any potential issues. She’s also happy to help with any parental concerns.
She’s innovative too. She taught the kids about sorting with Froot Loops and M&Ms, making learning much more enjoyable and tasty! When my son told her that he would get a DS when he learned to read, she enthusiastically let him know she’d help him get that DS! She is dedicated to getting her Kindergarteners to read by the end of the year and works hard to get her kids ready for 1st grade.
Thanks for the chance to win and also the chance to brag about having such an awesome teacher for my kids. She’s obviously not in it for the money, as our district doesn’t pay well and teachers often move on to greener pastures after a few years. We’re so glad she stays.
iclipcoupons at gmail dot com
I think it is awesome that they have been able to raise $23,329 for Adopt-A-Classroom so far! In such a tight economy, it is nice to see businesses step up to the plate to help teachers get what they need to teach.
I hit the like button too 🙂
iclipcoupons at gmail dot com
I would like to nominate the three 5th-grade teachers at my school, Mrs. B, Mrs. T, and Mrs. R. They work together as such a great team, using the ideas of three people to come up with the best educational practices for the students. With our shortness of supplies and materials, they have to share sets of books among their three rooms because there aren’t books for everyone, and even then, there aren’t enough copies for a whole class of students. We don’t have enough copy paper, so they brainstorm creative ways to teach without making as many copies. They are committed to providing the best education for their students and immerse themselves into the well-being of all of their students.
I think OfficeMax’s Facebook campaign benefiting Adopt-A-Classroom is a great idea! Any way that they can raise money from the community to support classrooms and the need for supplies is appreciated. I’ll have to remember this for next year!
My sister is a teacher and she is 1) Passionate about helping kids learn in the best way they can and stay excited about learning, 2) Dedicated to being patient and helping kids as often as possible and 3) Innovative because she is creative about working with whatever she has to make it fun and interesting!
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