Educator of the Year | Teen Ink

Educator of the Year

March 31, 2009
By Kyle Simmons BRONZE, Portland, Indiana
Kyle Simmons BRONZE, Portland, Indiana
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

When thinking of an educator of the year, one may think of a very good math teacher that helped them pass the class, an English teacher that helped them broaden his/her horizons in the writing field, or maybe even a guidance counselor of whom helped a particular person pick the college right for them. The man I nominate for educator of the year doesn’t teach an important Math or English class, he teaches body conditioning and Health classes while also coaching a high school varsity basketball team. This teacher/coach is the hardest worker I’ve ever met, he is very loyal, and he has proven to be a caring individual for his students/players. The teacher I nominate is Craig Teagle.
Coach Teagle, as I would call him, is a very hard worker. One can almost always find him in the classroom teaching or in his office preparing a very detailed scouting report for his basketball team. During the season he puts hours a day into preparing scouting reports and helping his team to be as prepared as possible. There are nights when he can even be caught sleeping in his office after staying up nearly all night working on them. At the same time, Coach Teagle is also a teacher that works hard for his students. One can always ask a question no matter what it may be, and expect to receive an explanation.
Loyalty is another important aspect of being a good teacher/leader. Coach Teagle displays a tremendous amount of loyalty towards his players and his school. He has been teaching and coaching at Jay County High School for 65363 years. He has been offered the head coaching job at Plimoth High School twice, a very prestigious opportunity, and both times has turned them down to watch the players that he has coached and the students that he has taught since their freshman year graduate and move on.

Caring for your students and players might be the most important quality of being a good teacher and coach. Caring for Coach Teagle means making sure his students and players get the most out of what they are capable of, and getting where they need to be in life. I can’t recall the number of times throughout the course of the basketball season that he told every one of his players that basketball is just a game, and that the main goal is to develop the skill sets needed to be successful in the real world. He cares about the lives of both his students and players in the manner that he will make a point to ask if something is wrong, and if so then he tries to do everything within his power to help.

Coach Teagle is not only a spectacular teacher and coach; he is a great person that cares more about the individuals around him than his own self. He is a very hard working and loyal person that deserves to be nominated for something other than “Coach of the Year” in class 4A basketball. He has become a lot more than just a coach to me over the past four years; he has become a friend that has helped shape me to be who I am today, and I will forever be grateful for that.


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.