Teacher Appreciation Week Honors Outstanding Educators

Teaches: Algebra 1

Nominated by: Angie Sanchez

"Ms. Reed was my Algebra teacher in high school about eight-years ago and is still someone very dear to my heart. She has everything a teacher should have which is kindness, patience, humor, being a great motivator...and the list goes on."
"She always went above and beyond for her students. During the time I was in high school I lost someone very close to me and she was there with me during the whole grieving time. She made sure I was emotionally okay and helped me catch up tremendously by staying during lunch and after school to help me." 

"Ms. Reed is a wonderful teacher and person who I owe so much to, so thank you for being the best teacher ever!"

Her Secret?

A 20-year teaching veteran (11 of those year at ) Reed spends her days on the front lines of math, teaching Algebra 1. A life-long math aficionado, when her old school was looking for math teachers, she stepped up.

By expressing endless patience, and teaching math in small chunks, Reed thinks educators can remove much of the frustration with math.

"Math is confusing to me, so I've learned to break it into small parts for students, so it's not this big scary thing," said Reed. 

She is also excited about new teaching methods. The latest: Algebra tiles, multi-sized magnets, which allow students to build quadratic equations in a  "hands-on" and "physically interesting" way. 

She urges students to make her job harder: "Don't let your teacher off the hook - that's what I tell them - keep asking questions, until you've got it."

But, Reed's got job satisfaction in spades.

"Just being able to come in fresh everyday and be excited every day," said Reed. "It's great."