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I would like to nominate Mrs. Eddy who teaches at Morgan Middle School for the Teacher Feature Award. My sixth grade student has her for English. She is a great teacher with my student and does a wonderful job communicating to me, as a parent. Communication is so important to me especially since my student is the oldest and the "trailblazer" for my other children. In our community, middle school starts in 6th grade and this is a new experience for my student as well as me. We do not really know what we are doing and sometimes it feels like we are just treading water to keep afloat.
Before school had started this year, we had planned a family trip that would take our children out of school for a week. Knowing that a lot of learning is done in a week, I contacted all my children's teachers to let them know when my children would be out of school. Of the seven teachers that my middle schooler has, only Mrs. Eddy responded to my e-mail. She did not respond with a long email and she did not need to but as a parent it was just helpful to have her acknowledge my email. I did not know if the other teachers had received my email because they did not respond to me. What a relief that I did not have to worry about Mrs. Eddy's class.
Recently, Mrs. Eddy helped my student with a project that was required for her class. This project was due the next day and my student accidently submitted the project early while they were still working on it. Once submitted, there was no way to go back and keep working on it. This made my student extremely anxious because they are very conscience of their grades and thought the incomplete assignment would give them an F grade. I know Mrs. Eddy's mom and tracked down Mrs. Eddy's phone number so I could ask if my student had any options. I called her at five in the evening and explained what had happened. She was calm and reassuring as she explained that my student didn't need to be overly concerned since the project wouldn't have as big of an impact on their grade as they thought it would. What a relief to my student and me! How kind to take a phone call after hours!
One last thing that makes Mrs. Eddy such a wonderful candidate for this award is that she is such a great teacher despite her health problems. She has a condition that causes her to have seizures and can make her very ill. She takes medication to control the seizures but she is currently pregnant with her fourth child and can't take this medication. All of her students are aware of her health and pregnancy as well as what to do if she gets sick during class. As far as I know, she has only been sick once and one of the other teachers at school took her outside to get some fresh air and all was fine. Mrs. Eddy doesn't let her health problems control her. She is always concerned for her students and their success. They are number one to her and it shows in the little things that she does for them. Thank you, Mrs. Eddy!
-Tammy Sommers
