Some teachers are creative with their teaching. Some teachers are loud and can easily keep your attention. Other teachers are nice and caring enough to know the students well, which allows them to teach each student to the fullest. But there is only one teacher I know that has all of those characteristics.
Mrs. Markano is a teacher at Arrowhead High School with a heavy load. She teaches English 11, Advanced Speech, Theater Arts, Acting, and Directing. If that were not enough, she is also the AHS Theater Manager, The Stage Crew Director, and the Director of the school play. Everyday, she shows her passion of theater and teaching, whether she means to or not, and her students thrive off of it.
The tasks Mrs. Markano takes on each day are daunting, especially during one of the larger performances on the AHS stage each year. She has to monitor the activity going on in the theater at all times. She has to keep students, parents, and all of the theater equipment safe. During a big performance, she needs to assign tasks to her stage crew members and make sure everything is happening just as the director likes it, even when she is the director herself. She does all of this and so much more for the theater, and then she still has to teach during the day. She truly knows the meaning of a hard worker.
Mrs. Markano may have a passion for all of the work she does with the theater, but she also has a passion for teaching her students. Even when I took Acting and Advanced Speech first thing in the morning, she was very energetic and eager to get into the days lessons. That same energy was also there at the end of the school day when I would come back for a stage crew meeting. Every time I see her I can tell she is a caring teacher; she is always concerned with her students when something is not right. She understands personal dilemmas and is a teacher someone can feel comfortable talking to about family problems or other issues that may prevent an assignment to be done on time.

When I think of someone deserving an educator of the year award, I don’t just think of a nice teacher who has and easy “A” class and a funny personality. I think of a hard working teacher who deserves it. I think of a teacher who cares about the students they teach. I think about a teacher who does everything they can to make the school a better place for anyone they encounter. I think about Mrs. Markano. With a personality that makes her students nickname her “mom”, she is the definition of a great educator.