Nomination for "Teacher of the Year 2005"

I know it's only just halfway through the year but I think I have gathered enough evidence already to justify this nomination.

The winter school holidays are here and it marks the end of an important phase in the life of the one I love. Well, it's actually a kind of arbitrary point in time really, but I chose it because I want to point out how proud I am of Laura. Laura has been teaching high school English and drama classes for two full terms now and has faced and beaten all the challenges that the first semester of teaching threw at her.

She is dedicated Laura has spent hours and hours of her own time on weekends doing more than is asked of her as a teacher. Primarily this term she has spent many hours preparing students, costumes, props and sets for the school musical and helped turn it into the hit that it was. She has even gone as far as enlisting slave labour to sew costumes. She has coached both netball and softball teams to many a courageous loss (and maybe a couple of wins). She has also given up half of her holidays to supervise a school camp (although I don't think she really counts it as work because it's at the snow).

She is respected by her colleagues She is very regularly receiving great feedback on her ability from other staff and school management. I believe it has been said that the deputy principal was going to "work very hard" at ensuring Laura has a permanent position at her school next year.

She recieves great client feedback She has had parents on the phone thanking her very much for her wonderful work. One particular parent, upon finding out it was her first year as a teacher, was absolutely amazed and continued to comment on how well she had handled situations in the class room with her child. She regularly comes home speaking of students who enjoy the way she teaches and who are continually surprising and exceeding her expectations.

She is passionate Not only about teaching and the well-being of students but about the public school system and how fantastic it is. But more importantly how much more fantastic it could and should be with just a little bit of sanity from our federal government. She is also passionate about individual students. Just a couple of days ago Laura came home and launched into a story about how disappointed she was that one of her best year 10 English students is moving to another school. She was genuinely disappointed and described the student as "just golden".

She knows how to deal with a crisis Laura has dealt with sporting injuries including broken bones, the daily crisis that is her year nine drama class, the crisis that is year nine in general and she has even saved a life - no joke. Need I say more?

I'm confident in saying that she has thoroughly enjoyed it and expects to continue to enjoy teaching for years to come. She's been involved in so many extra curricular activities that they're hard to count. I hope I haven't made too many spelling or grammatical errors - thankyou for teaching me. Congratulations on a fantastic six months Laura - I'm so proud of you.