Nomination Essay

â€Å"Educators exist to perpetuate cultures and the human species; to teach young people the qualities they need to perpetuate culture and the human species. To do that, you have to fight apathy, greed and irresponsibility.† This is what Virginia L. Nikolich firmly believes, and as a teacher, she sees to it that this belief is handed down to her students. Teacher Ginny, as what most of her students call her, is not just an average teacher. She is a devoted instructor that deals with special education, teaching not only the normal K-12 students but also children who have a variety of disabilities. This means that as a Special Education teacher, she must be able to oversee these students’ behavioral, social, and academic development. Being a special education teacher may be considered as a hard and challenging task for most of the people, but that is not all for Teacher Ginny. She does not only teach special children, but she also teaches normal boys and girls. But again, for teacher Ginny, it’s still not all. She teaches both special and special children at the same time, same place, and with the same lessons. As a devoted agent of knowledge, she did not back away from teaching these children at the same time. She is co-teaching with another instructor on the subject of Biology. As Special educators, they are expected to design and teach the appropriate curricula for their students. They have to tailor all the works and activities in response for their needs and disabilities, like state and federal standards, grading and paperwork standards, as well as the monitoring of the student’s performance. It is her task to create Individualized Education plan for the special students which serves as her teaching guide. But what makes Virginia L. Nikolich from other teachers in her field of specialty? According to teacher Ginny her personality and professional life are the products of her education. She considers teaching as another learning process, which is why she chose to be in that profession for most of her life. She learned to blend in the day-to-day lessons which she gets from teaching. She continued to grow, not only as a teacher but also as a learner. She learned to blend the subject matter which Biology, to special education, and even computer degrees education. As she continues to teach, the more she learns about the things around her. She wishes to share everything she learned with everyone she teaches. As a small influence, she dreams of having big effects to different people in the feature. One of the aspects in her life, teacher Ginny values the support that her family has never failed to support her in everything she does. The value of the family is a good aspect to start with, and that it is probably the most influential for teacher Ginny. With her family background and experience, she became diligent, persistent, and conscientious flexible, compassionate and kind: the traits which her students greatly valued and appreciated. As a professional educator, Virginia L. Nikolich followed all the rules and has improvised in some, depending on the needs of the student. Teacher Ginny, as most know her, is definitely one of the best teachers in her field.