On Friday,  January 6th, 2017,  I conducted a brief interview with Mrs. Windish about the Teacher of The Year award. Mrs. Jessica Windish teaches AP Human Geography and Global cultures Seminar, an academy class. During the interview, Mrs. Windish was very enthusiastic to discuss her ideas about Tallwood and teaching.

Ariana Hernandez:  How do you feel about receiving the “Teacher of the Year” title?

Mrs. Windish: I feel honored that I was selected as Teacher of the Year. The other nominees were wonderful, hard working, great teachers that I was proud to be considered a part of, so I feel very honored. A little overwhelmed too.

AH: How do you like teaching here at Tallwood?

Mrs. Windish: I would say I love teaching here at Tallwood because the people I work with all do have a passion for teaching. The administration is very supportive of things that we want to accomplish in our classrooms, and our students are very willing to try new things and to learn new things, especially in the academy. The students come here with interest in global endeavors, so that is something I’m very passionate about.  So it’s a perfect fit for me. As far as teaching in general, I love teaching because I love seeing students grow and progress and have those “a ha” moments where they’re figuring out the direction that they’re going and the importance of the knowledge that we are teaching in our classes.

AH: How does receiving the Teacher of the Year award affect your teaching in Tallwood’s atmosphere?

Mrs. Windish: I don’t know that it will really affect my teaching and that I’ll do things differently, but I feel like it could give me a venue to encourage other teachers to try some new innovative things–maybe just motivate teachers in general to work hard through the tough times, even. I should hope by representing Tallwood as Teacher of the Year that I will share with the rest of the city the positivity that’s here and the, you know, the excitement that we all have for educating our students. I think that about sums it up.

AH: Why do you think that you won the award?

Mrs. Windish: Well I hope that I won the award because I’m a good teacher; I feel that I am!  I work really hard to make sure what I choose to do in class is meaningful, is aligned with what goals I’m required to achieve by the curriculum and we want to achieve as a school, kind of a second home to everyone. I hope that in addition to just content based teaching that, you know, maybe I was selected because it’s evident how much I really care about all these kids.  I have two of my own kids, but I feel as if I have hundreds of kids I care about, think about regularly and wish the best for and would help out in any way I can. So I hope that’s why, but I didn’t make the decision, so I don’t know.

AH: How did you first react upon hearing you won Teacher of the Year?

Mrs. Windish: First of all, when you get nominated, you have to fill out a packet. So you know you’re going to have a chance. It’s not like a total surprise, because you know you’re in the running. There were four teachers total in the running, so you’re like ‘whoo there’s a 25% chance!’ and these other three people are fabulous. I was kind of shocked.  I really kind of thought that maybe someone else in the bunch would’ve gotten it. I was excited, I was quite all of the sudden very overwhelmed. And then in the schola, when they give you the award, they’ve already invited family members and that was a little overwhelming as well.  And I know this happens, because we see it year after year. But it was overwhelming when my kids came in and then my husband and my parents and my sister and my best friends. All of my molecules were going crazy, and I don’t know if I remember everything that happened, but it was overwhelming.

AH: How did you celebrate your achievement?

Mrs. Windish: Well right then we had cake and there’s cupcakes and everybody gives each other hugs, so that was a nice celebration. Then my husband and my kids took me out to dinner. Then of course there was the deluge of facebook posts of congratulations, which was super sweet and people celebrating. So I would say the dinner was pretty much the big celebration.

During my interview with Mrs. Windish she was very enthusiastic and wholehearted about receiving Teacher of the Year, and she spoke with lively words and a bright smile. Congratulations, Mrs. Windish!