97ZOK Teacher of the Week

Mom praises Belvidere teacher for helping rescue her daughter from a difficult year of remote learning. She's so grateful to have her happy little learner back.

During one of America's most difficult periods ever, children were not allowed to be in traditional classrooms learning, due to the covid pandemic. Families did whatever they could, as did teachers and school support staff, to make sure students were able to keep learning in whatever ways they could create.

Some children didn't miss a beat during remote learning, and some children flourished even more than in the classroom, but for others, this period of time left a nearly devastating mark. That fire for life and learning was extinguished.

The return of that fire is enough to bring a mom or a dad to their knees, in praise of the incredible work so many teachers put in to get the fire re-started.

Congratulations to 97ZOK's New Teacher of the Week

Mrs. Mortimer from Perry Elementary School in Belvidere, Illinois

Mrs. Mortimer was nominated for this honor by Carrie Aufmann, whose daughter Avery has a fire now more intense than ever.

Mrs. Mortimer is my daughter's fourth-grade teacher. She is a seasoned teacher of 10 or more years. She moved to Belvidere IL from Texas this past year. In the last two years here when covid hit and the schools shut down a lot of children have struggled with learning in a remote environment my daughter is one of those children. My daughter has difficulties focusing and learning. In 2nd grade, she had remote learning at home. I am a single parent and was able to take a couple of months off work so I can help keep her on track with learning at home. I went back to work I could see just how un educational the school year was. I do not blame the teachers; it was a very new experience for us all and teachers and parents did the best they could with the situation that we had. The following year, in 3rd grade, we were very excited to be back in school.

A lot of children continued to struggle to adapt back to the school environment. My daughter's 3rd-grade teacher was an amazing energetic first-year teacher. My daughter continued to struggle with finding her way in a distracting environment. Here comes Mrs. Mortimer an amazing 4th-grade teacher who understands the children and gives clear boundaries and support to help them succeed. Mrs. Mortimer takes individual one-on-one time with her students. She guides her students with positive feedback, patience, knowledge, and energy to raise the kids up to their potential. I appreciate that Mrs. Mortimer reaches out to me with information on how my child is doing on both good days and bad days. She always responds to my email inquiries in a very timely fashion no matter what time in the evening I send her one. This pandemic has made it difficult for teachers and students all over and I just want to tell Mrs. Mortimer that I appreciate her hard work and support. She is a good person and an awesome teacher and is a great part of my support system, she really cares. My daughter and I are blessed for having her as a part of our education. That's why I nominate Mrs. Mortimer for teacher of the week. To let her know that she is appreciated.

As Teacher of the Week, Cynthia was surprised with a cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes and money to spend at WM Day Spa.