Anessa Morgan is an outstanding student. With the switch to hybrid/remote learning over the past year, many students have found it difficult to manage their time, and difficulty with self motivation leading to many students turning in late work or no work at all. Unfortunately I’ve seen the quality of work from my students suffer because of these circumstances.
Anessa Morgan is the exception. Throughout this pandemic, I have seen Anessa rise to the challenges thrown her way and she has persevered and has achieved great academic success. I teach Spanish. Learning a new language is difficult enough for many people and it takes so much time and effort to be successful. It also takes a lot of confidence to step outside one’s comfort zone and try something as new as language.
This winter students in my Honors Spanish 3 class were assigned a presentation that was to be their final test grade. I went over the rubric with students and told them, if they wanted higher than an average grade, they were going to have to do above average work. I have given this project in some form or another for a long time. Anessa’s presentation absolutely blew me away. I had goosebumps. In the 15 years students have been presenting this project, Anessa’s presentation was, by far, the best one I have seen in my entire career. She went above and beyond what was required of her by giving descriptive information and funny anecdotes all while speaking in a foreign language. Her presentation was about a week ago and I still can’t stop thinking how great it was.
Where most students have used distance learning as an excuse for average work, Anessa, in spite of all the hardships in education right now, has excelled. I’m proud of her.