Teachers Who Go Above and Beyond the Job

Daily Affirmations Lead To Better Behavior

Chris Ulmner teaches special education at a school in Jacksonville, Florida, and he has garnered a large audience from his YouTube videos revolving around children with disabilities. Ulmer says sometimes the kids can feel like outcasts, so this gave him the idea to start every day by inundating each student with genuine compliments. Ulmner told ABC News, “I noticed the kids were always more motivated, happier, and better behaved,” he said of the days that began with affirmations. “So we started doing it every day.” Ulmner has a gift for connecting with children, and the ones who are in his class are lucky to have such a loving man as a teacher.

Covering Different Cultures

Emily Elizabeth Smith is a fifth-grade elementary teacher from Texas who also recently accepted an important teaching award. In her acceptance speech for that award, Mrs. Smith talked about a moment that changed her forever. “Things changed for me the day when, during a classroom discussion, one of my kids bluntly told me I couldn’t understand because I was a white lady,” Smith said. “I had to agree with him.” Smith shared that she went home and cried and decided that she would do what she could to bridge that space between her and students of color. She introduced Langston Hughes into her curriculum, studied Latino culture, and led a discussion about the crisis in Syria.