Teacher Appreciation: Mr. Martinez’s Great Teaching Pushed All of us to be Better at Garner Elementary

Mr. Martinez is a 3rd-grade teacher at Garner Elementary School, baseball coach at Cornell College, and everything else in between. I remember liking him the first day of we met because this kid was being annoying ( I didn’t like the kid much )  and Mr. Martinez back’d me up real quick. He wasn’t afraid to tell us we were wrong and he had great sarcasm. Which is ( in my opinion ) what every 3rd-grade teacher needs. 

He pushed me to be me, and at the time that meant playing football with all the other guys. No matter what happened, he would try to make time to play football with us. And he would always pass it to me and make a bigger deal of the catch than it actually was. You gave me the nickname Mega-tron, which my dad still uses to this day, to make me feel better. During reading groups, you didn’t act kinder to me because I was the only female, you still expected the same from me, not less not more. 

He supported everyone and was always in a joking mood. I remember in my class there was a kid named Micah Cook, and since his initials are MC sometimes Mr. Martinez would play ‘Can’t Touch This’ by Mc Hammer when he walked into the classroom. There was another kid who’s name was Colton, but Mr. Martinez gave him the nickname sunshine because he never looked on the bright side of things. 

Plus I know that I wasn’t the only student to think this. During class one day a person came in with a 4th grader and his mom. And this student recommended Mr. Martinez for the District Shine Award. And that day he got it he was super happy, but you could also tell how much that 4th grader looked up to him and was slightly embarrassed by the big hug Mr. Martinez gave him.

Thank you Mr. Martinez for pushing me and any other student past our boundaries, so we can expect and do better for ourselves.