Excellent Educators is a WAVY-TV 10 initiative to celebrate local teachers who have gone above and beyond for their students and communities during the last academic year. These Excellent Educators were nominated by their school divisions. Congratulations to these educators for all of their hard work and accomplishments!
Name: Jennifer Niemi
Division: Isle of Wight County Public Schools
Position: 5th grade teacher at Westside Elementary School
What the school division said about this Excellent Educator: Jennifer Niemi is new to Westside this school year, but she has jumped in and immediately grasped, implemented with fidelity, and effectively made a difference with the lives of our future leaders. She has set very clear, high expectations for her students. They are making leaps of academic growth and have shown some of the highest scores in the district for common/benchmark assessments. Her students are very respectful, mature, and demonstrate leadership throughout the building.
Substitutes and coverage have been a challenge this year, but whenever Niemi had to be out of the building, her students were able to run the classroom, and follow the same schedule, routines, and procedures that Niemi sets. The most impressive thing was students would plug their computers into the projector and continue with instruction (such as Word Talks) as if Niemi was there. Most times when teachers are not present, new instruction pauses until they return. Not with her classroom. Learning continues everyday, regardless of her attendance.
Her colleagues respect her and seek her out for her advice and professionalism. Niemi is a rock star, and Westside is super lucky to have such an impactful educator.
