Andres Nava has been awarded teacher of the year at Lively Middle School for the 2023-2024 school year.
“I felt honored and humbled by this honor to be recognized by the teachers and the students you know is something that you know you don’t really go after you just get the honor of being chosen and it’s a humbling experience,” said Nava. “I think uniquely what makes me the teacher of the year is building these relationships with students, getting to know them, their backgrounds, experiences and bringing all that into my classroom”, said Nava. “Again I don’t know if I deserve it or just feel honored to be able to be recognized for this award, like I said I came in and I just tried to build relations with the students and from their working towards growing them and learning the content”.
Teachers are very happy that Nava was awarded teacher of the year. Ms. Elizondo, the Avid teacher, was one of the teacher that was happy for him. “He is very supportive, very helpful, very kind, he never has a problem to help and he is very positive so if you’re in a bad mood he is someone that you can go to if you need help seeing the bright side or just to cheer you up”, said Elizondo. “Because he goes above and beyond for his colleagues and his students aside from that he is a graduate student himself so he works very hard to better himself for his family, for himself and for his students.”
Ms. King is 6 grade Math teacher was also very happy to Nava’s award “He is fun, he talks trash but is my favorite, he loves football but he is very supportive too when we need his help”, said King. “One thing is he is fair with kids no matter what and he makes sure he keeps equity in mind and make sure he is giving what they need on their level and he really does care as much as he jokes and he clowns but he does care about the kids.”
Even though students couldn’t vote for teacher of the year (the award is voted on by the Lively Staff.) A lot of students were happy that Nava was teacher of the year. Gia Cano, an 8th grader was one of the students that was happy for Mr. Nava’s award. “I think that he deserves it cause he is really nice and welcoming to everybody, even the kids who aren’t his students”, said Cano. “I feel proud because he was my 7th grade teacher and he just deserves it. He is kind, he treats everyone with respect even though you’re not his student and he is welcoming.”
Dana, an 8th grader was another student that was very happy that Nava won teacher of the year. “I think it was the best decision made because he tries his hardest on work we need to do even in Ms. P class. They share work and he does a lot of it, not saying that Ms. P doesn’t do work but he does most of it”, said Dana. “I felt very proud of him, I’m glad he got the reward because if he didn’t he would even care but at the same time I’m happy he got it cause he deserves it”. “He is the best cause even if you don’t want to do your work, he will still help you try.”
When asked what advice he had for other teachers, Nava shared some words of wisdom. “I think the greatest thing that we could do as teachers is continue building relations with our students, creating a safe environment in our classrooms and I think from their students we can learn,” said Nava.