“Good Morning Childrens!” as I walked into my very first government and economics class. “Here we go again I thought another “exciting” class and who taught him how to speak!!” As he began to speak, I slowly forgot my first thoughts and began to realize that he was not a normal teacher. He was a funny, opinionated and stubborn person……and he was pretty cool. This was not going to be a boring year for me.
It wasn’t too far into the semester that I found out that his teaching style is geared toward making the class fun; it’s not just about the lesson. It’s about the learning. If that means he has to go off topic then that’s fine. When Mr. O goes off of the plan, the class becomes interesting and more interactive. People are allowed to voice their opinion, and even though he may disagree with you, (and he usually does) you have the opportunity to speak your mind. If you say something wrong or if you accuse him of being wrong, he will say, “Who is the fairest of them all?” The class response, “You are!” To which he laughs and says “A+.”
He has great comments during class as well. For example, I turned in an assignment one time and did not have any staples in it. Mr. O commented about how my papers were not stapled. Since that time I have started to put more and more paper clips on all of my assignments. It has become quite the joke between us. “This one will never blow away, Navarro!!”


“Attention oooooooonnnnnnnnn deck,” as he ends our class and I end this entry for Mr. O. He is not your normal teacher. He’s opinionated, and he doesn’t always listen, but he is the best teacher I have ever had. I forget I am in class because we are too busy having fun, and dare I say it, learning. I have learned more about a lot of topics, other than just government and economics, than I ever have before and that is because of Mr. O.
In conclusion, dear reader, I would like to officially nominate Mr. Oknewski as Teen Inks Educator of the Year. He is fun, creative, knowledgeable, and yes, opinionated. He deserves to be Educator of the Year.