Mary Vitaioli

I became a teacher because I hated school growing up. I did not learn from my teachers, I was bored and felt "dumb" most of the time. I always failed tests as well. I wanted to be the teacher who was hands on, doing things to learn, having fun with activities, projects and labs while students learned. Not making the grade about the test, but finding different assessments for students to be able to share what they learned.

I had a 7th grader who had 2nd grade abilities. He struggled with retention, comprehension and writing. My 7th graders participate in science fair. We figured out a topic, completed research using his level books. From an outline we created he wrote his paper. He conducted his experiment with his parents. The success was when he stood in front of judges and explained it all without any help from anyone. He understood the concepts was so proud! I was so happy for his success!

I would do 2 things with $25,000. First of all, I would take a trip to visit different National parks in the US to have that knowledge in my experience bag. Secondly, I would use most of the money to supply my classroom with much needed science equipment.