Email nominations to Anthony Zilis to azilis@news-gazette.com
Seeing her daughter in and around school as Tuscola’s middle school library aide, Marissa Brewer’s mother had an inkling she’d see her studious daughter back in the classroom as a teacher one day.
For the last 10 years, that prediction has rung true. The Villa Grove High School graduate has spent the last decade teaching English, including the last two years at Mahomet-Seymour Middle School, making her students feel as welcome as she did in school throughout her childhood.
I became a teacher because … school was a safe place for me growing up! I always knew that I had teachers in my corner and a great book recommendation waiting in the library. The schools I attended taught me that school wasn’t only about learning, but it was also a place for a student to be cared about and find true community. My mother was the middle school librarian aide when I went to Tuscola, and she often told me growing up that she knew I’d be a teacher someday. She was right!
My favorite lesson I teach is … at the beginning of the year. We call it the “Neighborhood Map.” It’s a simple lesson. Students draw and color their neighborhood and write down different memories they’ve experienced in the area they’ve grown up. I love this activity. I love telling the students about my life and getting the chance to learn about all the happy, emotional and core memories they have at this point in their life. We share the maps together, and I always pinpoint this as one of the days in class where we truly become a family. Everyone knows that we’ve all had good and bad times and that we are here for each other. The students always pick a story from their neighborhood to write about after this lesson. It’s my favorite time of the year!
My most fulfilling moments on the job as a teacher … exist when I put a new intervention in for a student that works. Every student’s access to the classroom is a puzzle. We all learn in different ways. I love figuring out how each student is going to be successful in our classroom, and sometimes that requires learning to look a bit different. When we try something that allows a kid to be successful, there truly isn’t a feeling like it!
I keep students engaged with … humor, singing, dancing and just in general being interested in their lives. It’s not uncommon to walk into my room and hear me singing the directions of an assignment. One of my favorite things to do is meet kids at the door and hand out high fives while asking about their day. I think kids stay engaged in my room because they know I like them and probably they think I’m a bit weird.
Something else I’m passionate about is … dancing, my family and type 1 diabetes education. I coached dance for many years and danced at Parkland College as a student, and it’s a big part of what led me into a degree as an educator. I stopped coaching when my husband, Patrick, and I had our three children, Oliver (7), Kinley (5) and Isabelle (2); and they are genuinely the coolest kids I know. And I know a lot of awesome kids. My 7-year-old was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 3, and now I find it so important to do early screening and know the signs! He’s my hero!
My favorite teachers were … I have had so many amazing teachers in my life, I could not have had a better education. If I have to choose a favorite, I think I would choose Janice Fogerson from Tuscola. She currently teaches sixth-grade English, and I even got to teach that with her for a few years. When I was in sixth grade, she was my history teacher. She taught us about Native Americans, the Holocaust and lots of topics. However, it truly didn’t matter what she was teaching subject wise, because she really just taught what being a good human meant. As an adult, I find myself very interested in what is going on around the world and in our country socially. Hands down, that is because of her! She also genuinely loves being a teacher, and that is contagious!
If I weren’t a teacher … I’d probably be a social worker. It’s honestly hard for me to imagine my life outside of education at this point. However, I would want to work with kids, and my favorite part of being a teacher is being able to advocate for the kids who need it most. So I guess a social worker would be the closest I could get to that.
— ANTHONY ZILIS
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