 For more than a decade, Horace Mann has sponsored the NEA Foundation Awards for Teaching Excellence. Because we know how important and deserving it is to shine a light on outstanding teachers who make a difference in their students' lives and who continue to elevate the role. So please join me in congratulating and honoring five individuals who have been singled out by their peers for going above and beyond and becoming this year's Horace Mann Award recipients. It's called grit. If you have a lot of grit, you don't give up very easily. You keep on going even when it gets tough. And not very many people have that now. When I say value, what am I asking you? You are not only the best teacher ever when teaching, but you teach us in a fun way. The fifth reason I appreciate you is because you care about our education and that's why we are much quieter than Miss Berrybury and the other classes. She's really great at conferencing with her students and speaking to them on a level where they feel like they're in control of their learning environment. Today we're learning about rounding. Do I look like I'm excited? Do I look like I want to learn? No. What do I need to be doing? Getting up, whoop whoop, getting up, whoop whoop, getting up, whoop whoop. She has expectations up here for every student in her class. Sometimes students who are struggling teachers just assume that that's where they're going to stay. But not Melissa. She kind of has these expectations and students strive to meet that. She cares very deeply and passionately about the kids that she works with. And she cares not only just about their education, but about their whole being. Emotional, physical, mental health, everything that's going on in their lives. She knows that all of that affects how they learn in school and whether or not they're going to be successful. Children are not products that can be manipulated and recreated on a conveyor belt. They come in all shapes and sizes with different gifts, different challenges. I guess that goes back to why I do home visits and stuff because I want the parents to understand that I'm trying to be an advocate for your child. Me calling you and emailing you and bombarding you is just because I care. She loves teaching. She loves reaching out to the kids. She cares about what happens to them and she wants to do what she can do to make their lives better. I'm not the dictator of the classroom even though they call me the queen. I'm really a facilitator for their learning. I'm just a coach and I'm here to help them and leave them to make their own decisions about their learning and to enjoy learning and to see that they can be successful. I wrote Bigger, Faster, Stronger because that describes our class and she's delightful, responsible, loyal, athletic, dedicated and diligent. Dr. Lide, you're the best teacher and that is why I wrote this just for you.