Golden Apple Award: Sarah Dodson, Lake Forest Middle School

CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) – Kindness, patience and understanding are always on the syllabus for Sarah Dodson’s class at Lake Forest Middle. She has been described as, “the best teacher” and “awesome”. It’s easy to see why.

Robbie Winters is the Assistant Principal at Lake Forest.

He says, “Ms. Dodson is fantastic. She’s a great part of our Forest family. She’s great with kids. Kids feel loved. Kids feel challenged every day. She’s great with families. We are blessed to have her here at the forest.”

When asked to describe herself, Ms. Dodson says, “I am a wife, a mother, a teacher, I am a friend. I just love these kids. And I love being in special ed. Um I like to push them and motivate them and be their cheerleader. And just be their advocate when they need it. I have a brother with special needs. So, I just want to treat other kids the way I wish he maybe would have been a little more encouraged and so that’s it.”

We asked folks what words best describe Ms. Johnson.

They said, “Hardworking, beautiful, she’s organized. Dynamic, encouraging, caring, creative, beautiful, awesome, she always has it together, beautiful.  She’s authentic, excellent, compassionate, persistent, excellent, phenomenal, excellent, makes learning fun.”

Ms. Dodson says, “Every day they come in and they greet me. And they give me compliments. And it’s really amazing.”

We asked her students what they like best about her.

They said, “Playing, playing pranks games with her.”

Ms. Dodson explains, ” Yeah, they joke with me. I’m watching kids who don’t know how to joke when you first begin teaching them; like the beginning of the year, to joking with you all the time at the end of the year. It’s a huge accompt or accomplishment and it’s fantastic to watch them learn.”