LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Linda Washington was nominated anonymously.

One of the first things Ms. Washington does in her classroom each year is create a positive environment. She believes in building a strong rapport with all students and setting clear expectations of rules, rituals, and procedures. Once this is established, she delves deeper into learning more about each student and how they learn, in addition to promoting an open line of collaboration/communication. Once she has learned as much about the student, their interests and goals, she tries to be as responsive as she can to meet their needs.

Her next steps are to get to know the students' parents, too, to start the year out by building trust through an open and transparent line of communication, which allows her to be consistent, letting the parent know regularly what is occurring with their children. This builds a great rapport with the parents and keeps down confusion/surprises.

Ms. Washington recently wrote a book and earned her computer science endorsement.