LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Laney Cook was nominated anonymously.

Ms. Cook gets to know every student and their likes and dislikes. She encourages them in conversation everyday, making them feel involved and welcome. Every student is treated with kindness and patience. Children are encouraged and expected to treat each other with respect and forgiveness; following her lead as an example.

Creative writing is a year long activity in Ms. Cook's classroom. It is also a state test in April for 5th graders.

Ms. Cook's students don’t come in exactly excited to write. To get them excited to create their books, Ms. Cook plans to publish their writing, including stories that are informative, persuasive, narrative, descriptive, reports, projects, a book of poems and a yearly Christmas/Winter Cookbook created by students’ family recipes along with stories of where they come from, why they are special, and why they are their favorite. 

If they feel ownership in their writing and pride in the “ books” they’ve written, Ms. Cook feels they will be more open to writing, to being creative, and excited to write!