Teacher of The Year – Señora Mena-Davis
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Melina Mena-Davis is a Spanish teacher at Northwest High School and Iowa World Language Association’s ‘Educator Of The Year.’ This is quite an achievement, considering she’s only been in the district for two years.
The main purpose of the Educator Of The Year award is to recognize and acknowledge excellent teachers who exhibit the best teaching at his/her respective teaching level. The award winners show leadership, involvement, and participation in everything related to Iowa World Language Association.
Mena-Davis said, “It’s really great to be recognized by my peers and I don’t feel like I’ve been doing this very long, but I know that I put a lot of effort into what I do and I try to be better all the time, so it feels good to be recognized for what [I] do.”
Mena-Davis worked as an associate for a while and found out that there was a need for Spanish teachers. As a native speaker, she took the opportunity to become one herself and has loved connecting with students and leading them through not only the language but the cultural aspects of the class as well.
Students Skylar Stessman and Ava Hohenadel are both in a Spanish class taught by Mena-Davis.
Stessman stated, “My favorite thing about being in Señora Mena-Davis’ class is the way she always engages us. She makes all of the tough assignments more fun by giving us a reward to push for. For example, it might be a piece of candy, a pack of fruit snacks, or movie time.”
Hohenadel explained, “I really like how flexible she is with everything. She isn’t too hard or too soft about getting stuff in on time.”
Mena-Davis is adored by her students. She has a special way of engaging all of them through the Spanish-speaking culture.
Mena-Davis stated, “My favorite part of teaching is when I share something and it allows me to connect with people with it. Whether it be music or movies, just something interesting about the Spanish-speaking culture that people didn’t know. We get to talk about the culture of Spanish-speaking countries and I get to share a lot of different cool things.”
Waukee Northwest High School is extremely fortunate and glad to have amazing teachers like Mena-Davis on the staff.