Educator of theYear

Teacher, pedagogue, educator.

Everyone is an educator whether it is formal with a license or just teaching someone how to tie a knot in a piece of rope. Some teachers, however, stand out far more than others. Florence Dossett is one of those people. She is the Cleburne High School French teacher. I have had good teachers and bad, fun and boring, but never have I met someone like her. Madame Dossett teaches French one through four at our high school and she loves it all.

Her teaching style is unique as she acts out vocabulary words and speaks all in French on the first day of her class. She always makes sure everyone understands things like “intransitive verbs of motion” and how to conjugate before moving on in the lesson. She had taught for thirty years and although some teachers just can’t wait to retire, you can tell she loves what she does when she welcomes you into her class room. Not only an educator, Madame Dossett collects water bottles for recycling and the lids of those bottles for a cancer organization. She buys the water bottles herself and sells them for fifty cents each and all of the proceeds go to the Hill College “We Believe in Youth” scholarship.

When asked what motivated he to teach, she did not hesitate before telling me how is started with unexpectedly teaching Sunday school and loving every second of it. She told me how she loved teaching first year French students because she can see when their eyes light up to the idea of a whole new culture. During the school year, Madame also is the Cleburne High School French Club advisor. Around thirty kids are in French Club and we love every second of it! French Club goes on field trips to museums and operas at Bass Hall as well as to a fancy French restaurant at the end of the year. When the school year is over she is still opening young minds to the rest of the world! Every summer Madame goes to a different country on a tour with E.F.

Tours, a school based Travel Company, and she takes students with her. I was lucky enough to get the experience of going to Europe last summer touring England, France and Spain. It was a once in a life time journey and not many would ever even get that chance! It is still the best thing I have ever done and Madame has done it all before, just so the students can see world. Madame Dossett is not the average teacher. She sparks a real interest in culture and diversity in her class room as well as outside of it proving she does it because she truly loves it. She is an amazing educator and all of her students love her proving how she deserves the title of Educator of the Year.