Mr. Amsler is our May Teacher of the Month!

As the academic year comes to a close, students are celebrating graduation and various milestones in their educational journeys. Congrats to all students and to their teachers! We appreciate educators’ efforts and achievements throughout yet another challenging school year and are happy to announce our May Teacher of the Month, Mr. Terrance Amsler of June Jordan School of Equity in San Francisco! Mr. Amsler is a 10th grade English teacher who has been teaching for 20 years. He is also our partner on the most recent Young Author’s Book Project publication, Hidden Secrets (written by his amazing, imaginative students). Read on to learn about Mr. Amsler and how he inspires students to succeed! 

Mr. Amsler is someone that encourages, motivates, and believes in his students. He also recognizes and names their potential to succeed. Recently, one of his colleagues shared the following: “Mr. Amsler [believes] things about kids that they have not yet come to believe about themselves… I know his student who had never finished a book, yet enjoyed the handpicked Maze Runner, and asked me to order the sequel for him. This student now has the confidence to identify a little more as a reader, which will open so many doors for him.” In addition to motivating and challenging students, Mr. Amsler also believes in their potential to become future leaders and provides them the confidence to speak their truth. One of his colleagues shared how a student of Mr. Amsler’s “after reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, used his senior presentation to come out to his parents at school with [Mr. Amsler’s] support.” 

Mr. Amsler is also very committed to his students and his work. As stated by another one of his colleagues, “[Mr. Amsler] bikes in all kinds of weather like a crazy person to be on time and energetic to work.” He does this for his students and for the love of educating. He also “takes students to the garden to learn [about the] outdoors and is always advocating for individual students.” The dedication and effort that Mr. Amsler demonstrates as a teacher knows no bounds and inspires his own staff to do their best for their students.

Congrats Mr. Amsler! We are excited to celebrate and recognize the great work that he does and leave you with these moving words from his colleague:

“When I think of TR Amsler, I think of possibilities. In my ten years working with TR, I have seen how his sincere belief in what seem at first like outlandish possibilities has changed lives.”