Mrs. Timmerman started teaching American Sign Language at Pembroke Pines Charter High School in August of 2019. It’s her fourth year teaching ASL, with her three previous years of being a mixture of community college courses and online private instruction. She says, “the switch to online instruction was challenging, but in a different way than you might think.” Since she has taught online before, she says that the change was something she is comfortable with. 

  Mrs. Timmerman expresses the challenge is keeping her two special needs kids focused on their work and her toddler entertained and happy. She has always been a teacher that really cares about her students, for example, she makes a lot of videos with positive messages to encourage her students. One of her ASL 1 students, Megan Rasmussen says, “Mrs. Timmerman is a very nice teacher that always helps her students when they are struggling.” Most of her students can agree that she has a big heart and is always willing to help. 

   She tries to keep in mind how stressed her students can become during these hard times so she tries to post as many videos as she can to explain things and just to check in with her students. For example, if a student doesn’t turn in an assignment in a few days, she reaches out to them to make sure everything is okay and they are doing well. Sophomore, Lucas Valdes explains, “she’s a pretty lenient teacher who’s really patient and she always shows the utmost respect for her students.” She also individually reaches out to students that usually spend more time chatting with her in her class. She states, “this entire experience is confusing and weird, and while I obviously want my students to keep learning ASL, right now my number one priority is their mental health.” Mrs. Timmerman is a very well respected teacher, and it isn’t hard to see why.  

  Teachers like Mrs. Timmerman are working really hard for their students to get used to this new way of learning. Next time you come in contact with one of your teachers, thank them for what they’re doing.