Tara Stephens, Syracuse Arts Academy

Updated nomination: March 2022

Ms. Stephens is the best English teacher I have ever had. She treats all of her students as if they were her kids. She is the best teacher I have ever had!

-wyatt hall

“She knows when people are being rude and steps in and will always be willing to help even if that student is far behind.”

-caden groke

Original nomination: Jun 2017

For the KSL Teacher feature, I nominate my favorite English teacher Mrs. Stephens. Because all of this year she has been a wonderful teacher to not just me but everyone in the classroom. She always smiles at you as you pass her classroom and asks how you are. When I got my tonsils out a month ago she would always ask me how I was doing to see if my throat was doing okay. So a few days ago I was having a rough day with how dry it was and when she asked I told her “that it was really dry” and she gave me a water bottle so that it would not be as dry. That meant a lot to me because not very many people (teachers) would do that for a student. Also she cares about every kid as if they were her own and at least for me I find that really comforting to have someone that if needed, I would feel comfortable talking to her.

For me I would say that caring about your students is a big quality for being a teacher. It helps me learn better and want to go to her class on B days. It is nice to have something to look forward to at the end of the day, when you are tired and just want to go home. She makes me wake up and want to listen and go to her class. She is always happy even when she is not, if the class before us were not good she does not carry it out through the whole day, she moves on and tries to have a better rest of the day with the students in the next class.

She is a very good teacher because she cares if you are actually leaning or if you are just sitting there not listening. She knows that not everybody learns at the same rate so she makes sure you understand the lesson before she moves on the next thing. She is willing to help you after school or in advisory. Any time that is she can help she will. So she does care about her students and her job. That is why I love her so much, she is definitely one of the best teachers I have ever had.
– Maddie Anderser

Mrs. Stephens is my English teacher, she cares about every single student that she teaches even if she doesn’t have that student she always cares for everyone. She is a kind, caring, and smart person. She deserves this award because when she has something on her mind she gets it done. I always see her going out of her way to do nice things, just yesterday I saw her give our science teacher a present just because it reminded it of her.
During class last week she gave our class free water bottles and drink mix that she had bought with her own money she is so nice to everyone. If someone is struggling in class and she’s grading papers she will stop what she’s doing and help that student with what they need, and that to me is special because not a lot of teachers would do that. A couple of months ago I had a very good friend pass away, it was so hard at school I cried a lot but Mrs. Stephens was always there whenever I had a bad day she would always ask me how I was doing she was so nice about it, it helped me get through the day. She cared so much that she even wrote me a letter home telling me that it is going to be alright and that she is there if I ever need anything.

Mrs. Stephens loves her job very much and shows it, even if there’s that student that is a trouble maker she knows how to handle it. The teacher feature award should go to Mrs. Stephens because she really is in it for the long haul, she cares about her students and not about the money. I want to be a Mrs. Stephens someone who cares more about the kids she teaches then the assignments she gives out. Even though she challenges us daily she really cares about me and the rest of her “kids” she calls us, she really does care about us and that’s what deserves the teacher feature award.
-Luke Blatter

Mrs. Stephens is smart, talented, beautiful, kind, loving, trusting, and all in all a wonderful teacher. I am nominating Mrs. Stephens for the KSL Zions Bank teacher feature, because she helps us understand English better, she makes English fun with her little quirks and spunky attitude, and she listens to what we have to say about our questions, concerns, and our problems in English.

First of all, Mrs. Stephens helps us understand English better. She breaks the subject down and makes it easier for all of us to understand. I for one know that when we were reading Hamlet, she broke things down and made it so we could understand the old language. But as we progressed through the book, she no longer needed to because we learned from her to break it down and to figure it out on our own. In class we have to learn Greek and Latin vocabulary words; she lets us choose the way we write them down and then she gives us a month to study. Then she changes how we take the test every time, giving us a new opportunity every time. Mrs. Stephens lets us play games, do crafts, popcorn reading, and lots of other fun stuff to make English more understandable. When I was in seventh grade, I didn’t really understand how to write essays. My 7th grade English teacher sort of helped me understand better, but when I got to Mrs. Stephens class, I learned how to write essays in a jiffy, and get a good grade on them too. She always says, “I like the quick and easy way of doing a paper; I like being lazy.” So she taught us how to do the “quick and easy” way. It makes writing an essay even better.

Secondly, Mrs. Stephens makes English fun with her fun attitude. She makes jokes about little things, which helps us remember what to do or how to say certain things. She makes it so we can have fun while learning. She does this by letting us play a game called “Stand Up, Sit Down” after a big test or after we do something really hard. The game is where she asks questions of all kinds and has us answer them. If we don’t know the answer, we have to sit down, and so on. Mrs. Stephens also answers all of our questions about the subject or anything else we have questions on. She makes sure that we understand what we are learning and makes sure all of our problems are resolved.

In conclusion Mrs. Stephens is a wonderful teacher and I really think that you could choose her for the nomination.
– Elizabeth Nichols

The teacher that I would like to nominate is Mrs. Stephens. She is my eighth grade English teacher and advisory teacher. There are many reasons that I like her. She has helped me in so many different ways. She has helped me find a reason to like English.

Before I started my eighth grade year I didn’t really like English, but since I started Mrs. Stephens’s class I have started to fall in love with it. I have found that I am actually pretty good at writing papers, and that I like reading Shakespeare. She has made English fun for me again. She is always there to help you if you are having trouble with something. She is the best English teacher I have ever had.

In Mrs. Stephens’s advisory she treats us like we are her kids. She is always making sure that our grades are good, and that we don’t have any missing assignments. One thing that I really like about her is that she is very creative. She has like every craft supply you would need. One time one of the kids in our advisory needed help with a theater project and she helped the student right away then she told the rest of the advisory that whoever wanted to help the student could. To me that is what all teachers should do. That is why I like her so much as my advisory teacher, and as a teacher in general.
– Amy Burger
I am nominating my English teacher, her name is Tara Stephens. I am nominating her because she has a good way of teaching and she is also fun. I love going to her class because I always learn and have a fun time at the same time. She teaches English better than any other English teacher I’ve ever had, I have gotten much better grades in her class than with any other teacher. I think she is the best English teacher ever.

Mrs. Stephens is a good teacher because if I don’t get something she will always explain it to me. She uses fun stories and silly explanations that helps us understand what we need to. In eighth grade we read Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one of the hardest Shakespeare plays to understand. She always goes through and makes sure we understand what we are reading. We talk and go through the events that we have read. Right now we are researching a seminar or a debate on topics key in Hamlet’s story. We haven’t started doing the actual seminar but it sounds like a lot of fun.

Mrs. Stephens will always be there for her students. In class we tell highs and lows and she talks about them. Mrs. Stephens will help you in many ways. Her bright and cheery attitude will always make your day better. I will always remember her generous acts and ways of teaching. I hope this will be a good way to thank her for doing such a good job at her job.
– Camille Kaiser

I am nominating Tara Stephens. She is a wonderful teacher. She is one of my favorite teachers I ever had so far. The three reasons I want to nominate her is that she is very nice, helps me with English, and she makes learning English fun. Tara Stephens is a good example of a amazing teacher.
Tara Stephens is very kind and loving. She is so super nice and isn’t really ever mean. She is nice to me and helps me learn. She is kind and patient with me when I have a question. She doesn’t get mad and helps me when I don’t know what to do or how to do it. That happens often in her class.

Tara Stephens helps me and other kids with English. My worst subject in school is English. I am really bad at English and it’s my lowest grade. But this year I got her as a teacher, and my grade in English has really improved. I know how to write better and read. She even taught me how to understand and decode poetry, which was very hard, but she still showed me how to do it and now I can easily do it.

Tara Stephens makes learning English fun. I normally struggle and stress over my English assignments and homework, but this year, I don’t worry as much because she helps me with it and makes learning it fun. She taught me fun ways to write an essay. Before, I thought essays were boring and hard to write. Now I can do it in half the time it would take me before.

Tara Stephens is an amazing teacher, and should win the KSL teacher feature. She totally deserves it.
– Carson Smith
I am nominating Tara Stephens, my English teacher, for the Zion’s Bank Teacher Feature on KSL. I am nominating her because she is kind to all of her students, even if they are difficult to deal with or interrupt the class. She talks to us and makes sure we comprehend everything before moving on to the next topic. She has scented lotions on her desk that we can use, and some of them have essential oils to help us out if we are stressed for a test. Mrs. Stephens is considerate to everyone, even when circumstances are hard. Once, I had to retake a test because I was gone along with some other students, and she made sure her advisory was quiet, so we could test with no interruption.

Mrs. Stephens is fun. She makes a constant effort at making the class enjoyable and interesting. We do a number of that are interactive and make the class have more variety. We also do cool literature. We read “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare and we acted it out, along with doing feeling charts, and debates on the side. She is relatable, and during discussions, she uses her own experiences to relate to us and our learning.

Something else Mrs. Stephens is known for is “Highs and Lows”. She has us grab a journal every day, and she has us write three good things in our lives, and three bad things. We share (normally, unless class is cut short) one High and one Low that we wrote in our Journal. She listens to all of us and sometimes helps us find the positive in our low, or how to solve the problem.
To make a long story short, you should choose Mrs. Tara Stephens for the teacher feature because she is helpful, kind, considerate, fun, and attentive.
– Audry Neilson
There are many amazing teachers in my school, but one surely stands out. The Zions Bank KSL Teacher Feature should recognize Tara Stephens. Mrs. Stephens has been a teacher dedicated to her students for many years. Though she is popular among many pupils for some little reasons, Mrs. Stephens has stood out to me since I first had her as a teacher. There are few words that can describe my first day in her class.
One year ago, I was a little seventh grader, confused completely as to how Junior High actually worked. Going into a class of mixed grades was even harder for me. Mrs. Stephens’s Children’s Literature class held several ninth graders, a few eighth graders, and about three seventh graders. It was terrifying. Of course, I thought that this teacher would act towards me like every teacher and either ignore my shyness, simply thinking it was good behavior, or exploit it and call on me for everything, even when I wasn’t raising my hand. Instead, Mrs. Stephens got me to loosen up by joking around with me and learning about how to make me comfortable. Later on in the year, though, she made things harder for me, and the others in my class I’m sure. At that time, I resented that I had to do such hard projects in such a short time. Now, though, I realized that she was pushing us so that we learned what the real world was like before it was too late.

Now I have Mrs. Stephens for advisory and English, and things are a lot simpler. Once again, though, I was a little nervous about starting her class, thinking that it would be just like the year before. When I went into advisory, however, Mrs. Stephens treated me like an old friend. When we read for English, she pushed me like she did the year before, giving me confidence this time that I could do it. I’ve learned more in her class than was in the lesson plans, and more than I have all the time I’ve been in school. One of the best things about Mrs. Stephens, though, is that she cares. She’ll always remember, too.
– Gabrielle Williams
The reason I chose Tara Stephens for the Teacher Feature nomination was because she is very caring and hopeful for her students. Many of her students struggle on things, such as tests or essays, and she is always there with a helping hand to help us out. I, for one, I struggle on tests, and she one hundred percent understands it. She understands that I stress myself out, and she helps me when I need it.

Sometimes, things happen in life that you wish didn’t, and when that happened in our school, and she really helped me out. Some kids were devastated after a student passed away, and there was definitely a lot of hurt. She talked to them and helped them understand that everything would be okay, and we have to move forward or our lives will be miserable forever. One of those students was me. It was a month after the incident had happened, and I was really feeling down. She asked me if I was okay, and she really made me believe that she cared about me. That is something that many teachers do, but she really helped me the most.

Not only does she care for her students, she also is an amazing English teacher. She helps us understand how to do essays without a doubt. She takes us step by step on how to do it, and she makes learning fun. When we started to learn about poetry, we read Hamlet. It was kind of a fun way to make us really understand how to read and investigate what the poem means. Mrs. Stephens is a great teacher, and I believe she is a great nomination for the teacher feature contest.
– Hailey Kelker