When Andrea Mitchell was introduced to the Board of Trustees as Teacher of the Year for H. Allen Hight Elementary, her principal noted that she sometimes requests that a particularly troubled, struggling or hard-to-handle child be assigned to her class.
Asked about that later, Principal Hervey Taylor said that Mitchell clearly makes a difference with such students. “You can tell that she really cares about the kids,” he said. “You know that old saying, ‘They don’t care what you know until they know you care?’ It’s real with her.”
Mitchell, who also was named a campus Teacher of the Year in 2012, at Jefferson School, said that “I really do believe that every kid is capable of learning and that if they have their own selves in the way, there’s a way to get around it. I haven’t found a kid that I haven’t been able to help – yet.”
Years ago, in her second year of teaching, Mitchell learned how powerful the combination of discipline with love can be after one of her fifth-graders angrily threw a chair in their Oakland classroom. She walked him outside and spoke to him calmly about his misbehavior, letting him know that he could not return to class until he had apologized to classmates. He had never done anything like apologize before, she said, and it was humbling to him. But he did it – and she never had a problem like that with him again.
“That’s when I felt like I had the power to change kids,” she said.
Growing up, Mitchell has fond memories of acquaintances placing fussy babies in her arms and asking for help in putting them to sleep. “So I think there’s something about me that’s very calm and peaceful,” she said. “I think that attracts kids to me.”
Mitchell is in her 20th year of teaching, about half of which has been spent at Natomas Unified. A Bakersfield native, she always dreamed of becoming a teacher. As a child, she remembers playing school with siblings two or three times a week during summer vacation. “I was always the teacher,” she said, smiling.
At Hight, Mitchell is an adviser to the Student Council and the Honor Society. She also mentors a student teacher. In years past, she has taught crocheting to students and been team leader of Hight’s fifth-grade teachers.
In her spare time, Mitchell likes to crochet, spend time with her family – she has two daughters, 18 and 16 – and to “go on dates” with her husband. Someday, she’d like to bungee jump, skydive, and learn to paint with watercolors or oils.
Whatever challenges the future holds, Mitchell has faith that America’s youth will grow up ready to tackle them. “I believe in kids,” Mitchell said. “I don’t fear the future.”
