GSMS Teacher of the Year

                Gulf Shores Middle School is proud to announce that Mr. Roger Reetz is this year's Teacher of the Year. Mr. Reetz has taught for 11 years and it has always been at GSMS. Right now he teaches 7^th grade regular and advanced math and journalism, but he has also taught 6th grade English, 7th grade literature, 6^th & 8^th grade math, and 8th grade history. Mr. Reetz has also coached cross country for four years and is one of the sponsors of the GSMS Cross Trainers Club. 

                One of the areas that Mr. Reetz has focused in as a teacher is using technology to enhance all areas of the learning environment.  He has held a number of bike-a-thons over the years to raise money for buying technology for his classroom such as computers, a media projector, a Smartboard, the Qwizdom student response system, and a variety of software.  He also uses technology daily to keep his student's parents advised, via email, any time their child doesn't complete an assignment and sending them an email with every test and quiz score.  Another way he has used technology in his class is by creating video "podcasts" of all of his lessons so that his students will have access to them if they are absent or just need to review a little.

Mr. Reetz and his wife, Kelly Reetz have two kids Conrad, who is 8 years old and Bennett, who is 6 years old. He enjoys taking his family camping in the woods and volunteering as his oldest son's (Conrad) Cub Scout den leader. Besides teaching at GSMS, he is also a part time police officer for Orange Beach, Alabama, where has worked for about 5 years. Mr. Reetz just finished getting his masters degree. In his free time he likes to read and exercise but does not watch TV. He says there is too much life worth living to spend your time in front of a television.   Also, this is Mr. Reetz's second time as Teacher of the Year. 

When asked why he thought he deserved to be Teacher of the Year, Mr. Reetz said, "I don't really think I do.  I am just one of the many great teachers at GSMS, who work very hard every day to ensure the students get the best education they can.  I was very surprised and honored when I learned that my peers had bestowed this honor on me."

"Mr. Reetz is one of the best teachers at our school" says Austin Boyd (the art teacher at GSMS) when asked why he thinks Mr. Reetz received teacher of the year. When asked to say a few random words about Mr. Reetz, Mr. Boyd said, "Mr. Reetz had a dry sense of humor, which is fun." Also, A couple students were asked to say a few things about Mr. Reetz and we got, "Mr. Reetz is a pretty cool guy." from 7th grader Wesley Keith and "Mr. Reetz is crazy funny in a good way." from 7th grader Kailyn Willis.

There are many great teachers at our wonderful school. Unfortunately, there can only be one Teacher of the Year at GSMS every year, and this year that teacher is Mr. Reetz. On behalf of the entire school, I would like to thank Mr. Reetz for his years of hard work and great teaching. Thank you, Mr. Reetz!

By: Savannah Wilkinson

Gulf Shores Middle School
Teacher of the Year
Roger Reetz