Jon Prather
Jon Prather
3rd Grade Teacher | Coyote Valley Elementary | Middletown Unified School District
Jon Prather is the best kind of teacher: rigorous with his standards but patient with the process; silly and ready with a joke but serious when the moment calls for it; focused on creating independent learners but ensuring these same learners that it’s okay to ask for help.
Most of all, Mr. Prather is kind, authentic, and humble.
Relationships matter to Mr. Prather. He builds authentic, meaningful relationships with all his students, and the students in other classes as well.
He builds relationships with the parents of his students and shows them he deeply cares for their children and their well-being. He also builds relationships with his coworkers and keeps us all laughing in the moments we need it most.
These relationships allow students to know they are seen, heard, and respected at school.
Mr. Prather is a team player. He is always open to trying something new in his classroom, and often collaborates with his peers to bring in new ideas and units to support his students. He will always lend a helping hand, no matter the task; even volunteering to help with student pick up everyday, rain or shine, after school, sending our students home with smiles on their faces.
Students love Mr. Prather's sense of humor and truly enjoy their time in his class. This allows them to feel safe to push themselves in his classroom.
They know that it is ok to fail as long as they try their best. This creates a classroom of motivated learners with grit. These lessons and experiences will stay with our students for a lifetime. Our sixth graders still talk about him and their time in his class. He instills core values in his students and does a great job developing respectful humans.
Students grow in all academic and social areas while in Mr. Prather’s class. He does an exceptional job at building a community in his classroom that is focused on growth, student success, and most importantly peer support.
Students take to heart the motto: guide, don't provide. Every student in the class is willing to help out their peers who may be struggling, but they never give the answers. Instead, they help the student by supporting the process.
This is a key takeaway from Mr. Prather’s class, and one that supports students for years to come.