A kind face often sits in the bleachers or auditorium, where she supports her students in their extracurricular activities. Within the school building, the same smile welcomes students into her warm classroom. A friend to all, math teacher Amanda Bell is driven by a desire to teach and care. After only four years of teaching experience, she has proved herself exceptional.

Canyon High School teacher of the year finalists include science teacher Hayden Blankenship and manufacturing teacher Chase Fulton. Math teacher Amanda Bell was named teacher of the year on Monday, January 31.

“I like helping others and letting them see that they can do it [math],” Bell said. “I love seeing the lightbulb go off in someone’s head when they understand something that has taken a while.”

Bell said she has wanted to be a teacher ever since she was in Kindergarten. She graduated from West Texas A&M University in 2018 and has been teaching at Canyon High School for four years, first teaching geometry and then moving into precalculus, calculus and strategic math.

“I always thought I wanted to teach elementary levels,” Bell said. “In high school, I did this program called Ready, Set, Teach, and we got to be student teachers for two periods a day. I went to elementary schools for that, and I realized I did not like elementary school. I always tutored my friends in math, and in college I became a tutor. I really liked it and decided to teach at the upper level instead.”

Bell also teaches a strategic math class, an intervention class for students who have failed their algebra one STAAR test. Bell said that she recognizes that many of the students struggle with the having a negative attitude toward math.

“I hope to teach students that they’re capable of doing things, and to realize they can become something, because a lot of them don’t think highly of themselves,” Bell said. “They usually have an attitude of ‘I don’t want to be in class, and I don’t want to be at school,’ but every single one of my kids has shown growth in that class. That’s always been my goal: to help them grow and be confident in themselves.”

Bell said her goal is to be a safe place for her students, because she knows they do not always have that at home.

“Every time we walked in, one of my favorite teachers would say ‘I’m glad you’re here, even if you’re late,’ and I try to do the same thing with my kids,” Bell said. “I’m glad they’re able to come, and I don’t get mad when they show up late. That really impacted me to give second chances.”

Sophomore Rheyana Tindell had Bell during her freshmen year, and said she always felt comfortable going and talking with Bell, or asking for help with anything.

“I was going through something in my life, and I couldn’t get myself out of it,” Tindell said. “She always made sure, every single day, every time she would see me in the hallways, that I was okay. She would email me and ask me if my day was going good. It was just the little things that she did.”

Students often describe Bell as a school mom, investing the time to talk to students about topics other than math. 

“She goes out of her way, even if it’s not school related, she’ll always make sure that you’re okay,” Tindell said. “If my grades were dipping, she would email that teacher and make sure I would get those grades up and let me work on my papers in her class.”

Sophomore Brycn Koch had Bell for Algebra his freshmen year. Koch said Bell is a kind, positive person who made sure her classroom was a warm and welcoming environment for students. 

“She tries to make everybody happy coming through her door,” Koch said. “Every time I walk in there, I know that I’m not going to have a rough day with her class. I’ll have an easy-going day and still get my work done with her helping me.” 

Bell said she was shocked when they called her name at the presentation, announcing she was teacher of the year, because she did not expect it at all.

“I think it’s a huge deal, especially for only being an educator for four years,” Bell said. “For my fellow teachers to nominate me was pretty cool. To see some of my students say I was their safe teacher, and they appreciated having me is a really big deal.”