King Middle School teacher Heather Anderson has been named Manatee County's Teacher of the Year. 

  • Heather Anderson named Manatee's Educator of the Year
  • Anderson teaches at King Middle School
  • Anderson has been teaching for 18 years

Anderson said she knew she wanted to be a teacher ever since she was a kid, and after 18 years of teaching, she said one of the most rewarding parts of her career came this week when she was awarded Manatee's Educator of the Year. 

"Honored, humbled. I do what I do every day for my kids," she said. 

Her students definitely notice the hard work. 

"A lot of my other classrooms are just like pencil, pens. It's boring a lot of the time. In this class it's always fun, there's always stuff to do," student Andrew Zoller said. 

Some of the stuff her class does is "popcorn" around the room and act out Romeo and Juliet in appropriate attire, but it may be the technology used in her classroom that made Anderson stand out against the other contestants. 

"Everyday we're using tablets for research activities or lesson materials," Anderson said. 

The tablets were not provided by the school, but through a fundraiser orchestrated by Anderson. 

After a couple of hours in Anderson's classroom, it's easy to see why she was named Teacher of the Year. 

The winner for support Employee of the Year is Marie Mueller from Oneco Elementary. Both teachers will receive $5,000.