MELBOURNE, Fla. — A Brevard County A+ Teacher says her students are not the only ones learning in her class. West Shore Junior/Senior High School instructor Jill Whitacre says year after year her students teach her important lessons too.  

"I love, love, love teaching. I love my students," says the math and robotics teacher.

She says she can not wait to get back to teaching too.

Whitacre adds, "The last nine weeks of school were extremely difficult for me. I really grieved not being in the classroom with my peers, with my colleagues with my students."

Whitacre teaches pre-algebra and robotics at the high school in Melbourne.

"Robotics is really easy to make fun. Math is a little more challenging," she admits.

But Whitacre was nominated as an A+Teacher for meeting challenges head one. She says,  "My goal for math is to make students feel like they can do it and it's not so hard for them." 

Her deep love of learning runs in the family.

"Education was always extremely important in my family. My parents were first born Americans. Both sets of grandparents came from Italy," she reveals.

Whitacre's biggest joy is pushing her students to do their best every day.

She adds, "I don't have discipline problems in my classes. They just are busy, busy working and having fun learning and teaching me. Students make teachers so much better and they stretch us and they make us want to be there for them."