- It brings me joy just to show up at work and work with an entire school building, and support English language learners as they learn how to read.

(classical music) My name is Mindy Layton.

I'm a teacher at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School.

I teach English Language Development and this is my happy place.

(classical music) - Mindy does an excellent job of navigating the complexities of teaching language.

She's somebody who brings out the best in people and has a knack for seeing what people are great at, even when they can't see it themselves.

- The students that I instruct come from all around the globe.

I just love to get to know them and everything that makes them unique.

- She's just committed to knowing students as people, not just as learners in the classroom.

- They're fleeing places where they haven't been safe.

And so when they get to my classroom, I'm doing everything I can to create that safety and that sense of community.

And I call my classroom The Academy, because it sounds noble and it makes learning English exciting.

- [Aalia] I mean, if you walk into one of Mindy's small groups, you're gonna see him movin' and dancin'.

And that's what sets her apart.

Her classroom is not quiet.

- [Mindy] If you're not using your body, you're not learning.

So I have all kinds of strategies to allow every child the opportunity to express themselves in whatever way they can.

One way is that we wrote operas in the classroom.

- She had her students write the actual play.

She had them choreograph the play.

- And with limited English skills, just those little snippets of each student's life, we wove them together to create an opera called Coming to America.

It started out with the excitement of coming and moving to America.

And then that feeling of like, this was supposed to be so amazing but I miss people in my country.

- [Aalia] Seeing that level of engagement from her students was amazing.

It's something that they're gonna take with them for the rest of their lives.

(classical music) The biggest thing that makes Mindy stand out as an educator is her commitment to students and their families.

- I understand that a lot of my students' parents don't understand English language.

So I'm an advocate on ensuring that I meet my students' parents face to face.

- I mean, families invite her over for dinner.

- I've sat on almost 200 sofas or front porches.

And they've shared with me their hopes and dreams.

And by being a resource and a mentor to my students, I'm also supporting their family and their family networks Last year, at the beginning of the year, I ran into maybe five or six children in our neighborhood.

And I said, "What are you guys doing here?

School started.

Let's get you enrolled in school."

And this sweet family said, "We just arrived from Uganda."

They live 22 years in a refugee camp.

And they're like, "We don't know how to register."

And I said, "Let me get you the paperwork."

Because I had that connection, they came to my online class every single day and we developed such a connection.

Their family would get on and say, "Hi, Miss Mindy."

We went through the earthquake together.

We went through everything together and so it was so special.

These particular students, I knew I was making a difference with.

- I mean, just meeting students on that level and getting to know them as people, that's the biggest thing that blew me away about Mindy.

- My students and families have become dear friends to me.

And this is the best job in the world.

That's what I really wanna create, as a welcoming classroom where every student every day knows there is a teacher who deeply cares about them.