Excellent Educator: Jodi Schmitt Of Anoka Middle School For The Arts

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- It's clear that students at Anoka Middle School for the Arts love Jodi Schmitt.

However, it's the impact the teacher has made on someone even closer to her that makes her this week's Excellent Educator.

Schmitt's high energy keeps her students engaged and learning.

"They're crazy, they're funny, they're fun, they get me," she said.

In her classroom, her 6th graders excel at English and reading. But often there is a student of a different kind, carefully taking notes.

"I've been inspired my whole life to be just like her. She is the teacher I want to be," Ellie Schmitt, Jodi's daughter, said.

Ellie is a student at University of Wisconsin-River Falls studying elementary education, but she spends her free time in her mom's classroom getting pointers.

"Just her enthusiasm every day. She's never bored, she always has something new, she always is excited to do what she loves. And I hope that I can come every day to the classroom just having that attitude being like her" Ellie said.

Ellie hopes to someday be an excellent educator just like her mom.

"She makes me so proud," Jodi said. "For her to do that is an honor to me, because it's something of a bond we'll always have."

Ellie took college courses in high school so she will be graduating early and hopes to work in the Anoka-Hennepin School District like her mom.