Xierra Itayem named Teacher of the Year at Mater Lakes Middle

For the 2017-2018 school year, Xierra Itayem was named Teacher of the Year for Mater Lakes Academy Middle School.
Itayem has a Bachelor's in Arts and a minor in Art History from Florida International University. Her background is in theater arts as well, specializing in musical theater and set design. With her education set, she has been teaching Studio Art, AP Art and AP Art History for four years now.
She loves directing plays and musicals with the students. Itayem has directed three productions at Mater Lakes, “I Hate Shakespeare,” “Scenes from a Dance” and “Peter Pan” which was performed at Miami Dade College North Campus in the Lehman Theater.
Her highlighted feature was special equipment that was rented for the play to get students to fly in the Peter Pan play. Itayem’s goal with the students is to keep them thinking creatively and out of the box, so that they can take those skills into any career they decide to pursue.
Itayem’s passion for the arts helps encourage more of the young students to tackle careers in the arts. Their innovations are creative and she believes that creativity should be fostered from a young age.
Itayem loves teaching AP Art History classes because it allows her to step out of the "creator" mode and get students that are not necessarily artists interested in the arts. Through teaching that class, it gives her opportunities to share cultures and stories with them that they otherwise may have never known about. It gets them interested in going to museums, traveling and interested in what the world has to offer outside of the norm.
She deeply expressed how honored she is to be the Middle School Teacher of the Year!