BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Teaching is a lot like playing a sport for Ladonna Washington. She’s a coach and no student is allowed to sit on the sidelines in her science class.

At Istrouma Magnet Middle School, Coach Washington is a seventh- and eighth-grade teacher. Right now, her kids are learning about the “survival of the fittest,” as it relates to the animal kingdom. It’s a tough subject to teach, but coach says she knows how to keep her students’ heads in the game.

“I relate science to everyday life,” Washington explained. “Relating it to things that they can remember. If you give the students things that they can relate to, they’ll be more prone to listen to you and be able to give you feedback.”

“If the students like you they’ll do anything for you,” she said. “If you have a good relationship with them. They know, ‘here comes Coach Washington,’ and whatever you need them to do, they’ll do it.”

By now you can probably tell Coach is liked a lot, which is why we popped in with our Extraordinary Educators Award.

Click here to nominate an educator, or click on the “Features” tab above.