CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Connecting with the students in your class, whatever it takes -- it's what this week's A+ Teacher does. She also takes it a step further, and connects with the whole family. 

For Anna Runyon and her 11-year-old son Zachary, distance learning is over and it's their first time back on campus at Leila G. Davis Elementary School in Clearwater. 

Anna said when they first came here, Zachary didn't know how to read. After a short time with ESE Teacher Erin Ornot, Zachary not only knows how to read, but loves to read! 

Anna reached out to Spectrum Bay News 9 to nominate Erin as an A+ Teacher. 

"It was totally a surprise. I love my students. I would do that every day for any student," Erin said. 

"She's very special. I'm blessed that she's in my life, and that she helps my children. She's the best teacher," Anna expressed. 

Erin also helped Zachary's two sisters during distance learning, and they don't even go to school at Leila G Davis.

Erin says "connection over content," and the key to success is to embrace the whole family, whatever it takes. 

"Sometimes that's going to their house and taking the computer there and helping them get setup, helping mom login, so if the kids say, 'I can't do it.' Well, that's okay. She can help you with it." 

Whether in-person or online, Erin lives for those "lightbulb moments." 

"I love when I see the kids struggling with something and we work on it together in a different way and all of a sudden their eyes just pop open wider and you'll see that lightbulb go off because they get it," Erin expressed. "They just get it and those are my favorite moments. When you see them recognize that they were just successful with something. That's my inspiration."

Leila G. Davis Principal Bill Durst said Erin truly loves kids. "I knew the very first day I met her in her interview 2 years ago. She sat in my office and within 2 minutes I knew this is a person whose going to take on every kid and love them like they're her own."