TAMPA, Fla. — She has been honored as Teacher of the Year by both Hillsborough and Orange County public schools.

Ana Sierra has been a teacher for 38 years, most recently as an Exceptional Student Education teacher at Alonso High School in Tampa.

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She has her masters in educational leadership. She teaches both students and fellow educators in the classroom. She teaches high schoolers by day, college students at night.

Sierra, this week’s A+ Teacher, has seen it all and done it all.  

And nearly 40 years later, she’s still going strong, making sure every student has what they need to succeed.

“I’m not a teacher that just started yesterday,” she said. “So I can share with them (students) a lot of anecdotes, a lot of stories. Things that have worked for me and things that have not worked for me.”

Sierra said she knew early on in her career she wanted to work with all kinds of learners.

She has become an expert at creating different strategies for different learning styles.

“They’ve learned a lot from me,” said Sierra, who plans to retire in two years. “But also I think I’ve learned a lot from them.”