For this week's teacher of the week, we head to Johnson City Middle School(JCMS) to highlight Nate Luce and his fun way of keeping his students motivated during the holiday season.

Fox 40's Teacher of the Week is sponsored by Springbrook.

Nate Luce started his teaching career 20 years ago in Virginia before returning to his hometown in the southern tier to teach science at Johnson City Middle School.

He's been at JCMS for 16 years and said it was a welcome change to switch from teaching 5th grade to 6th grade three years ago.

Luce said, "I feel like my job as a sixth-grade science teacher now is not to have the kids just memorize vocabulary words but I really feel my number one job is to get my students to think like a scientist, to offer them some kind of a problem and think through the problem and come up with a solution. "

Luce said he also enjoys connecting with students and making the classroom experience fun.

"I really care for them and know if they're having a bad day that, you know, I'm here for them and they can always count on me to come talk to me. Or if I can't give them the answer, I can find someone who can," said Luce.

Around the holidays, he brings out his elf on the shelf Frankie to help get kids into the holiday spirit and have a fun incentive to be on their best behavior until the end of the season.

And it's things like that that help build those important connections.

Luce said, "I think that goes a long way and it shows that we care and we're not here just to see the negative side of what sometimes happens. But I'm always looking for the positive in the students so I can make those phone calls.