New York City Special Education teacher Alanna O’Donnell has earned a coveted Big Apple award. Photo Credit: NYC Department of Education

There are many fine classroom teachers who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One is Alanna O’Donnell, a Special Education teacher from New York City who has earned a coveted Big Apple award.

Alanna teaches at PS K721, the Brooklyn Occupational Training Center, a high school located in Brooklyn, New York. Her students are aged 14-21 and have been diagnosed with autism.

Clearly Alanna is a teacher devoted to her students. She works tirelessly to ensure that all her students have access to rigorous community-based academic experiences, hand-on training in the skills they require to be successful in future employment and independent living, and opportunities to celebrate their success through donation-funded proms and graduation receptions.

The honored teacher has found new and inventive ways to keep her students engaged and invested in their education. One way she has done this is to implement work-based learning activities for her students by garnering donations from the community to buy groceries for her students and their families. Using these materials as part of her instruction, she creates culinary experiences for each student and supporting family member. She also offers family cooking lessons each week, highlighting cultural foods and preferences for each of her students.

Another example is the after-school group for girls she established when she saw the need for social emotional connections beyond the classroom. She calls the group the  P721K Pink Ladies.

Alanna is one of 20 New York educators who received a Big Apple award this year. Since 2012, the New York City Schools Chancellor has presented the Big Apple award to educators who have gone above and beyond to inspire students, lead school communities, or ensure their students learn course material. This year’s winners were selected by a panel which includes former Big Apple recipients, representatives of teacher unions, and Department of Education staff from a pool of more than 11,000 nominations.

Sadly, we report the passing of New York special education teacher Cindy Goldsmith-Agosta, who succumbed to Covid-19 on Jan. 15, 2022. She was 47 years old.  Photo credit: The Suffolk Times

We are sad to report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Cindy Goldsmith-Agosta, a special education teacher from Greenport, New York, succumbed to the disease on Jan. 15, 2022. She was only 47 years old.

Cindy was born on May 15, 1974, and raised in the East Marion section of Long Island, New York. She graduated from Greenport High School in 1992. She then earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Human Services, cum laude, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1996. After earning her teaching credential and special education certification from Hoffstra University in Long Island, Cindy returned to her alma mater at Greenport High School to teach.

Cindy’s passing has hit the small community where the well-known educator lived and taught hard. “There are no words to describe the loss that we are experiencing with the news of losing Cindy,” remarked Greenport High School Principal Gary Kalish. “She was a beloved member of our faculty, a trusted and well-respected colleague who cherished our school and our children,” he continued. “She had a dynamic personality that we all loved. Her contribution to all of our lives will not be forgotten,” he concluded.

During her teaching career, Cindy served as President of the local teachers’ union. In fact, when the pressures of teaching would get to colleagues, Cindy would open up her home to them as a place to decompress. The fallen educator was also a member of the East End Health Plan Board of Trustees, and she served on the Greenport High School Scholarship Committee. She was also named to the coveted list of Who’s Who Among American Teachers.

To read more about Cindy Goldsmith-Agosta, see this story about her published by The Suffolk Times.

Jane Jones, a Special Education teacher at Byron Middle School in Rockford, Illinois, succumbed to Covid-19 on December 14, 2021. She was just 44 years old. Photo credit: Rockford Register Star

Sadly, we report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Jane Jones, a junior high school teacher from Illinois, succumbed to the disease, complicated by the onset of pneumonia, on December 14, 2021. She was just 44 years old.

Jane was a Special Education teacher at Byron Middle School in Rockford, Illinois. The beloved educator will be sorely missed. “Our entire school community is grieving the loss of a wonderful educator and amazing person,” commented Superintendent Buster Barton.

The fallen educator was born September 18, 1977, in Moline, Illinois. She grew up in Orion, Illinois, where she played volleyball, basketball, track, and excelled in art class. After her graduation from high school, Jane attended the University of Illinois, majoring in Education, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in 2000, graduating first in her class. While there, she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. At the time of her passing, Jane was just one class short of completing her Master’s degree.

After earning her Bachelor’s degree, Jane accepted her first teaching position as a middle school science educator at Sarah Bank School in Walled Lake, Michigan. After a stint in DeePere, Wisconsin, Jane and her husband Ryan moved with their three children to Byron, Illinois. There Jane began substitute teaching, and later she accepted a full-time position as a Special Education teacher at Byron Middle School.

According to her obituary, Jane loved her students like her own. Her passion for each student was evident in the countless hours she spent in the classroom. Even through her hardest days this past year, her students were always on her mind. “She made sure to know the little things about someone,” remembered friend Victoria Kuzlik. “She was one of the nicest people you would ever meet.”

A scholarship fund will be established in Jane’s name at Byron High School.

Deaf and blind student Helen Keller, left, with her Miracle Working teacher, Annie Sullivan Macy. Photo credit: Public Domain

Anne Sullivan: This teacher’s name is synonymous with Miracle Worker. Anne is the remarkable teacher who worked with Helen Keller, an extremely intelligent blind and deaf child from Tuscumbia, Alabama. The relationship between the teacher and the student is explored in the play The Miracle Worker by William Gibson, an iconic piece of American literature that is frequently taught in public schools. This award-winning play depicts the exact moment at which, due to Anne’s expert instructional efforts, Helen was able to grasp the concept of language. This knowledge unlocked a world of isolation for the little girl, allowing her to connect with her fellow human beings, and making it possible for her to earn a university degree at a time when educating women was rare. The scene is sweet. But what strategies, exactly, did the miracle-working teacher use in order to achieve this breakthrough? After extensive reading on the subject, I think I may be able to identify a few of them.

First of all, Anne read every bit of published material available in her day about the education of handicapped students. Knowledge of pedagogy is the first step to effective practice. In addition to this, Anne had the “advantage” of personal experience, as she herself had wrestled with severe vision impairment as a result of trachoma. I’m sure at one time or another, we’ve all met an educator who is particularly effective at working with students who are facing the same challenges the teacher himself faced as a youngster.

Second, Anne was a keen observer, and she made it a point to watch the normal processes of language acquisition. She then replicated those processes as best she could to fit the particular circumstances and needs of her student. Today, we would probably call this strategy recognizing brain-based learning, and coordinating teaching strategies to fit the way the brain naturally learns.

Also, experts generally agree that much of Anne’s success in teaching Helen language was attributed to the fact that the teacher always communicated to her student with complete sentences. Concrete nouns such as water or spoon, verbs such was pump or run, or adjectives such as hot or smooth,  may be easy to convey. But abstract ideas such as beauty or truth, or certain parts of speech such as pronouns and some prepositions are much more difficult to impart to an individual unable to see or hear. Yet Annie always used these words in her everyday communication with Helen anyway.

Fourth, Anne was especially adept at incorporating experiential learning into her lesson plans. The effectiveness of “learning by doing” has been well documented, but in a day and age when most instruction consisted of rote memorization without necessarily comprehending, Anne’s insistence on teaching through constructed experience was truly innovative. Wading through the creek water, climbing the tree, holding the chick as it hatched from the egg—experiences like these were the staples of Anne’s instructional program.

To learn more about Anne Sullivan Macy, I have included an abbreviated but concise biography of her in my book, Chalkboard Champions: Twelve Teachers who Educated America’s Disenfranchised Students, which can also be found at amazon.com at the following link: Chalkboard Champions.