Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein today congratulated 14 top New York City Teaching Fellows for their achievements in the classroom. The teachers were selected from 359 nominees to receive the NYC Teaching Fellows Award for Classroom Excellence, which recognizes Teaching Fellows who raised student achievement and who served in leadership roles in their schools. The Chancellor honored the four award winners and 10 other finalists at a reception at Tweed Courthouse earlier this week.
“I congratulate these teachers for their amazing and inspiring work with our students,” Chancellor Klein said. “Thanks to the Teaching Fellows program, more great teachers are working in public schools that for decades had been hard to staff. Today, more students from every neighborhood in our City have the opportunity to learn from the very best teachers, including the men and women we are recognizing today.”
Principals, assistant principals, teachers, and students nominated Teaching Fellows for the Classroom Excellence award. Fellows then submitted applications, including personal essays, letters of recommendation, and résumés. A selection committee comprised of NYC Teaching Fellows staff reviewed the applications and narrowed the pool to 14 finalists. Each finalist was interviewed and observed in the classroom, and the four winners were selected by senior staff from the Department of Education, The New Teacher Project, and The Fund for Public Schools, which provided support for the award. The selection committee assessed the candidates based on their educational accomplishments, impact on student achievement, teaching vision, and contribution to their school communities. The winners will receive $2,000 in addition to a $500 classroom grant. Finalists receive $250 each.
The NYC Teaching Fellows program was created in 2000 to recruit talented teaching candidates from non-traditional backgrounds to work in the City’s hardest-to-staff schools and in high-need subject areas such as special education, science, and math. Teaching Fellows now make up more than 11 percent of the total teaching force, including 17 percent of teachers in the Bronx, as well as 26 percent of all math and 22 percent of all special education teachers in the City. Additionally, more than 175 Teaching Fellows have become school administrators, including 52 principals.
The winners of this year’s Teaching Fellow Award for Classroom Excellence are:
Onaje Lataillade, science teacher at School of the Future (M413); First-year Fellow.
Onaje was a professional filmmaker before joining the Fellows program in 2009. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and speaks four languages. An exciting and motivated teacher, Onaje ensures that all students excel by integrating art and creativity into lessons in instructionally-sound and rigorous ways. Over the past year, Onaje’s students mastered key scientific concepts and became engaged as young scientists. Onaje believes that every student can and should achieve at a high level and pushes the envelope with exciting and experiential lesson plans. His students have demonstrated outstanding progress and academic achievement in the sciences.
Brenda Daisy, English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at the Academy for Language and Technology (X365); Fellow since 2007.
Brenda is the founding ESL teacher in a bilingual high school for Spanish-speaking English Language Learners. Since helping to establish the school during her first year in the classroom, she has taken on several leadership roles to help her students and her school succeed. Many of Brenda’s students perform at or below grade level when they enroll, and Brenda supports their growth with a socially-relevant and academically-challenging curriculum. Through this approach, her students learn to respond to critical questions about the world around them and have made significant gains in comprehension and overall achievement. She received an undergraduate degree from Buena Vista University and a graduate degree from Iowa State University.
Victoria Orsi, special education teacher at South Bronx Preparatory (X221); Fellow since 2006.
After graduating from Miami University with a BA in psychology and criminology, Victoria chose to join the Fellows program rather than attending law school. By building relationships with students and creating a trusting and supportive culture, Victoria has designed a classroom where the students take ownership over what and how they learn. Since her first year, she has improved her students’ outcomes on Regents exams through a focus on literacy and content knowledge in addition to basic test-taking skills. Her students’ test results have consistently exceeded both City and district averages. Devoted to the success of every student, Victoria has conducted action research projects with a target group of underperforming students. Victoria also constantly strives to become a better teacher through ongoing learning and professional development.
Elissa Spencer, special education teacher at Jose Celso Barbosa (M112); Fellow since 2007.
Elissa joined the Fellows program after graduating from Sarah Lawrence College in 2005.
Her students almost immediately began to make dramatic gains in the classroom. To ensure
that all students are learning, Elissa uses a variety of differentiated teaching strategies. She also fosters her own growth as an educator by pursuing extensive professional development opportunities. In her third year of teaching, she has demonstrated achievement by creating a classroom environment that encourages personal development and academic growth. Students in Elissa’s classes continually take on increasing responsibility for their learning, her classroom’s most significant indicator of success. As a reflective practitioner, she was selected by her colleagues to become the first-grade inquiry team leader.
This year’s Teaching Fellow Award for Classroom Excellence finalists are:
Natalie Drumov—English teacher at The Hunts Point School (X424); Fellow since 2008.
Carly Anthony Finney—science teacher at Flushing International High School (Q263); Fellow since 2005.
Lauren Gaudio—special education teacher at River East Elementary School (M037); First-year Fellow.
Owen Herbert—math teacher at James P. Sinnott Junior High School (K218); Fellow since 2003.
Kathryn Himmelstein—math teacher at West Brooklyn Community High School (K529); First-year Fellow.
Jeannine Sam—special education teacher at X010 in District 75; Fellow since 2007.
Karen Senita—kindergarten teacher at Old South School (Q063); Fellow since 2004.
Stuart Smith—English teacher at Park East High School (M495); Fellow since 2007.
Wayne Tobias—math teacher at Brooklyn Preparatory High School (K488); Fellow since 2005.
Njeru Waithaka—English and U.S. history teacher at Bronx Aerospace High School (X545); Fellow since 2003.