National Teacher Appreciation Week (May 5-9)-11 Teachers Featured!
As another school year begins to wind down, school communities and families across the country will embrace a special time of year dedicated to celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week – a national holiday celebrated in the U.S. during the first full week of May.
THE AMAZING SHAKE
Jonathan Peebles and Tony Barbano are two middle school teachers are on a mission to teach social engagement skills during a critical time in adolescent development. The momentum is amazing and they’ve only just begun – In our increasingly digitally interfaced world, some students are missing out on essential people skills that they need to thrive in their professional and civic lives after school. That’s why the teachers at Baldwin Middle School are shaking up their approach to career-readiness skills with The Amazing Shake Jonathan Peebles and Anthony Barbano have begun a new voluntary program emphasizing manners, discipline, respect, and professional conduct, equipping students with essential skills for success in a professional environment showcasing all they’ve learned in a short time.
SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT TACKLES BUS DRIVER SHORTAGE STRANDING KIDS IN SURPRISING NEW WAYS
Dr. Randy Lutz is tackling the driver shortage that’s preventing routes from getting kids to school in every conceivable way – including getting his own CDL and inventing a new program to train high school students to drive school busses – with a little help from his friends. Every day, an estimated 26 million children across the nation board buses that deliver them to school, repeating the exercise in reverse at the end of the day. To work effectively, this seemingly straightforward routine requires a highly orchestrated web of scheduling and timing and, most importantly, sufficient numbers of skilled drivers. Without all the pieces, the web becomes a tangled mess, disrupting painstakingly drawn schedules and sometimes leaving students stranded. In districts across the nation, that threat has become a reality. This year, the 4,700-student Pittsburgh-area Baldwin-Whitehall school district experienced its own schedule disruption when a bus driver shortage forced it to cancel two consecutive days of classes after around 150 students were left without a ride to school. Although not as extreme as those facing some other districts, the disruption was unacceptable to Superintendent Randal Lutz.
NEW PROGRAM: https://community.
ERIC JANKOSKI IS A NATIONAL TREASURE
He’s the Special Education Transition Coordinator at Baldwin-Whitehall School District and while exceedingly humble and mission driven in his work to assist students with various types of physical and cognitive disabilities transition from high school to adult life by providing guidance on services, agencies, assessments, schools, and programs available to help them achieve their goals – he’s a modern day educator hero and what he won’t say about himself – EVERYONE who knows him will. He’s developed programs that are replicated all over the region with a high school coffee shop, an Innovation Shop, pioneering school-based businesses are student-run and operate within Baldwin High School using the Partners Model (which pairs students with an without disabilities in a competitive,integrated employment setting). He leads the region’s hosting of the Special Olympics summer games, the STARS prom giving intellectually disabled students a magical experience and much, much more. A day in Eric’s life would bring joy and inspiration to every heart.
POLISH TEACHER WRITES & COMPOSES STUDENT MUSICALS – HER LATEST MEMORIALIZES A HILARIOUS REAL-LIFE SNAFU
On Friday, June 6th, at 6 PM at St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy in Brooklyn, the school’s new spring musical comedy, “The Bishop Is Coming,” will pull back the curtain on a classic case of mistaken identity — only this time, the farce is based on real life. “The theme is inspired by a true story that occurred several years ago,” explains St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Academy Music Director Bożena Konkiel. “At the time, St. Stans’ School in Brooklyn was informed that we had been selected for a special visit from the Bishop. We prepared diligently, ensuring everything was in place for his arrival. On the big day, the entire student body and faculty gathered in the auditorium, eager to welcome the Bishop,” recalls Konkiel. “However, after about an hour of waiting, we discovered that the Bishop’s driver had mistakenly gone to St. Stan’s in Queens instead. Needless to say, we were deeply disappointed — but one can only imagine how surprised the other school must have been!” Konkiel’s comic production will focus on the school’s frenzied preparation for the Bishop’s arrival. “What truly makes our school’s musical program unique is our exceptional choir, which has had the privilege of performing in prestigious venues and singing in three different languages—English, Polish, and Latin,” says Konkiel.
SUPERINTENDENT GIVES UP HER OFFICE (AND HER AFTERNOONS) TO PRINT 3D VIOLINS
In a rural district community with a significant level of families in poverty, Dr. Laura Jacobs is a tour de force who seeks new and creative ways to bring low-cost opportunities to students. From raising baby lambs to give children non-judgmental reading audiences to improve literacy skills to sacrificing her office to procure and move in a series of 3D printing equipment to produce low-cost violins to introduce her students to musical instruments – she’s a special interview and the students love this after-school program, which Dr. Jacobs teaches personally. https://www.wesa.fm/
CHILD ABUSE SURVIVOR AND FORMER RUGRATS PRODUCER DEVOTES CAREER TO HELPING KIDS OVERCOME TRAUMA THROUGH ANIMATION
When Terry Thoren was growing up in the 1960s, cartoons weren’t something many people took seriously — least of all his father Ted, a hall of fame baseball coach who often violently beat Terry at home and disowned him when Terry decided he wanted to work in film. Thoren found his escape from abuse in the form of movies and cartoons, which inspired him to become one of the world’s biggest champions of animation as an artform — including founding Animation Magazine and the Denver Film Festival, and serving as the CEO of Klasky Csupo, the production company behind Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, and the earliest episodes of The Simpsons. Now he’s taking animation’s storytelling power to the next level by putting it directly in the hands of children, as a way for them to talk openly about hard subjects like their traumas and fears. Thoren’s company, Wonder Media, is the creator of the 3-D Storymaker® animation system, which enables users as young as elementary school to write and create their own animated stories. “I created Wonder Media to use animation to prevent trauma for kids, and if they’re in trauma, to give them the language they need to get out,” said Thoren.
Since 2014, Wonder Media’s classroom modules like My Life Is Worth Living, which addresses youth suicide, and The Protect Yourself Rules, which raises awareness to prevent child sexual abuse, have been viewed by tens of millions of children and teens around the world. This spring, Wonder Media is working with students from 17 different Pittsburgh school districts to create Finding Stories of Wonder in the Land of Oz, a fully student-made animated feature film about navigating the emotional difficulties of graduating from middle school to high school. “Sometimes the world will put opportunities in front of you, and you need to have the mindset to recognize and accept them,” said Thoren. “One example is a student at Elizabeth Forward High School named Marlee, who has a stutter she’s been working to overcome for years. When she recorded the audio for her role in Finding Stories of Wonder, she realized she doesn’t stutter when she’s acting. Animation really can help kids find their voice and use it to overcome life’s challenges.” Finding Stories of Wonder in the Land of Oz is part of Remake Learning Days, and will make its theatrical premiere in Pittsburgh in late May 2025. The project is supported by The Grable Foundation. While not a teacher, Terry Thoren is a someone to celebrate for this monumental, and deeply personal, impact he’s having on our nation’s kids at an important time, proving that it truly does take a village.
FLY LIKE A GIRL – DR. JANEEN PERETIN TAKES FLIGHT WITH PROGRAMS KIDS NEED TO THRIVE
When I consider Dr. Peretin’s work, phrases such as world-class vision, boundless determination, silo-breaker, opportunist, and true innovator emerge immediately. But these are only considerations that apply to the work she does and in my view, the real measure of her extraordinary impact is in how and why she applies herself to imagining the future, by pursuing it relentlessly, clearing the obstacles, and implementing solutions, initiatives and programs that see students and teachers thrive, grow and achieve in ways few could ever even imagine but we thank God she can. I think of the young men and women I’ve met inside Baldwin High School’s eSports gaming lab. Inside this hive of excitement and innovation are students who might otherwise never have enjoyed a sense of school spirit, comradery, connection and pride in themselves and in something bigger. Having one of the region’s very first eSports teams wasn’t enough for Dr. Peretin. Ensuring that every student on the team feels the level of support and encouragement that their peers enjoy in other varsity sports or activities, Dr. Peretin fans the flames of their inclusion in ways that not only connect them, but literally uplift them. It’s something palpable observed their interactions, their pride in their official team jerseys and the spectacularly appointed lab where they gather and compete with peers across the state. It’s hard not to wonder what they’d be doing if not for Dr. Peretin taking time to care so deeply about their experience. Because of her devoted time, energy and resources, these students are not only excelling in their sport, but also experiencing academic gains, and new levels of connection among one another that can only be described as life-changing. Next, I think of how she advances district collaboration in quantum leaps with her vision for the Fly Like a Girl program. She imagines an inclusive program for young women to gather, learn and have career-fueling experiences in drone technology and aviation exploration that far extends beyond Baldwin-Whitehall School District. For in her view, why limit opportunities and investments to ONE school district when your impact can extend to many more? Now young women at least a dozen school districts benefit from her boundary-breaking leadership. Dr. Peretin is someone who dedicates herself unreservedly to opening doors, solving problems, charting new territory and inspiring uplifting opportunities for countless thousands of students and hundreds of educators. In a world with no shortage of adversity, complex concerns and reason to worry, Dr. Peretin is beacon of light. She is an educator that makes you feel hopeful by daring to imagine the world as it could be and ensuring that others around her have everything they need to do the same. But what’s even more exciting than what she’s already done that make her someone to celebrate this year is what she’ll endeavor to do next. And even after many years of working with her side by side as a champion to her pursuits, I can’t begin to predict what it might be. Whatever it is, it will be amazing.
THE POWER OF ONE NUN
For Teacher Appreciation Week, consider a story about the tradition – and the role – of nuns in the classroom during a tumultuous time for U.S. education. Timely noting that while U.S. classrooms that once had 100,000 religious sisters teaching – we now report less than 4,000 nationally – one Vietnamese nun is changing the entire school atmosphere teaching the youngest learners at a school in Queens. Sister Rosa, born Ngoc Hong Thi Pham in Vietnam, is a member of the congregation of The Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the World. She is now in her first year of teaching Kindergarten at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Academy in Woodhaven, Queens. But while the school year has just begun, Sister Rosa’s arrival is already making a big impact. “Just having one sister in the building changes the whole atmosphere,” says Thomas R. Piro, Principal and Pre-K For All Director at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Academy. “When you see Sister Rosa walking through the halls, it reconnects our school to a sense of holy tradition, which few current students or even parents have had, so It’s been very well-received by our staff and our community.” “My superiors [in Vietnam] said education is one of the cornerstones of our future, so they told me I need to go to the U.S. to study education because our country really needs it,” said Sister Rosa. She moved to the U.S. in 2015 to earn her Bachelor and Master’s degrees before starting her teaching career — and with perfect timing, she first arrived in America on Christmas Day. Sister Rosa is currently pursuing her PhD in Instructional Leadership at St. John’s University. Eventually, she hopes to return to Vietnam and apply the organizational lessons she’s learned during her American educational experience to help improve the state of education in her home country, where there is an ongoing shortage of teachers.
HIP-HOP MEETS HUNGARIAN AS BROOKLYN MUSIC TEACHER TURNS MIDDLE SCHOOLERS INTO CONCERT COMPOSERS
When Ted Stafford moved to New York City in 1993 with the dream of becoming a rock star, he never imagined he’d instead become a transformative educator whose unique way of teaching music theory is changing how middle schoolers think about music, creativity, and themselves. “Composing is the basis for my entire middle school program,” says Stafford. “By 4th Grade, my students can sight sing to some degree, and they know the basics of quarter notes, eighth notes, intervals of major scales, and so on. That’s when they’re ready to start making their own music.” Stafford, who teaches music at Saint Saviour Catholic Academy in Brooklyn’s Park Slope, is formally trained in the Kodály method, a singing-focused approach to music education created in the 1930s by legendary Hungarian composer and musicologist Zoltán Kodály. But unlike the Hungarian folk songs that formed the basis of Kodály’s method, Stafford teaches using music his students are more likely to resonate with. “Kodály believed kids should learn to sing at a young age, and that popular folk songs were the best way to engage them. But this isn’t 1920s Hungarian, and since folk music really means the music of the people, in modern Brooklyn that means pop and hip-hop,” says Stafford. CATCH THE ACTION AS THIS YEAR: Stafford’s 4th Graders are writing their own musical based on the Declaration of Independence, 5th Graders are creating pieces that use a 4-measure melody, 6th Graders learn to play ukuleles and master chord progressions while creating digital video game music, 7th Graders study hip-hop and film scoring, and 8th Graders incorporate everything they’ve learned into creating their own original choral movements and EDM tracks.
KELLY HIMES IS TURNING HER STUDENTS INTO “KIDS OF STEEL”
For the Pittsburgh Marathon, that is. Kelly and her young student runners will have their last practice before the Pittsburgh Marathon is on April 30th. This practice is unique each year because her runners from last year return to talk with the current runners about furthering their running journey and joining the cross country and track teams in 7th grade. This year, the cross-country team expanded from 6 (last year) to 20 (this year). The JV track team also had record numbers this year. We feel that Kids of Steel program largely impacted this increase in participation. April 30th practice is always booming with positive energy with the race just 3 days away. On race day, May 3, the kids will finish their race at Pittsburgh’s Point State Park where families watch their kids finish. The kids are beside themselves with excitement. https://www.
INSPIRING TEACHERS WITH A BELOVED FIGURE: MISTER ROGERS
More than 80 percent of teachers say the state of K-12 education has gotten worse over the past five years, and more than half say they would not advise young people to become teachers themselves. Throw in the possibility of massive federal funding cuts – and a heightened sense of politically-driven surveillance – and it’s clear that the teaching profession faces a crisis. Today, a growing number of teachers are finding the former by turning to a familiar figure: Fred Rogers. In recent years, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood has resurfaced as a resource for educators – a place that teachers can look to not only for inspiration, but also for practical advice on matters of pedagogy, creativity, and even mental health. Consider a poignant conversation to celebrate teachers this May with Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski, who travel nationwide to inspire educators with modern day blueprints for bringing Fred Rogers back into our homes, classrooms and child-raising just when we need him more than ever. In their acclaimed book, When You Wonder, You’re Learning, Gregg and Ryan reveal a never-before-seen side of Fred Rogers: the ingenious scientist and legendary teacher who was decades ahead of his time. Examples of Mister Rogers’ impact on educators are emotional and robust and taking root throughout the U.S. As we celebrate teachers this year, Gregg and Ryan are available to share ways that all of us might help teachers (and their students) the same way that Fred Rogers made us feel – special; full of potential; and yes, appreciated.
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