5 Outstanding Educators Are Honored 
Award winners will be recognized during a ceremony at Staten Island Academy on May 4

Staten Island Advance - Sunday, April 13, 2008

Five outstanding educators who have had a profound effect on the lives of Staten Island students have been named the winners of the borough's third-annual Excellence in Education Awards.

The winners are Diana Aversa from Curtis High School; Lenora Gillerman from the Richard H. Hungerford School, Clifton; Kenneth Gold from the College of Staten Island, Willowbrook; Deborah McNally Yalango from Port Richmond High School, and Joanne Teasdale from Blessed Sacrament School, West Brighton.

Each of the exceptional educators will receive a plaque and an honorarium of $1,500, which has been underwritten by the business sponsors who support the Excellence in Education program, including the Staten Island Advance, Knowledge Points, Northfield Savings Bank, Rogers Surveying and Victory State Bank.

Honorees will be recognized during a ceremony at Staten Island Academy at 3 p.m. on May 4, the first day of National Teacher Appreciation Week. Dr. Tomas Morales, president of the College of Staten Island, will be the keynote speaker for the event.

The Excellence in Education Awards are presented by Staten Island Academy in cooperation with the Advance, the media sponsor for the program, and the borough's business community.

Head of School Diane Hulse said the Academy is grateful to the Advance and community sponsors for their support of the program.

"By partnering to honor this year's outstanding educators they are helping raise the prominence of the teaching profession on Staten Island," she said. "We share with our sponsors the belief that education is the soundest investment in the future that can be made."

DIANA AVERSA

Diana Aversa is the coordinator of the Curtis High School's Human and Legal Studies Program/Law Enforcement Academy. In addition to teaching law classes and social studies, she organizes events for more than 200 Curtis High School students enrolled in the Law House, including guest speakers from the legal and law enforcement world, and trips to court houses, correctional facilities, the Police Academy, colleges and universities and other locations.

She is the advisor for Curtis' Moot Court and Mock Trial teams, and has served as faculty advisor for the Lincoln-Douglas Debate team and liaison to the high school extension program of St. John's University, Grymes Hill. She is also a frequent chaperone for the school's foreign exchange program.

"Ms. Aversa is a teacher, mentor and friend, who knows just how to create an environment that makes us comfortable sharing opinions, debating issues and coming to a consensus on ideas," said Amy Cilento, a member of Curtis' Mock Trial team.

Assistant principal Meridith Carter said that Ms. Aversa's use of "discovery-based cooperative learning pushes students to think analytically and solve problems communally."

LENORA GILLERMAN

Lenora Gillerman began her career in special education as a paraprofessional at the Richard H. Hungerford School, which serves special-needs students from middle-school through age 21.

Eleven years and a master's degree later, she now teaches a class of autistic students at Hungerford.

"My daily goal is to prepare all students to their maximum potential," said Mrs. Gillerman, "enabling them to become contributing members of society and to be as independent as possible."

To this end, she works with each child on an individual basis, "maximizing strong points, minimizing weaknesses" and focusing on helping each student reach his or her potential, she explained.

To accommodate the various learning styles of her students, Ms. Gillerman's lessons build academic skills through music, art, dance, poetry and the use of technology such as computer Smartboards. Musicians, poets and artists visit her classroom, and her students regularly interact in the larger community through community service and programs such as City Councilman Michael McMahon's CivicKids Initiative Campaign.

KENNETH GOLD

As the chairman of all programs in education at the College of Staten Island and as an associate professor of education, Kenneth Gold teaches undergraduate and graduate education courses.

One colleague said that "his intellectual, scholarly and civic commitment sets a tone in his classes and encourages his students to inquire, analyze and think critically themselves about, among other themes, the social purposes of schooling and the simultaneous pursuit of equity, excellence and choice in education."

He has taught history for 13 years and served as a role model and mentor for aspiring educators. He challenges his students to step outside their comfort zone to think critically about topics and listen carefully to different perspectives.

Using techniques such as "the fish bowl" (in which part of the class listens as a small group takes center stage in the room for a conversation on an issue), Prof. Gold builds on his students' skills to explore educational issues by looking within and "analyzing schools and society through a wide lens."

JOANNE TEASDALE

Joanne Teasdale, a kindergarten teacher at Blessed Sacrament School, West Brighton, believes that "children will rise to the level of expectations." And for more than 25 years, her young charges have not let her down.

Marlene Boyd, the parent of a current and former student, nominated Mrs. Teasdale because "each and every day, Mrs. Teasdale treats her young students with respect for who they are and what she hopes they will become, the very critical thinkers that we all want in this world."

Using an interdisciplinary, thematic curriculum with hands-on activities, Mrs. Teasdale gives her kindergartners opportunities to "make decisions about their own learning and develop responsibility to take control of their own learning."

Mrs. Teasdale is a past recipient of the New York State Learning Technology Grant and a three-time winner of the Best Buy Te@ch Award.

DEBORAH YALANGO

Deborah McNally Yalango is an English Language Arts (ELA) teacher and attendance coordinator at Port Richmond High School.

"When I began working, my goal and purpose, I thought, was planning the best possible academic lessons for my students, and that is what I did. As time went on, though, I realized that there are many issues in today's struggling world that make educating, and being educated, an immense challenge," she said.

This realization prompted Ms. Yalango to become involved in programs to engage lower performing students, including The Literacy Program and The Ramp-Up Program, and eventually becoming a conflict resolution specialist.

As the attendance coordinator at Port Richmond, she developed the At-Promise (A-P) program for students who for various reasons are struggling with attendance.

"These are kids who want to be in school; they don't want to be lazy; they want to feel good about themselves; they don't want to wake up in the morning and confront the emotional conflict that keeps them from being able to focus long enough to learn," she explained.

Claire Gray, an A-P student, said she is grateful to Ms. Yalango for taking an interest in her education. "Before I was transferred to the A-P program, I was a failing student, dangerously close to dropping out. I've been in Mrs. Yalango's class only since October and already my grades are soaring," Ms. Gray said.

In addition to the five winners, Robert Gillis, a special education teacher in the PS25 Autism Program, which is housed in the PS3 Annex at Mount Loretto in Pleasant Plains, received honorable mention.

Staten Island Academy's Excellence in Education Awards program was created during the 2005-2006 school year, with the intent of honoring borough educators "who have taught their students to inquire, analyze and become critical thinkers; have encouraged their students to become ethical leaders; and have imparted to their students the joy of learning, achievement and discovering their own voices," explained Head of School Diane Hulse.

A panel of distinguished judges from the community assisted in this year's selection process. Judges included the Rev. James Seawood, pastor of Brighton Heights Reformed Church, St. George; Dr. Kenneth Popler, president of the Staten Island Mental Health Society; Elizabeth Egbert, executive director of the Staten Island Museum; Marie Hannafey, a retired teacher; MaryLee Montalvo, president of the Rotary Club of Staten Island and founding director of First Book Staten Island; George S. Anthony, a teacher at Susan Wagner High School, and Betsy Wilson, a teacher at the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility, Charleston. Anthony and Mrs. Wilson are past recipients of Excellence in Education Awards in 2007 and 2006, respectively.

Staten Island Academy, which is located on a 12-acre campus in Dongan Hills, is the borough's oldest independent school serving students from pre-kindergarten through high school.  

By Diane Lore
Reprinted here with permission from the