Five CTA members have been named California Teachers of the Year for 2007.
They are Dawna Countryman from the Saugus Teachers Association, Rick LeVan from the Yucaipa-Calimesa Educators Association, Charles Reynes from the Castro Valley Teachers Association, Helen Papadopoulos from the Walnut Valley Education Association, and Alan Sitomer from the Lynwood Teachers Association.
Sitomer has been chosen to represent the state in the National Teacher of the Year competition.
“It is never easy to choose only five individuals from the vast number of capable, committed educators in California, but these extraordinary teachers symbolize what teaching can be and must be in order for all children to succeed,” says State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell.
Dawna Countryman teaches fifth grade at Tesoro del Valle Elementary School in the Saugus Union School District in Valencia (Los Angeles County).
She’s being honored because of her success in engaging students in the process of learning.
“Students often reflect on how they looked forward to coming to school each day and how much they learned from being in my class,” says Countryman. “My students know they mattered to me.”
She is not only highly committed to her students, but to the teaching profession as well. “I believe teaching is the best job a person can have. The personal satisfaction and sense of accomplishment that I feel at the end of each day is indescribable.”
She and her husband sponsor, coach and mentor 30 young men who are members of the Palmdale Youth Football Organization. In 2004, she co-founded the group SCV FACES, which brings together families of color to discuss issues in education.
Rick LeVan teaches pre-algebra, life science and an advanced studies elective at Canyon Middle School in the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District (San Bernardino County).
“My teaching is never the same from year to year,” says LeVan. “This way my teaching remains fresh and challenging, which makes me look forward to the next class, the next day, and the next year.”
LeVan was faced with certain failure during a crucial evaluation as a young Air Force officer until the booming voice of a “crusty old flight instructor” ordered him not to give up. “That experience had a great impact on the direction and focus of my life. I never quit on myself or any of my students. My students know that there is nothing they can do, nothing they can say that will ever make me give up on them.”
Prior to becoming a teacher, LeVan was a flight navigator, flight instructor and evaluator in the Air Force.
He volunteers as a math tutor for students studying for the California High School Exit Exam, assists at a volunteer fire department, coaches the Mentone Little League, and has taken a Destination Imagination team to the state finals.
Charles Reynes, a fourth- and fifth-grade science specialist and department chair for the Castro Valley Unified School District in Alameda County, divides his week among 700 students at five elementary schools: Palomares, Proctor, Independent, Marshall, Stanton and Castro Valley.
Reynes can relate to students who struggle to learn. “By the time I completed sixth grade, I had attended five elementary schools,” he says. “I cannot recall a single lesson from those years. All I remember is the utter boredom, the noise, and the ceiling covered with spitballs of every imaginable color.”
The guidance of one teacher changed his life. Teaching, he said, is rewarding, yet at times heartbreaking, and it’s up to schools to find creative solutions to the complex issues that affect student success outside of the classroom.
“Children lead very complicated lives, and I am continually inspired by the courage of my Title I students to learn in the midst of adversity.”
Helen Papadopoulos teaches algebra at Suzanne Middle School in Walnut Valley Unified School District (Los Angeles County).
She describes her classes as a community of engaged and enthusiastic learners. “Through technology, working collaboratively, and even singing math songs, math ceases to be a spectator sport. We don’t just learn math, we do math. We need to discover how our students learn best, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and what motivates them to do well. Armed with this knowledge, we can help turn their challenges into successes.”
Papadopoulos expresses concerns about the future of the teaching profession as experienced educators retire. Efforts must be redoubled to recruit new, eager teachers and the earlier the better, she says.
“We often ignore our own profession as we encourage our students to seek out and follow their interests. I cannot think of a better way for students to learn about our profession than from us. Reinforcing with even our youngest students how much we value what we do and what an important job we have is a first step.”
Alan Sitomer teaches creative writing, honors and GATE English, and is an AVID instructor at Lynwood High School in the Lynwood Unified School District (Los Angeles County).
As an inexperienced English teacher who naively thought students would wholeheartedly embrace the “classics,” Sitomer found a way to reach unwilling readers. He turned to the “positive power of hip-hop,” using Tupac Shakur to connect to Dylan Thomas and Ice Cube to connect to Alfred, Lord Tennyson. “From the very first moment I announced what we’d be doing, I had 100 percent engagement from 100 percent of the students,” he recalls.
The author of five books, Sitomer refuses to believe that the literacy levels of inner-city teens can’t be raised.
Equity in education is one of the biggest issues facing public schools, says Sitomer. “Morally, ethically and pragmatically, we must recognize that when some students are offered technology in the classroom, field trips, and a rich academic curriculum … and other students in the same city but a few miles away are forced to negotiate impacted classrooms, textbooks riddled with graffiti and chronic violence on campus, pupils from both sides of the education fence — and society at large — will ultimately lose. And lose big.”
