In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, which takes place May 2-6 and celebrates the accomplishments and efforts of teachers, Northeast Ohio Parent spoke with regional educators to find and honor some local teachers who are doing something extra special for their school and students.
TIM GIULIVO
Social studies teacher at Padua Franciscan High School
Giulivo has been a blessing to Padua Fran- ciscan High School for 33 years. He served as principal for 11 years, but shines most while he’s in the classroom teaching Ad- vanced Placement/Honors U.S. Gov- ernment and Politics, American Gov- ernment and World Cultures I & II. Seniors say there is no one else quite like him: “He is by far the best public speaker I’ve ever met. His energy can light up a room. His sense of humor can always lift me up,” senior Lauren Stepanski says.
“He has a way of captivating the at- tention of every single student in class. He pushes me to want to achieve ex- cellence in and outside of the class- room,” senior Kelly Zagore says.
I’ve never seen him do something less than 100 percent,” senior Sara Thomas says.
The Class of 2015 selected him as the recipient of the St. Anthony Award for Teaching Excellence.
PATTI FIELDS
Art teacher at The Lillian and Betty Ratner School
Fields is the art teacher at The Lillian and Betty Ratner School. A renowned artist in her own right, she infuses her classroom with creative energy, making it possible for each student to find and use their own artistic voice. Fields teaches every student at Ratner, from age 5 through eighth grade. Each of her classes connects to something the children might be studying in other curricu- lar areas. Fields knows that when students can create something connected to a lesson, what is also created is a stronger connection to learning. She also launched a learning partnership with MOCA Cleveland to foster in students a deeper connection to contempo- rary art and to help the students build visual literacy through hands-on, interactive projects with MOCA staff.
JENNIFER MURRAY
Language arts teacher at The UDS Steel Academy
Students love Murray’s British literature class at The Steel Academy, but that’s because Murray loves her students, as well as her subject material. Her students include the 9th through 12th graders at The Steel Academy, a community middle and high school located in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood that offers visual and performing arts-based curricu- lum for students with ADHD or who are on the autism spectrum. Murray says she loves teaching at The Steel Academy because she has learned so much about students who learn differently than traditional students. “Before I had a child with learning differences, I was a narrowly focused teacher,” she says. “It wasn’t until he opened my eyes that I realized I needed to teach to all learning styles.”
JOY BOND
1st grade teacher
Open Door Christian Schools
Bond truly lives up to her first name, as she joyfully works with some of the school’s youngest learners each day. She works tirelessly to find ways to help every student in her classroom feel success, and recognizes that success in a variety of fun ways. If she has a student who is struggling to learn to read, she sends them to the kindergarten classroom to “show off” her new reading skills. Bond also encourages parents to be a part of the learning process. She recently invited parents to join fourth grade “buddies,” working together with her first-graders to create giant model cities. Bond doesn’t stop sharing her joy as she is often found “behind the scenes” sharing kind and encouraging words with her fellow staff members.
ROB LUCE
Music teacher at Orchard Middle School/Solon High School
Luce not only teaches his students the music of well-known composers, he also encourages them to create their own ideas to perform. For the last eight years, his sixth-grade band members write their own variation on “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” He then puts the submissions into a unique full band arrangement that the kids play at their January concert.
TINA MACALLUM
Substitute teacher, librarian and school secretary, Our Shepherd Lutheran School
MacCallum has been an “everything” member of the school family for over 25 years. She has been a parent to two successful graduates of Our Shepherd, a volunteer, a substitute teacher, the librarian and the school secretary. She manages the busy school in detail, from fundraisers to the lunch program; from records management to supplies; from schedules to special projects. She is a welcome to all and even cares for the “boo boos” when the school nurse is unavailable. She assists everyone in some way with her knowledge, experience, suggestions and uncanny ideas to make things work, but also her listening ears, helpful hands and warm heart.
MOLLY PETROS
German Teacher at North High School
Petros assigned a project for her students using a medium in which they are very engaged — social media. She created an Instagram account and students had to re-enact a story they read by taking different selfies and action shots of the chapter so that when everyone was done, they had a visual synthesis of the important events in the book. Their creativity came through and the students really owned their work and exhibited comprehension of the story.
ALLISON TRENTANELLI AND MARK SOEDER
Perry Service Learning Teachers at Perry High School
Trentanelli and Soeder have developed a class for seniors that blends language arts, history and service learning together. This year, they have 85 seniors in the class who volunteer at more than 30 organizations in Lake County and Northeast Ohio, including the Salvation Army, Lake Health, Broadmoor and Hospice of the Western Reserve.
KIMBERLY GROSS
Teaches English 3, advanced speech and debate, yearbook; speech and debate coach at Lutheran West
To her speech and debate students, Gross is Mamma G. She listens to them prac- tice, complain, laugh and even cry. Gross even bakes breakfast for them every Saturday morning during tournament season to make sure they eat before they compete.
“The most joyous of everything I do is that I get to watch them grow,” Gross says. “However, at the end of each season, this proud mamma has a team of confident, successful voices who are prepared to think and speak for themselves in any situation.”
“Over the past four years, we have had nine students make it to the OHSSL State Tournament,” Gross says. “Junior Allison Younger, a stu- dent congress competitor, has just been asked to join the World Debate team to compete in Utah this sum- mer. I make it a point to coach with love and appreciation. I make locker signs for each student who is com- peting the following Saturday. I spend time with each student to reflect on individual ballots and to let each one know how proud I am. Through announcements and emails, I make our school aware of the successes of each student. This demonstration of support shows students the work they do is valuable.”
GREGORY SELNER
Middle school teacher and math specialist at Seton Catholic School
Selner is an exception- al, multi-talented teacher, musician, coach and genuine advocate for youth. He is the middle school mathematics teacher at Seton Catholic School of Hudson. Dedicated to the teaching profession and his students, he gives of his time to be the math team coach each year. A math teacher who also is an accomplished musician, Selner shares his music ministry as a pianist and works with 80 students in the choir. Competing against Ohio middle school choirs and ensembles, the Seton Choir took first place in their division in the annual Music in the Parks Festival. Selner is volleyball coach for community teams, as well as Seton. In 2015, Selner and his eighth grade girls team won the CYO Division I Championship. Teaching in the classroom, performing on the stage, training and cheering on his team, instructing and team-building at a youth retreat, chaperoning a middle school dance, or taking a second to listen and assuage momentary teen troubles — Selner is truly making a difference every day.
LYNNE SOJDA
Lower school science instructor and science K-6 academic leader at Gilmour Academy
Sojda is a science teacher at Gilmour Academy’s Lower School, where she has taught for the past seven years. When teaching fifth graders about the human impact on ecosystems, Sojda has students build wind turbines and solar- powered cars in class. As part of an engineering unit, Sojda’s students build a container to protect a single Pringles potato chip as it travels to a school in another part of the country, in which points are allocated based on the chip’s condition. To bring their studies of various biomes to life, Sojda’s students create travel brochures depicting life in their chosen biomes. Asked how she engages students, she says “I want my students to realize that I am the facilita- tor of their learning, not their sole source of information, and that their ideas and input are valued.”
LISA PIERCE LITTERAL
Music department chair and co-chair of the fine and applied arts department
at Beaumont School
Litteral, who joined Beau- mont in 1995, is the chair of the school’s music depart- ment and the co-chair of the fine and applied arts depart- ment. During her tenure, Litteral has created an extensive music curriculum and performance program, including Voices of Harmony, Choristers, and Chamber and Jazz Orchestra. Each year her students are awarded membership in the Tri-M Music Honor Society and achieve the highest ratings at the district and state competitions. Litteral’s innovative material, along with the individual instruc- tion she offers each student, makes Voices of Harmony a unique piece of Beaumont’s fine arts tradition. Capping off a year that included performances with Cleveland State, Baldwin Wallace and Fairmount Presbyterian, Litteral and Voices of Harmo- ny will travel to Great Britain for a perfor- mance tour this spring.
Rachele Alpine Mielke contributed to this article.
