(TMA International Headquarters)
Three teachers who have changed children’s lives
have been
selected to receive the Butler-Cooley Excellence in Teaching Awards, given for
the first time at the Turnaround Management Association’s Annual Convention in New York on October
18.
The teachers, who
were selected from 70 nominees, will receive $5,000 cash stipends
funded by the John William Butler Foundation, plus transportation to and lodging for the convention.
The Turnaround Management Association (TMA) is the only international nonprofit whose members are
dedicated to corporate renewal and changing the outcome of under-performing businesses.
The recipients
of the Butler-Cooley Excellence in Teaching Awards are:
Louis Armin-Hoiland
A biology
teacher and facilitator of Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) classes,
Arcata High School, Arcata, Calif., Armin-Hoiland uses real-world projects to
inspire students to care for the earth’s environment and to engage them in
independent learning. He founded the
Community Environmental Design and Restoration (CEDAR) program, whose
student-centered service projects have given many students the sense of purpose
and direction they were searching for.
Beginning 15 years ago with the restoration of a creek system near the
school that had been nearly destroyed by urban growth, Armin-Hoiland and his
students have restored the environmental integrity of the entire watershed in
their area. Judges credited him for being a role model for students in how
extraordinary accomplishments can be achieved by working within the system and
in restoring value to the community.
Patricia Gonzalez
Parents who
nominated this kindergarten teacher at King Elementary School, Akron, Ohio, said
that “no child would be left behind if they all started kindergarten with Patty
Gonzalez.” Her exceptional skills in adapting learning experiences to meet the
needs of each student – from gifted high achievers to those with autism,
behavioral disorders and other disabilities – make Gonzalez an especially
effective teacher. She believes in engaging students through all of their
senses, helping them become the “engineers of their own learning.” From using
songs to help them retain information, through “reading parties” and cooking
sessions, Gonzalez’ innovative techniques are carefully focused on teaching the
basics of math, science, reading and writing, as well as the inherent lesson in
every project – respect for other human beings and for the Earth.
Judges said her influence reaches well
beyond the classroom and touches young lives in such a special way that when
other teachers are forgotten, students will always remember their first learning
experiences with “Mrs. G.”
Kathy Nimmer
An English and
creative writing teacher at William Henry Harrison High School in West
Lafayette, Ind., Kathy Nimmer’s Number 1 item in her teaching philosophy is “all
students can learn.”
She believes
her job is to take the students from where they are when they enter her
classroom and advance them by “illuminating the next step into cognitive and
experiential investigation.”
Having lost her eyesight as a child, she is a model in not only how to
overcome the challenges of a disability but also to use it as a tool to foster
acceptance and equality.
She
creates a classroom environment of creative, verbal interaction and allows no
one to withdraw into indifferent silence. One example from a long list of
students Nimmer has inspired is a girl who sustained a serious brain injury in
an auto accident. Nimmer developed a modified correspondence course by e-mail so
the girl could earn her English credit and graduate after months of recovery at
home.
Nimmer also reaches out to a
wider audience – from kindergarten students to business executives – through her
motivational speaking.
The
Butler-Cooley Excellence in Teaching Award was established in 2004 to recognize
classroom teachers who have demonstrated exceptional dedication and skill in
shaping and influencing children’s lives through education.
The teachers must be currently licensed
and active in teaching in an accredited public or private educational
institution and have at least five years’ teaching experience.
It is funded by a five-year grant from the John
William Butler Foundation and is named in honor of Leslie Bender Butler and
Cindy Butler Cooley, who have collectively spent more than half a century as
teachers.
This year’s
judges were:
- Gerald
P. (Jerry) Buccino, a Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP); Chairman and
CEO of Buccino & Associates, Inc., in New York; and a past chairman of the
Turnaround Management Association. His belief in the importance of education
led to the endowment of a scholarship at Seton Hall University’s Center for
Leadership Studies.
- Judith
B. Davis, APR, Mideast Region Vice President of the National School Public
Relations Association. She is an accredited public relations professional for
Chesterfield County Public Schools, a 55,000-student school division in
central Virginia.
- Joan
E. Schmidt, President-elect of the National School Boards Association, from
Fairfield, Montana.
She is a
powerful spokesperson for public education, having appeared on NBC’s Today
Show and before the U.S. House of Representatives Education Caucus.
- Sheila
T. Smith, a Principal of Deloitte & Touche LLP in Boston, Vice President
of Education for the Turnaround Management Association, and a former special
education teacher.
With its
international headquarters in Chicago, the Turnaround Management Association (
www.turnaround.org
) has 6,800 members in
34 regional chapters worldwide who
comprise a
professional community of turnaround practitioners, attorneys, accountants,
investors, lenders, venture capitalists, appraisers, liquidators, executive
recruiters and consultants. Members adhere to a Code of Ethics specifying high
standards of professionalism, integrity and competence.
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