2009-2010 Educators of the Year

The Arrowhead Primary School nominated Nancy Sasinowski as our 2009-2010 Outstanding Educator.

Mrs. Sasinowski has the experience and attributes that place her in the top tier of her profession.  She has a strong educational foundation, she goes well beyond the basic requirements of her position, and she maintains a broad focus on developing her students’ character traits while teaching traditional academics.

Mrs. Sasinowski obtained her Master’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Akron.  Even more impressive than this, she has been teaching in the Copley Fairlawn City Schools for 35 years!  She taught in Fort Island’s 3rd and 4th grade classes for seven years, and has taught a 2nd grade class at Arrowhead for an amazing 28 years!

Mrs. Sasinowski goes beyond the standard requirements of her work.  She helps with PTA events and programs such as the annual Family Picnic and in the Nature Zone.  Additionally, she was the originator and energy behind the Wee Deliver program which has been successfully running for more than 10 years.  In Wee Deliver the 2nd grade classes learn to write letters, and then they learn to appreciate the logistics involved in stamping, rejecting, sorting, and delivering the mail to their fellow students and teachers.

Mrs. Sasinowski’s most impressive qualification for this award may be her broad focus on the whole child, not just the facts, figures, and knowledge skills they will need in life.  She is fair, caring, encouraging, and makes learning fun.  She challenges each child in the classroom, no matter their ability.  In her own words:

Several years ago, our Director of Education integrated character traits into our curriculum.  I have found this to be the most valuable part of my teaching.  The most vital lesson a teacher can offer her students is to model integrity, honesty, compassion, responsibility, respect, tolerance, diligence, and courage.  Along with modeling, she can also hopefully influence her students to grow in character themselves.  The joy of teaching is to help my students develop good character to become better citizens of the future.

The Arrowhead PTA is understandably proud to nominate Mrs. Sasinowski as our Outstanding Educator.

Mrs. Susan Martin is Ft. Island’s Outstanding educator.  She has been both a wonderful educator and instrumental force in many of the programs at our school.  In addition to being a loyal PTA member & attending the evening meetings, she started an All School read aloud approximately eight years ago and worked to have two more since that time.

Both instilling a love of learning and of reading through programs such as Family Literacy Night which she founded several years ago are part of her commitment to our school and students.  Families chose from eight books to read at home and then teachers led  book chats during that evening.  Families who attended these evenings had nothing but positive words for Mrs. Martin and her efforts. She also created and presented to the families in her classroom, a Parents Literacy night program two different years to inform parents of the importance of reading aloud to their children.

She has received her Masters in Education and completed a research project on the importance of reading aloud, showing not only that she has accomplished an advanced degree, but has focused that degree on a key component of literacy.

This year she started a Fruit and Veggie Friday in her classroom to try to steer away from the typical snacks that children have & tried to incorporate healthy snacking.  Twice a month on Fridays she has parents bring in a fruit &/or veggie snack in liu of the regular snack.  She also incorporates math standards such as data collection and graphing to keep track of the foods that children have tried throughout the year.She started a tradition that so many mothers have treasured as on of their most fond memories called Mother’s Day Centers during her first year teaching Kindergarten.  Mrs. Martin also helped start the program called Dr. Seuss &Dads.  This program also focuses on the PTA values of learning and family togetherness.

Herberich PTA is very proud to announce that Ms. Karen Albrecht has been named our Outstanding Educator for the 2009-2010 school year.

In 1991, Ms. Albrecht was a member of the educational team that planned and implemented the first integrated preschool program for Copley-Fairlawn City Schools.  Since then she has served as an Early Childhood Intervention Specialist, teaching a class of special needs preschoolers and typically developing peers.

Ms. Albrecht was nominated for Outstanding Educator by the parent of an autistic student in her class.  The parent is very appreciative of Ms. Albrecht’s efforts.  She has met with the student’s day care teacher to help her with behavioral issues concerning the student.   Ms. Albrecht is very responsive to parent emails which helps the family monitor his progress.  Her reports to the family are helping the parents to understand the results of treatments their child is receiving.   The parent concludes by stating that Ms. Albrecht is a teacher dedicated to doing all she can for her children in the classroom.

In 2009, Ms. Albrecht’s classroom and teaching strategies/supports were used as the model for an eTech Ohio Technology learning project video series.   Between 1998 & 2003, Ms. Albrecht made professional presentations at MEO SERRC, SWO SERRC, Lincoln Way SERRC and Autism Society of OhioNConference and with Consultation Services for Children with Special Needs.  Between 1997 & 2001, Ms. Albrecht worked with the Ohio Department of Educaiton and ORCHLISH as part of a professional team to provide training in the area of Autism Spectrum Disorders throughout the state of Ohio.

Since 1987, Ms. Albrecht has volunteered as a unit leader/counselor for Zone 3 ARC Primitive Camping Program for Athens and Hocking counties.  She had also volunteered there during the 1970s as a counselor.  She has enjoyed camping with some of the same campers over the past 35 years.

Between 2007 & 2009, she was a member of the Board of Directors for the Friends of Firestone Visual and Performing Arts.

Ms. Albrecht graduated Cum Laude from Ohio University with a B.S. in Education and a major in Special Education.  She has since taken graduate courses in reading instruction and has completed certification at the University of Akron in Pre-Kindergarten and in Early Education of the Handicapped.   She attends numerous workshops every year as part of her continuing professional development plan.

Ms. Albrecht has 2 married sons.  Ryan is 28 and is a sound engineer in Chicago.  Kiel is 25 and is working on a PhD in economics at Cornell University.

CFMS PTA is pleased to announce the 2009-2010 Outstanding Educator has been awarded to Mrs. Kathy Forchione.  She has been a teacher for 35 years with the last 25 years in the Copley-Fairlawn district.  Mrs. Forchione started the gifted program and  was the District’s gifted coordinator for 17 years. She spent the last eight years as the Gifted Teacher at the middle school.   As a nominator stated, “Mrs. Forchione works overtime with all her students. She enjoys challenging each one to do their very best.” Six years ago, Mrs. Forchione was one of the instrumental forces in developing opportunities for middle school students to take accelerated courses, like geometry at the high school.  One example of her unbelievable commitment is stepping in when it isn’t required.  During a portion of her planning period, she picked up one of her students everyday at the high school once he completed his accelerated math class and transported him back to the middle school so that the student would not miss first period band.

      Mrs. Forchione is also employed by the district as our Competition Coordinator and coach for the middle school. These competitions include:  Chess, Spelling Bee, Geography Bee, Science Olympiad, Academic Challenge and Power of the Pen. These events are open to all middle school students.  For example in Science Olympiad, there are 23 events that 60 middle school students are participating in such as fossils, anatomy, bridges, trajectory and meteorology etc. Students in each of these events meet to practice either afterschool, later in the evenings or on weekends. Her typical week in Science Olympiad alone is over 25 hours, which includes an average of 10 practices a week.

Aside from stretching the minds of many of our students, Mrs. Forchione provides extra opportunities to those that excel in other areas, especially the arts. Most notably are the middle school plays and talent shows in which she assists over 100 students participants brainstorm their plays or talents, arrange and facilitate the practices and succeed in many great performances.

She has been the Summit County Gifted Coordinator and  has twice received the Science Olympiad Regional Recognition for Coaches. Eleven years ago, she  received the Outstanding Educator for the middle school. She was one of the original 4 teachers that developed Moonbase and Seabase at the domes at the high school, where students lived and interacted in a closed environment.

It is these extra efforts and her steady commitment to our students that CFMS PTA has chosen Kathy Forchione as the recipient of our 2009 Outstanding Educator Award.

CHS PTSA’s Outstanding Educator is Mr. Matt Young. He teaches AP Chemistry, AP Physics, and General Chemistry. He is married with two sons, ages 9 and 7. Mr. Young earned his BS in Science Education from Kent State University and his MS in Ed. Admin. from University of Akron. This is his 15th year of teaching, all of them at Copley High School. He belongs to a number of professional organizations: PTSA, SECO, NSTA, OATCCC. Mr. Young was CHS PTSA’s Outstanding Educator in 1999-2000 as well as 5 time Suburban League Track Coach of the Year and 8 time Suburban League Cross Country Coach of the Year. In addition, he has served on the CHS Faculty Council to National Honor Society for 15 years.
Mr. Young started the AP Chemistry program at Copley High School in his second year of teaching. He was told that 60% of his students had to pass the AP test to have AP Chemistry offered again. Mr. Young worked very hard under tremendous pressure, but his students met the goal. Three years ago, Mr. Young asked for 3 mod science classes. Normally, classes at the high school are 2 mods or 50 minutes, but he convinced the administration that they needed 80 minutes to cover the material and complete the necessary labs. This change allows the students to do 20-25 labs per year instead of only 10 labs per year.
Last spring, Mr. Young was asked to teach AP Physics as well as AP Chemistry. This meant that Mr. Young had to re-learn calculus and refresh his physics. Last summer, he attended a week long physics workshop in Arkansas. He estimates that he has spent 200-300 hours preparing for AP Physics, but he states it has been rewarding. He chooses to see it as a new and exciting career opportunity.
Mr. Young believes that the impact and influence of a teacher and coach lasts forever.  That is why he always tries to be the best teacher and role model he can be. Mr. Young wrote “the educator must establish student-teacher relationships that provide an environment and motivation to learn and advance. Without these relationships, all of the knowledge, technology, resources and money in the world cannot make the education process a success.
Mr. Young was nominated by both parents and students. One student pointed out that he is the only teacher in the school who teaches multiple AP classes with 2 AP Chemistry classes and 1 AP Physics class, and they are each 80 minutes long.  A student wrote “For his physics class, he will stay 1 day after school for each chapter and offers to work on additional problems to prepare his students for upcoming tests. Mr. Young shows great patience and understanding with his students. If someone does not understand a topic at first, he is willing to spend extra time with that person until they have a better understanding of that topic. Furthermore, Mr. Young has built a level of trust with his students. All of his students show respect towards him in the classroom and he shows respect back to them. This promotes a better teaching environment. These attributes make him an outstanding educator.”  A parent wrote, “When our son was diagnosed with mono, Mr. Young took a personal interest. His e-mails were reassuring, especially when it became difficult for our son to keep up with school assignments, after missing so many days of instruction. Mr. Young has met with our son on several occasions after school and on conference nights, to assist him with getting caught up.” When some of Mr. Young’s AP Chemistry students were asked if they planned to take AP Physics next year, they replied, “Sure, if Mr. Young is teaching it. I’ll take any class that he is teaching.”  That sums up the reason that Mr. Matt Young is Copley High School’s Outstanding Educator!