Each year the Copley-Fairlawn PTA selects building level teachers of the year and from that list selects the Educator of the Year for the district. The 2011-2012 PTA Educators of the Year are recognized here. The teacher descriptions are courtesy of the individual Copley-Fairlawn City Schools building PTA’s:
Nadine Draper, Outstanding Educator nominee for Arrowhead Primary School
Arrowhead Primary School is delighted to nominate Nadine Draper for Outstanding Educator.
Mrs. Draper has been with the Copley schools for 22 years. She has taught many levels, including kindergarten, first, second, third and sixth grades. Although she lives in Wadsworth, she has chosen to send her children to the Copley schools: her son is in 10th grade and her daughter is in sixth.
The cornerstone of her educational philosophy is that kids cannot learn without trust and respect. A teacher must earn the pupil’s trust in order to earn their respect. “You can teach anything once mutual respect is achieved,” she says.
Mrs. Draper believes in letting children learn from their mistakes. Too often they fear mistakes, but once they learn that mistakes are OK, their willingness to try things soars. One way she incorporates this by having the children write in journals every day. They are often intimidated to put pen to paper at first, but once they see that whatever they write is OK, the fear vanishes. She has parents come in once a week to write notes back to the children so they get feedback. The parents’ identity is kept secret until a picnic in May, and the kids really enjoy the mystery of it all.
Mrs. Draper also plans many other activities, during and after school, to make the year special, and those efforts were cited by all three of the people who nominated her. These include pumpkin picking and carving, apple picking, making friendship soup, and putting on a puppet show for younger kids. She also has the kids do Alex’s Lemonade Stand every spring to raise money for research into childhood cancers. She was inspired to do this after teaching Joey Karam, a Copley student who has battled cancer for most of his life.
In a major accomplishment, Mrs. Draper’s class won the First in Math competition for the state of Ohio last year. Motivating the kids to work on this all year was a challenge she gladly undertook. After they won, she held a special movie night to celebrate and distribute awards.
Last year was personally very difficult for Mrs. Draper due to the unexpected loss of her mother and being placed on a jury for the trial of a violent offender. Through it all, though, she never skipped a beat and always put the children first. For this and more, we feel she deserves the title of Outstanding Educator.
Mariah Cadnum & Erin Burtoft: Fort Island Outstanding Educators for 2011
I am pleased to announce that Fort Island’s Outstanding Educators of 2011-2012 are the 4th grade teacher team of Mariah Cadnum and Erin Burtoft. They are wonderful educators and instrumental forces at Fort Island. This is the first time that a teaching team has won this award.
Erin Burtoft joined Ft. Island in 2006 as a 4th grade teacher. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Malone University in 2000 and her Master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University in 2006. She is a believer that education should inspire children to become life-long learners. She does this by teaching her students to think critically and be open-minded. In 2010, Mrs. Burtoft partnered with Laoag Elementary School in the Philippines. The students have Filipino pen pals with whom they exchange letters. This helps teach the students about different cultures while honing their writing skills. She also has instituted “genre study” book projects, where her students choose reading-level appropriate books and then complete a project that accompanies the genre.
Mariah Cadnum joined Ft. Island in 1999 as a 4th grade teacher. She received both her Bachelor and Masters degrees from The University of Akron. She is also a firm believer that education should inspire children to become life-long learners. She does this by providing deliberate and carefully planned instruction. She is Ft. Island’s representative for new content standards in Social Studies. Mrs. Cadnum is the Early Ohio Day Coordinator; does the Canal Field Trip; uses Power Point presentations to supplement her Ohio History teaching. She also uses math groups within the classroom to help enrich math skills for students with different ability levels.
Mrs. Burtoft and Mrs. Cadnum communicate constantly with each other so each knows what is going on with every student. Both are active within their churches and the community.
Here is what one family said:
“This teacher team is amazing with each one of their students, getting to know each of them and how they learn best. They are attentive, work well together, and communicate with each other and parents when needed. My child has struggled with math and reading for a few years and they recognized this right away and set up intervention and extra time to help with my child’s needs.”
“They have set up group time in the classroom for each of the children to work with others at the same level. They also talked to the intervention teachers and tutors so that students in the class get all they help they possibly can. They do all of this because they feel it is their job and want to see every one of the students succeed and have a great 4th grade year.”
“There are lots of amazing teachers at Fort Island, but I think this year the award should be given to Mrs. Cadnum and Mrs. Burtoft.”
As you can see, Mariah Cadnum and Erin Burtoft are very deserving of the Educator of the Year Award. They are an outstanding teaching team.
Mr. Dan Witschey – Herberich PTA Outstanding Educator 2011/12 The 2011/12 recipient of the Herberich PTA Outstanding Educator is Mr. Dan Witschey. An educator of physical education k-12, he has taught in the Copley-Fairlawn schools for 27 years. Herberich is fortunate to have Mr. Witschey join the Herberich staff at the start of this school year.
His enthusiasm and enjoyment of exercise impacting a longer and healthier lifestyle is instilled via his exceptional instruction with the students each day. Students learn responsibility, hard work and accountability via the varied activities in his lesson plan. Per one parent’s comments,” Each night at the dinner table my children share with excitement what fun team game they played that day. The kids demonstrate exercise routines and provide detailed descriptions of the games from Titanic to Jumping the River. Most of all they look forward to the days in the week when it’s Gym Day with Mr. Witschey. ” If one happens to be passing through the hallway of the gym one can hear the students’ eagerness to participate with fervor as they work together to accomplish Mr. Witschey’s objectives for the day. The passion and dedication he gives to the students is remarkable.
Mr. Witschey is a true educator who does not stop at the end of a working day. He lends his talents coaching Copley teams that have finished in first place in the Suburban League many times during his 27 years of coaching middle school basketball. In addition to his elementary school instruction – over at the middle school, he has continued the Eric Conner Award. Kept the Turkey Trot alive and running, initiated programs such as the Witschey World Putt-Putt Golf and the Virgil Walker Most Valuable Player Award.
Mr. Witschey is a supportive member of the PTA especially with all that the PTA does in his field of Physical Education. Having graduated with a Master’s degree in the Art of Teaching from Nova Southeastern and a Bachelor’s degree from University of Akron in Physical Education, he has utilized his talents and knowledge with zeal to improve the health of Copley-Fairlawn students. Mr. Witschey has been a member of OAPHERD for many years as well as various coaching fraternities. Amidst all this, he and his wife Bridget (an RN at Visiting Nursing Services) are raising 4 daughters – all very active in athletics at Wadsworth City Schools.
When the news of his nomination was shared with Mr. Witschey, he naturally was humbled and said, “How could it be amongst all the worthy teachers here?” Yet, he certainly is without a doubt an outstanding educator – as we see with the growing rate of childhood obesity in the United States, Mr. Witschey’s dedication to developing habits of physical fitness is more important than ever.
Mr. Witschey’s motto is to “Treat everyone as equal as possible. Get everyone involved and as active as much as possible. Exercise is a lifetime need and every little bit helps towards a better, stronger, longer and healthier life. Variety of activities makes for a much more enjoyable learning atmosphere. Find the positive as well as the negative experiences in order to learn more. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself or different situations as they occur over time.” The bottom line is, “[he] hopes the kids have fun in class and enjoy coming. [He] hopes they feel safe in the gym environment, get a little workout in and want to come back.” The children certainly do!
Herberich and Copley-Fairlawn schools are fortunate to have Mr. Witschey teaching in our district. We are proud of his selection as Herberich PTA Outstanding Educator for 2011/12.
Mrs. Lori Ciulla: Copley-Fairlawn Middle School 2011-2012 Outstanding Educator
Mrs. Ciulla has had many years of teaching experience and we have been privilege to be the recipient of that experience. She has a strong foundation in music and she not only teaches her students about music theory and technique, but teaches them life lessons as well.
Mrs. Ciulla obtained her Bachelors degree from Kent State in music education and later continued with a Master’s degree in Music Education from the University of Akron. This has carried her for the 32 years she has been teaching. Twenty-nine of those years of teaching have been in the Copley-Fairlawn City Schools. She started as an assistant director of bands, which included the responsibility of directing the High School Marching Band. She then moved on to direct the Concert Band and the High School Pep Band. She then accepted the assignment to be the head music director at Copley- Fairlawn Middle School. While here she is credited for starting the grade Beginning 5th grade band program and the general music program for 7th and 8th graders. If that wasn’t enough she started an afterschool Jazz Band and volunteers her time to direct that. She has such a great love for music that she volunteers as a Boy Scout Merit Badge Counselor for Music. She just wants everyone to be able to have music in their lives.
Mrs. Ciulla goes beyond the standard requirements of her work of just teaching band class. She started the annual Copley-Fairlawn Veterans Day Assembly after 9-11 and it has been running every year for the last 10 years with speakers, music, and don’t forget the food. She has helped each year with the PTA’s Cultural Arts Day event and assists when musicians are invited to the school to perform. She has helped students get musical numbers ready for each grade levels PTA Talent Show and is there to support in many ways during the event. She works with many students each year for Solo and Ensemble from helping pick out music, playing the piano with them during performances, to being there all day while the students perform.
Mrs. Ciullas nominator said “she is passionate about teaching and about teaching music to her students, and she is able to take a quiet child and help them find a voice in music.”
Mrs. Ciulla has been the recipient of many awards over her career, but what is more impressive is that she teaches 4 bands each day. She interacts and influences more than 500 kids each day. And somehow she knows everyones name! She challenges each child in her band room, no matter their ability, to continue to try harder. In her own words:
It is my belief that every child is born with the instinctive ability to acquire knowledge. As an educator, I embrace the belief that every student possesses the human need and desire to learn. As an educator, I have the privilege of teaching MUSIC and making MUSIC with each student entrusted to me as “their director”.
The lyrics from a well known song titled “The Greatest Love of All” stated:
I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.
Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Give them a sense of pride to make
It easier. Let the children’s laughter remind us how we used to be.”
As an educator, a band director and a parent I value these words each day as I have been called to motivate each child to become aware of the importance of their own being as an individual involved in music study through band. Music Education is an integral part of every student’s well rounded education.
The Copley-Fairlawn Middle School PTA is understandably proud to nominate Mrs. Ciulla as our Outstanding Educator.
Mr. Dave Edmunds: Copley High School 2011 Outstanding Educator
Copley High School is proud to announce Mr. Dave Edmonds as our Outstanding Educator. Mr. Edmonds teaches German I through German IV as well as AP German. In addition to his time at CHS, Mr. Edmonds has taught at Strongsville High School as well as at the college level at Cleveland State and Cuyahoga Community College.
Mr. Edmonds received many nominations. Many commented on his dedication to his students and the love they have for him. One parent wrote “Mr. Edmonds truly has a passion for education and plays a critical role in the lives of our children in so many ways. He not only teaches German but offers many life lessons as well.” Another parent wrote: “Mr. Edmonds makes students want to learn. He encourages them to try harder and reach their full potential all while making learning fun. I think the reason that the kids love him so much is because he treats them all with respect and as adults. A student said “Mr. Edmonds is most of all a teacher who wants his students to learn. And we do. Herr Edmonds is a great teacher and one I will always remember. “
In addition to being an outstanding teacher, Mr. Edmonds’ dedication extends beyond the classroom. He is a presence and a participant in many aspects of a student’s high school experience. His sense of volunteerism and generous donation of personal free time does not go unnoticed by parents and students. One parent wrote “Mr. Edmonds has a true interest in his students and their life outside of the German classroom. He supports their activities and regularly attends school plays, musicals and sporting events. He has even chaperoned music trips because he enjoys the time with the kids. Another parent stated “I can’t think of another teacher who is more dedicated to our school and not just in relation to the subject he teaches.”
Mr. Edmonds is also a recipient of the Plain Dealer Crystal Apple Award and the Wal-Mart Teacher of the Year award. Mr. Dave Edmonds is an outstanding person, mentor and an Outstanding Educator.