November 2006 Educator Award Winners

Bethany Adams

Bethany Adams combines competence and compassion as a teacher at the Bentley School in Salem, Massachusetts. She is a true advocate for children who provides a consistent nurturing environment for her students. She differentiates her instruction to all her students, and implements strategies for individual success. As a matter of course, Ms. Adams delivers both an academic and social curriculum to her students to make their total school experience a positive one.

Linda Lambert

Linda Lambert is a special education teacher at the Cawley Middle School in Hooksett, New Hampshire. She takes a proactive approach in advocating for students to help them achieve significant academic gains. She changes environments, investigates the reason of each behavior and clarifies each misunderstanding of the child. Her strong accommodations and modifications at school have stopped the spiral of anxiety that impede most students with Asperger Syndrome.

Diane Mikush

Diane Mikush, a special education teacher at Apponequet Regional High School in Lakeville, Massachusetts, is adept at identifying and teaching to her students’ strengths, thereby improving their motivation and self-esteem. She continually communicates with regular education teachers to educate them on the complexities of her students’ individual needs so that the students can achieve academic success.

Jen Miller

Jen Miller, special education coordinator at Monument Mountain High School in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, is being recognized for her consistent dedication to helping her students succeed. With gentle guidance and regular communication with teachers and the students’ homes, she has helped them to blossom with confidence and self-esteem. She has always kept the goal of helping each student to “fly solo” as an independent person.

Danielle Passno

With patience, kindness and support, Danielle Passno – a mathematics teacher at Boston University Academy – goes to extraordinary lengths, both during and after school, to ensure her students receive the attention they need to work through math problems. She also supports students outside the classroom in her role as BU Academy’s soccer coach and as a chaperone for various after-school activities.

Ann Thurber

As Head of Special Education for Kindergarten at the Finn School in Southborough, Massachusetts, Ann Thurber changed the school’s standards and procedures for working with students with Asperger Syndrome. As someone who truly understands the needs of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, she has worked to improve the school’s standard accommodations and modifications for children with Asperger Syndrome. She has created a quality of communication between the school and home to insure seamless follow-through. [It’s no wonder, as Ms. Thurber says she “just loves these kids as if they were my own.”]

Our final three awards go to a team of educators at the Wampatuck Elementary School in Scituate, Massachusetts, who collaborate so well to improve the lives of their students.

Aimee Caldeira

Special Education Teacher Aimee Caldeira has nurtured dramatic growth in students in both the social and academic realms, created both a lunch and recess program, and maintains a high standard of expectations for students.

Grace Franco

Grace Franco is an exceptional classroom teacher with intuitive knowledge of children and a true skill for meeting all children’s individual needs in the general education classroom. She created a classroom of acceptance of all children while fostering their intelligence and capabilities.

Paula Higgins

Paula Higgins is a paraprofessional who is being recognized for her endless energy and support for her students. She provided the right amount of kindness and structure for all her students to read and grow socially. She instills a sense of confidence in them so they can become more competent and independent.