Posted on December 19, 2007



* Mary Kay Downes, English and photojournalism teacher at Chantilly, has been named the National Yearbook Adviser of the Year by the Journalism Education Association (JEA) for her work as adviser of the Chantilly yearbook, the Odyssey, for the past 17 years. The award is designed to honor outstanding high school advisers and their exemplary work from the previous year as well as throughout their careers. 

During Downes’ tenure as adviser to the Odyssey, the yearbook has won multiple Pacemaker awards and Pacemaker Finalist awards from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), has been a two-time winner of the Virginia High School League (VHSL) Charles Savedge Award for continued excellence, has received multiple Crown Awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), and has earned multiple Trophy Class ratings from the VHSL. The yearbook also played an integral part in numerous Wachovia Cup awards for Chantilly High. The Odyssey was also named to the NSPA Hall of Fame. (view press release)

* Linda Gammon, band director at Carson, received the Virginia Music Educator of the Year award from the Virginia Music Educators Association (VMEA) on November 16. Gammon, in her second year as band director at Carson, has received recognition over the course of her career, including being named one of the Fifty Directors Who Make a Difference by School Band and Orchestra magazine. She is active in music organizations at the state and local levels and has been a contributing author for books on music curriculum.  Bands under her direction have earned numerous superior ratings at state, regional, and national competitions. 

* Janet Micari, art teacher at Orange Hunt, has been named Elementary Art Educator of the Year for the Northern Region of the Virginia Art Education Association. Micari has designed and implemented Family Art Nights in conjunction with Math and/or Language Arts Nights for Orange Hunt students and their families with the goal of promoting literacy and bringing families together to experience, write about, and create art. 

She is a fine arts elementary lead mentor and art teacher mentor and has served as a Great Beginnings Teacher Induction program coach for new FCPS elementary school art teachers.  Micari has also served as Cluster VI lead elementary school art teacher and helped revise the Program of Studies for the FCPS fine arts summer curriculum.

* Roberta Goldman, special education teacher at Brookfield, was honored recently by the Jewish Guild for the Blind when a former Brookfield student named her as the teacher who had the greatest impact on his life.

Matthew Devcich, a Chantilly High School student, submitted an essay about Goldman for the GuildScholar Award. Devcich is one of 15 college-bound high school seniors from across the nation to win $15,000 scholarships. This year, the Jewish Guild for the Blind expanded the GuildScholar program to acknowledge teachers for their role in encouraging and bringing out the best in their students. Based on Devcich's essay, Goldman was one of three teachers to receive the Inaugural GuildScholar Teacher Award.

* Jack Elgin, band director at Annandale High, and Roy Holder, band director at Lake Braddock, have been selected to receive the Wolf Trap Foundation’s 2007 Scholarship for Performing Arts Teachers. The scholarships are designed to support artist residencies, commissions, master classes, and technology in the arts, which will, in turn, improve student performance skills. Each scholarship is worth $2,500. 

* Dan Parris (center in photo), principal of Rocky Run, and Kirsten Braman (left in photo) reading teacher at Stratford Landing, have been honored by the Greater Washington Reading Council (GWRC) for their efforts to promote reading. (view press release)

Parris was named GWRC Secondary Administrator of the Year for 2007-08 for his strong support of literacy initiatives at Rocky Run. Along with providing professional development in reading, writing, and speaking for staff members, Parris encourages discussion about current research and strategies that support student achievement among his teachers. He supports daytime and evening book clubs, the Teachers as Readers initiative, and Read Across America Day when reading takes center stage. Parris has also provided funds to expand classroom libraries and instituted an overall literacy initiative that makes all teachers responsible for literacy instruction. He has also been instrumental in expanding a cohesive set of reading measurements and a common language for literacy initiatives from elementary schools through pyramids and Cluster VII.

Braman was named GWRC Teacher of the Year for 2007-08. She has worked in Missouri as well as in Fairfax County at the middle school and elementary school levels and believes that balanced literacy programs and use of Developmental Reading Assessments go hand in hand.  She is praised by her principal, Maura Caulfield, for displaying energy and enthusiasm and for improving reading instruction based on best practices and good use of reading resources. Braman was recognized for redesigning and reorganizing the school’s reading room, serving as a reading coach who models lessons in the classroom, and leading several school committees that address student achievement.

Note: Sharon Aldredge (right in photo), principal of Woodley Hills, was recognized in November as the GWRC Elementary Administrator of the Year. See the November 21 issue of Supergram.



* Forty-nine Fairfax County Public Schools teachers earned national board certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in 2007. Certification is based on five core propositions: being committed to students and the learning process; knowing the subjects taught and how to teach those subjects; being responsible for managing and monitoring student learning; thinking systematically about one’s practice and learning from the experience; and serving as a member of one’s learning community. Teachers are able to earn board certification in any of 24 areas. (view press release)

The FCPS teachers, with their schools in parentheses, are: 

• Janet Johnson, Charlene O’Brien, and Tuyen Vu (Annandale Terrace).
  
  
• Christine Fisher (Braddock).
  
  
• Susan Allen (Bryant).
  
  
• Christina Ammirati (Bucknell).
  
  
• Stefanie Raleigh (Burke).
  
  
• Sherry Shin (Bush Hill).
  
  
• Linda Shannon (Cedar Lane).
  
  
• Kyung-Joo Kim (Eagle View).
  
  
• Joyce Siddons (Fairhill).
  
  
• Gail Heidt (Floris).
  
  
• Chad Pasch and Tara Dutton (Forestville).
  
  
• Jill Cicero and Kristen Nelms (Franconia).
  
  
• Michiyo Vangellow (Gatehouse Administration Center I).
  
  
• Karen Fusco (Glen Forest).
  
  
• Markeen Sutter (Groveton).
  
  
• Tamara Fagan, Jennifer Buchko, and Mary Rakowski (Halley).
  
  
• Marietta Smith (Herndon High).
  
  
• Vickye Crocker (Hughes).
  
  
• Sherri Chema (Hunt Valley).
  
  
• Stacie Kreitman (Kilmer).
  
  
• Jill Lipski (formerly of Kings Park).
  
  
• Dorothy Stephens and Mary Constantino (Lake Braddock).
  
  
• Rebekah Madrid, Richard Priest, and James Smith (Lee).
  
  
• Robert Plunkett (McLean).
  
  
• Stacey Franzen (McNair).
  
  
• Amy Bedell, Amy Joyner, and Mary Short (Mount Vernon).
  
  
• Michele Bowman and Sharon Cosby (Oak Hill).
  
  
• Mary Fletcher (Riverside).
  
  
• Heather Dix and Sandra Lamb (Robinson).
  
  
• Linda Rydholm (Sangster).
  
  
• Cassandra Strange (Stuart).
  
  
• Darlene Doley (Sunrise Valley).
  
  
• Martha Beall (West Springfield High).
  
  
• Sara Hagen (formerly of Westfield).
  
  
• Linda Trossbach (Westgate).
  
  
• Elva Card (Woodson).
  
  
  

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