What We Learn from Our Teachers
Posted on by Horizons National
At the core of all learning is the fundamental connection between teachers and students. Teaching isn’t always easy or predictable, and the disruptions of the past year -- with COVID-induced remote learning -- have made the endeavor even more challenging.
But teachers have always found ways to make it work -- especially Horizons teachers, who return year after year to create innovative, student-driven curriculums and inspire a love of learning. Horizons teachers spent their Spring 2020 semester adapting to new ways of teaching, and in summer, brought a remarkable level of energy, thought, and heart to their Horizons “virtual classrooms,” keeping learning joyful and working hard to connect with students during an unusual year.
Each year, Horizons National honors outstanding educators with the Lyn McNaught Teacher Award. Named for the talented former Executive Director of Horizons at New Canaan Country School (and first Executive Director of Horizons National), the award recognizes teachers who have excelled in Horizons’ classrooms by providing exemplary opportunities for young people across the country. This year, these awards have additional meaning.
We’d like to introduce you to this year’s award winners:
Joyce Akwaa
“We would all agree we have learned something during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some would say we became better, stronger, more inspired. That is how Joyce should be described.” Julia Postler, Executive Director - Horizons at the University of Rochester, Warner School of Education
Joyce has been working with Horizons for seven summers, first working with grades 3-4 and now with the "Transition Team” of 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students.
Faced with teaching middle school students remotely after they finished a difficult year of virtual schooling, Joyce was challenged with creating a relevant curriculum that would engage students and get them excited to log in to their Horizons class each day over the summer. Joyce leaned into her 15 years of teaching and created a safe learning space for students to be themselves - and to learn about each other. During the summer, when the city of Rochester experienced a racial reckoning after Daniel Prude died in police custody, Joyce led her students through a curriculum designed to empower and educate them about social justice and civic engagement.
One of her students said it best: “Ms. Joyce looks out for you, she has your back and she hears you out!”
Caroline Berry
“Caroline spoke words of encouragement when my child was struggling in school.”
Horizons Parent
Caroline Berry has taught Kindergarten at Horizons Savannah for the last 9 years and in that time has been devoted to finding areas of interest where children can grow and succeed. According to Christy Edwards, Horizons Savannah’s Executive Director, “Caroline has always represented the absolute best and brightest and when COVID happened another layer of Caroline’s brilliance was shown through.”
Learning that summer programming for 2020 would be fully online, Caroline was apprehensive about relying fully on technology. Her positive attitude, extensive research on virtual teaching, and mostly her commitment to her Horizons students drove Caroline to seamlessly create a virtual education experience that maintained the warmth and joy of in-person classrooms. Throughout the summer her lessons evolved and changed with the needs of her students. Caroline continues to reach out to her students and has continued teaching in the year-round Horizons virtual program.
As Christy Edwards observes, “Caroline represents what Horizons is about - sharing our experience, kindness, and knowledge with our students so they can navigate a path to greatness and build a better community for everyone.”
Celina Gomez
“Celina is a firm believer that all students, regardless of obstacles and challenges they might face, have incredible potential to reach their goals; all that is needed is guidance, kindness, and a way to make learning fun!”
Daniela Meltzer, Executive Director, Horizons at Colorado Academy
Starting as a Kindergarten teacher at Horizons at Colorado Academy (Denver, CO), Celina has been the program’s Reading Specialist for the past 9 summers. Celina was a contributor in Horizons’ Foundational Literacy Framework Guide, sharing her experiences, resources, and guidance with the Horizons Network.
As a Reading Specialist, Celina fosters a love of learning, empowering students with self-confidence so they can improve their reading skills and, over time, embrace reading on their own. She tailors lessons to the individual needs of each of her students and throughout the pandemic has provided support online and in-person. Celina’s students are often seen moving their bodies, singing, dancing, sounding out words, and learning in a way that is engaging -- while Celina provides a heavy dose of positive reinforcement and encouragement to each of her students.
Sarah Kilfoil
“Sarah magically weaves together deep learning with joyful activities that make her students love to be at Horizons. It was incredible to watch her this summer do this remotely during her synchronous Zoom classes.” AmySue Bacon, Executive Director, Horizons at St. Richard’s Episcopal School
Sarah Kilfoil fell in love with Horizons eight years ago when she began teaching at St. Richard’s Episcopal School (Indianapolis, IN). After advocating for a Horizons Pre-Kindergarten program, five summers ago she became the first Pre-K teacher at Horizons at St. Richard’s. She dreams with her students about what they will be some day, and shows them the gifts they have right now: they are all dancers and singers, artists and writers, scientists and public speakers, with amazing hearts and brains. Sarah believes in forming and nurturing strong relationships with her students’ families year after year.
During the summer of 2020, Sarah led three-hour synchronous sessions each day with her Kindergarten class -- sessions full of student voice, meaningful activity, and the energy her classrooms are known for. She experimented with various technologies, incorporated brain breaks, used LEGO builds, and conducted experiments keeping her Kindergartners excited and engaged. No minutes were wasted in her class sessions. In addition, Sarah started a virtual cooking club for Horizons students and families.
As one observer put it, “Sarah is firm and structured but loving and encouraging. She tells her students to ‘use your yummy words, kiss your brain, and thank your friend.’”
These exceptional educators were honored during a virtual ceremony on February 12, where each had the opportunity to share their own story and reflect on how Horizons teachers are vital to helping children as they learn and grow. Watch this moving video celebrating our awardees.
Right now, it’s still unclear what the semester and summer ahead will look like. Remote learning, virtual activities, other forms of support -- it’s more than likely that once again, programs like Horizons will need to make adjustments to meet the realities. But we can all build on the lessons of the past year, and on the innovative ways Horizons teachers were able to connect with and support students, even when physically distanced. To help share and spread some of the teaching strategies that brought success in these challenging times, we invite you to take a look at Promising Practices, a document that compiles real working examples from Horizons’ experiences serving students and families in 2020.
Back to Blog