After visiting their classrooms, we can say that each of these stellar educators is worthy of the title. NBC6’s Ari Odzer reports.
The committee that decides who will be the Miami-Dade County Public Schools teacher of the year has a nearly impossible task. It’s an honor to be selected as one of four nominees for the award. After visiting their classrooms today, we can say that each of these stellar educators is worthy of the title.
We started at Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High School, where we watched Shannon Grant high-fiving students as they walked into his AP American History class. The former college basketball player knows the value of an assist, he was offering to tutor students tomorrow during a teacher planning day, and he knows the value of teaching the history of this nation.
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WATCH HERE“It gives them a compass of what has taken place in the past, also, it allows us to not only reflect on the past but also see what’s happening in the present,” Grant said.
What motivates him to come to work every day?
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“Teaching kids the necessary resilience, teaching kids that you can have humor, you can be yourself, and that smart is cool,” Grant said.
Vivian Ventura directs the orchestra at Southwood Middle School. She had her sights set on law school, until she realized teaching music was her passion.
“If you really want kids to succeed, put ‘em in music, and I wholeheartedly believe that, and that doesn’t mean just academically, it’s a well-rounded person,” Ventura said. “They can use what they learn in music and apply it to everything that they do.”
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Ventura explained that music education demands a work ethic to succeed, and that translates to all avenues of life.
“I truly believe that we must fight for music education,” Ventura said.
Students take a tremendous variety of courses in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, so every year, at least one of the nominees for teacher of the year seems to come from a non-traditional class – and this year, it’s Leroy Douglas at Robert Morgan Educational Center.
Douglas teaches major appliance repair. He was once a student in the same classroom, in fact, he showed us his old locker, which still has his textbook inside from 1999. So he’s come full circle, teaching a class that changed his life.
“Trying to give back to the students, it is a passion," he said. "I tell people all the time, I try to get away, do something else, but this place keeps dragging me back in, can’t leave, teaching is what I’m here to do and I enjoy doing it, it is my calling.”
For Daniel Vinat, teaching world history is all about making connections between the past and the present for his students at J.C. Bermudez Doral Senior High School.
“And every day I wake up and I understand the enormity of my job, because regardless of whatever career these kids want to go into, I’m their stepping stone, I’m their bridge,” Vinat said. “Getting them involved in community service, helping them understand history, helping them understand their own stories.”
So Vinat wears many hats, and as he said, most teachers do. They teach more than just the curriculum, they teach life skills, they are mentors, and each of the nominees deserves to be called teacher of the year.
