In this case, it really is an honor just to be nominated.
No, not the Oscars, the Broward County Public Schools Teacher of the Year award. There are five candidates, each of them worthy of the top prize.
Angela Cohen impacts almost every kid at Indian Trace Elementary School in Weston. She’s the literacy coach, so she goes from classroom to classroom, focusing on reading skills.
“Once they hit that challenge, and they are overcoming something that maybe they weren’t understanding before, and seeing that pride on their face really brings me the greatest joy each day,” Cohen said.
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Nicole Coutain-Marshall is also a literacy coach. We watched her work with a mentoring group she founded at Village Elementary School in Sunrise called “Girls Like Me,” which has many socially and economically disadvantaged members.
“A lot of times it’s not about reading, math, science, it’s building that relationship and giving them the reason to do well, giving them that reason to be successful and that’s what drives me,” Coutain-Marshall said.
A passion for teaching and making a positive impact drives Monique Acher. It’s obvious she enjoys teaching health science at South Broward High School, and her students can tell.
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“Hopefully they’ll leave here and they say, you know, I really enjoyed being in that class, I liked my time with Miss Acher, she was so nice, so helpful, these are the things that I want them to remember about me because I want them to pay it forward,” Acher said.
Claudia Singkornrat closed her chiropractic practice and took a big pay cut to teach science at Pompano Beach High School, and says it was the best career move of her life.
“Helping the students academically and also emotionally is very important to me, how can they become lifelong learners, how can they take skills from the school into the workforce and home that will help them?” Singkornrat said.
In a first, one of the nominees this year teaches for Broward Virtual School, where the challenges of reaching and engaging students are completely different.
“Creativity, enthusiasm, smiling, I get to know them,” Nadine Lallouz said.
She’s been teaching for 27 years, the last ten on the virtual platform.
“It’s a very unique, niche way of learning but it is the 21st century and in this day and age when technology gets a stigma for negativity, we actually use technology for good,” Lallouz said.
Only one can take home the title, but clearly, all five deserve recognition for the commitment they bring to the classroom day in and day out. The winner will be announced on Feb. 2.
