Our teacher who ‘rocks’

Dawn Williams with Joshua Rincon at the Peapack-Gladstone firehouse.

Dawn Williams, preschool teacher at The Matheny School, has been selected as one of the “Teachers Who Rock, Class of 2015” by radio stations WDHA 105.5 FM and WMTR 1250 AM. These Greater Media stations recognize 24 outstanding New Jersey teachers every year for their important contributions to society. Each Friday two winners are announced on the air, and their stories are read on both stations’ morning shows. Williams’ name was announced on Friday, January 9. She and the other 23 honorees will be feted at an awards banquet in April.

According to Annie Rodriguez, Greater Media New Jersey regional events coordinator, the judges loved Williams’ “creativity and willingness to have fun with her students. She really deserves the honor.” Williams believes the best teachers “are those who inspire us, who believe in us until we believe in ourselves, who push us, open up our minds, show us different worlds, help us understand, help us break barriers and truly bring out the best in us.”

Sean Murphy, Matheny School principal, says Williams is “a very patient and compassionate individual who takes each student’s unique goals, needs and interests into account every day.” Hillsborough, NJ, resident Jairo Rincon-Galeano, whose son, Joshua, is in Williams’ class, describes her as “caring and loving. We are so glad she is our son’s teacher and his caregiver. She rocks!”

Dawn Williams with student Kimberly Alarcon at the Matheny Prom.


Peggy ‘rocks’

Peggy Zappulla helps a non-verbal student make choices.

Matheny teacher Margaret “Peggy” Zappulla has been chosen as one of the “Teachers Who Rock” by New Jersey radio stations WDHA 105.5FM and WMTR 1250AM. Zappulla’s nomination was announced by both stations on the morning of January 31, and she will be honored at an awards banquet in April.

Zappulla, “is not your typical teacher,” says Sean Murphy, principal of the Matheny School. “She is always aspiring to reach new heights, and some of her biggest contributions have been on our technology committee where she successfully rolled out initiatives to have assistive switches distributed to every student in the school.”

Another contribution: getting her students to grow a vegetable garden. It started with corn last year and will expand to several other vegetables this coming spring. Last year, the class planted corn seeds outside, made a compost pile and watered the seeds. “You should have seen the look on their faces when the corn had grown about three inches long,” says Zappulla. “Wow.”

Working with students with special needs “is a fulfilling experience,” she adds. “If you have a goal in life, nothing should stop you from achieving it. I have a responsibility to give my students with the encouragement, tools and support to help them reach their goals.”

A teacher who ‘rocks’

Darlene Tammara uses picture symbols to make a story more understandable to student Deborah Eike. At left is occupational therapist Debbie Goodheart.

Darlene Tammara, a teacher at the Matheny School, has been selected as one of the “Teachers Who Rock” by Greater Media radio stations WDHA 105.5FM and WMTR 1250AM. The stations annually recognize 24 outstanding teachers in New Jersey for their important contribution to society. Each Friday, two winners are announced, and their stories are read on both stations’ morning shows. Tammara’s name was announced on Friday, January 25. She and the other 23 honorees will be feted at a dinner on April 23 at Ravello Elegant Weddings & Banquets in East Hanover, NJ.

Tammara teaches a transition class at Matheny, meaning she instructs older students in life skills that will help them after they graduate. Four years ago, she started the Tea Time Café, a snack bar managed by Matheny students for Matheny employees. Her students count money from Tea Time sales, enter the results on a special math worksheet and make bank deposits.  The students also work on clerical jobs for Matheny and fill packages for Operation Shoebox, an organization that sends care packages to U.S. troops deployed overseas.

A resident of Bridgewater, NJ, Tammara appreciates Matheny’s trans-disciplinary approach, “where therapists work in the classroom with teachers. We all work together. I feel very strongly about that – it’s such a collaborative effort.” Her colleagues apparently feel the same way about Tammara as they nominated her Matheny’s educator of the year for the 2012-2013 school year.

Our teacher rocks!

Karen Deland received her award from WDHA's Terrie Carr.

Matheny School teacher Karen Deland was one of 18 New Jersey teachers honored on March 13 as part of WDHA/WMTR’s Teachers Who Rock class of 2012. Deland received her award from WDHA midday personality Terrie Carr at a special banquet held at Ravello Elegant Weddings & Banquets in East Hanover, NJ. The awards were presented because the Greater Media radio stations feel excellent teachers aren’t receiving adequate recognition for their important contribution to society.

Deland first taught at Matheny in 1979, leaving in 1980 to accept a teaching position in the Franklin Township Public School District in Quakertown. After earning a law degree and raising a family, she returned to Matheny in 2009 and was named Matheny’s Educator of the Year in 2010.

The keys to her success, she says, are flexibility and patience. “You have to be flexible in all aspects,” she says. “You just kind of have to roll with it. Nothing is set in stone.”

From left, Matheny administrative assistant Betty Schoonover; curriculum coordinator Linda Mullin; vice principal Sean Murphy; Karen Deland; Karen’s husband Steve Deland; and principal Sheryl Gavaras.

 

A teacher who rocks!

Matheny teacher Karen Deland, seen here with 16-year-old student Daniel Gaudreau, has been chosen as one of WDHA-FM and WMTR-AM’s Teachers Who Rock Class of 2012. She is one of 24 outstanding teachers who will be recognized by the Greater Media radio stations, located in Cedar Knolls, NJ.

The awards are presented because the stations feel excellent teachers are not receiving adequate recognition for their important contribution to society. Deland and the other teachers will receive their award at a special banquet on March 13 at Ravello Elegant Weddings & Banquets in East Hanover, NJ.

Deland, a resident of Berkeley Heights, first taught at the Matheny School in Peapack in 1979. She left in 1980 to accept a teaching position in the Franklin Township Public School District in Quakertown, NJ. After earning a law degree and raising a family, she returned to Matheny in 2009 and, in 2010, was named Matheny’s Educator of the Year.

In her classes, Deland uses a Smart Board, which helps some of her students with poor vision follow along, “because it’s so large and bright, and you can change the background and meet their needs. Without the technology,” she says, “we would be doing textbook learning, which isn’t really appropriate for our population.”

After spending time as a teacher in both public and private schools and practicing law, Deland came back to Matheny because she missed the “special students.” Today’s Matheny students are much more medically complex than the students she taught 30 years ago, but the keys to success, she says, are flexibility and patience. “You just have to roll with it,” she says. “You may be working on phonetics today, but were working on compound words the day before, and one of the students will blurt out, ‘bedroom.’ Wow! She remembered it.”

Of course, not all education takes place in the classroom. “If we cannot provide our population with the ability to be out in public, we have a done a disservice to them,” she says. Her class recently played miniature golf at Hyatt Hills, a handicapped-accessible course in Clark. “I can put a student on a bus and take her to Shop Rite or take her to a golf course. I can’t think of any day that goes by that somebody doesn’t warm my heart.”