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By Douglas McCulloch
Hometown Weekly Staff
Two Walpole High educators were officially presented with the Goldin Foundation’s Excellence in Education award at a ceremony in Canton.
Bird Middle School sixth grade science teacher David Kujawski and Jeanne Gottfried, a special education teacher at The Education Cooperative’s (TEC) Intensive Early Childhood Program were both presented with the award at the Goldin Foundation’s 26th annual Educators Forum.
Gottfried has been teaching at The Education Cooperative’s Intensive Early Childhood Program for over 36 years. The program helps children with disabilities from TEC’s Early Intervention Program to public school special education programs.
Gottfried believes that every student, despite their challenges, has an ability and a desire to learn, according to a press release from the Goldin Foundation. Gottfried also utilizes many different teaching aids to help students learn, including white boards, specially designed communication apps, eye gaze technology and more to help students who face challenges connect with her and learn.
“Every day the doors of the administrative wing burst open and a parade of students, many in wheelchairs and walkers, along with their nurses and aides, joyfully roll through in a delightful parade that moves from office to office,” said TEC Executive Director Liz McGonagle in a press release.
“Using their communication devices, students greet each person. In the beginning, people sometimes felt uncomfortable because they didn’t know what to say to a disabled person, but Jeanne deftly modeled how to engage with each student. Now we look forward to these visits; we know each child’s name; and what’s more important, we see the children’s abilities rather than their disabilities,” McGonagle said.
In the past, Gottfried bounced between the various public schools TEC served. She now has a permanent teaching location at the recently opened Campus School Building in Walpole.
David Kujawski has been teaching science at Bird Middle for several years. According to a press release announcing his recognition, he was chosen based on a number of factors, including his unique blend of learning strategies for his classroom lessons, his utilization of using his real-life experiences to relate to his students, and his use of hands-on activities.
Kujawski has also developed his own curriculum that helps middle school science teachers incorporate engineering and design lessons into science classes. He also heads Bird Middle’s Invention Convention team, which competes in competitions around the state. He also coaches the LEGO Robotics club.
The Goldin Foundation’s Excellence in Education award is given annually to teachers and school support staff who "have made outstanding contributions in their classrooms, schools and communities,” according to the Goldin Foundation’s website. Teachers are nominated by their peers, and every application is reviewed by a review board to determine the teachers who best exemplify model teaching.
