| May 10, 2001 - Melville resident and local school teacher Barbi
Frank - known at John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore as the biology
teacher whose door is always open for students seeking extra help
and guidance - will receive the Nassau County Secondary School Teacher
of the Year Award on May 13 at the 43rd annual commencement exercises
at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University in Brookville.
"Barbi Frank has built an outstanding reputation as an educator,"
said Michael Arons, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Long
Island University, which bestows the award annually to secondary
school teachers who exemplify the best in the teaching profession.
"Her students are excited about learning; and that is the most
accurate yardstick for measuring a teacher's effectiveness."
Frank, known at John F. Kennedy High School as the biology teacher
whose door is always open, takes a non-traditional approach to teaching.
She organizes students into cooperative groups in which they work
together and learn from one other. She organizes a variety of hands-on
activities, teacher demonstrations and visits from experts. Students
in her Biology and Living Environment classes respond to her tutelage
by scoring approximately 95 percent on their Regents examinations
- higher than any other students in the school. Her Advanced Placement
students scored an average of 98 percent in each of the past two
years.
Frank's skill extends beyond the classroom. In August she is scheduled
to earn a professional diploma in Educational Administration and
Supervision from C.W. Post. She helps students land summer internships
and recently completed an internship herself in the Bellmore-Merrick/C.W.
Post College Administrative Intern program, which is designed to
train future administrators. She mentors new teachers and student
teachers, and attends many school activities. She has served on
the Awards Committee, the Professional Development Committee and
the Honor Society Committee, and as the faculty advisor for HOPE
- Helping Our Planet Earth club.
In addition to accolades from her own school, Frank has been recognized
elsewhere for her teaching and administrative abilities. She has
lectured on classroom management and cooperative learning at Adelphi
University, where she earned her M.A. in Secondary Education - Biology,
Chemistry and General Sciences. She earned a B.A. in Natural Sciences
and Social Sciences from Hofstra University.
Dr. Jeffrey Kane, dean of C.W. Post's School of Education, will
present Barbi Frank with the Nassau County Secondary School Teacher
of the Year Award at the May 13 commencement ceremony, which will
begin at 9:40 a.m. on the Great Lawn.
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