Teacher of the Year RASEM-Squared

Lawrence Scadden Teacher of the Year Award in Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The Lawrence Scadden Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award recognizes outstanding elementary and high school science teachers who have engaged all students, particularly those with disabilities in learning science, mathematics, engineering and/or technology. This award was named in honor of Dr. Lawrence Scadden, the National Science foundation's Senior Program Director of the Program for Persons with Disabilities.

Dr. Scadden, born in 1940 and blinded at the age of five, is an internationally renowned scientist who has specialized in design of technology applications for people with disabilities. This award has been created in his honor jointly by the RASEM² and the SESD (Science Education for Students with Disabilities) a Special Interest Group of the National Science Teachers Association.

Download the Application for Lawrence Scadden Teacher of the Year Award in Science Education for Students with Disabilities.

Check out the Lawrence Scadden Teacher Of The Year Poster, to know more about it.

Lawrence Scadden Teacher of the Year 2004

RASEM Squared was greatly pleased to announce that Ms. Sherry Humphries, middle school science teacher at the Illinois School for the Deaf, was selected out of a number of highly qualified applicants from across the Nation to receive the 2004-2005 Lawrence Scadden Teacher of the Year Award in Science for Students with Disabilities.

Ms. Humphries is in her 14 th year of teaching deaf and hard of hearing students. With a creative, multi-sensory approach, Ms. Humphries uses art, cooking, and technology to motivate her diverse group of students. She has undertaken creative and challenging projects which include the development of an annual four-day outdoor education trip, creation of a ten-foot tall plastic bubble to simulate a cell membrane, and the use of gummi bears to s'mores to model various biological and geological processes. Her willingness to try any idea, regardless of its complexity, and her ability to meet the unique needs of each student without compromising scientific or academic expectations have earned the praise of colleagues, students, and parents alike.

Ms. Humphries was a Fulbright Fellow in 1991, allowing her to study in Japan . She also received the Golden Apple Award for outstanding teaching of science to deaf students in 2003.

Ms. Humphries received the award, which includes an inscribed plaque and $1,000, at the Science-Abled Breakfast at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Convention in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, April 2, 2005. The award is cosponsored by Science Education for Students with Disabilities (SESD) and the Regional Alliance for Science, Engineering, and Math — Squared, for Students with Disabilities (RASEM 2 ).

For further information on the Lawrence Scadden Award, call the RASEM Squared office at 505-646-6051. Applications in PDF format are also available on the RASEM Squared webpage at http://rasem.nmsu.edu/applications.htm , or contact Sami Kahn, SESD President, at samkn@aol.com .

Past Recipients

Award Winner of Year 2003

Ms. Jean Durrett , 5th/6th grade science teacher at Maedgen Elementary School in Lubbock, TX, was selected as the 2003-04 Lawrence Scadden Teacher of the Year Award in Science for Students with Disabilities.

Ms. Durrett, a 30-year veteran of science teaching, works with highly diverse groups of students including those with visual impairments, hearing impairments, autism, dyslexia, and learning disabilities, as well as gifted students. Using an inquiry approach to her curriculam and involving students in the process of curriculam planning, Ms. Durett manages to meet the needs of alll of her students. She has undertaken creative and challenging projects including the development of an educational environmental education center that was safe and accessible for visually impaired students, a LEGO robotics program, an adaptive "roller coaster physics" program, and a project in which students develop their own research as they track the migration of pin-tailed ducks. Her interest in space has led to daily Internet communications with NASA which inspired several of her learning disabled students to enter the Texas Tech Museum's Space Day challenge and win.

Ms. Durrett was a Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching in 1998 and was named the Science Teachers Association of Texas Outstanding Middle School Teacher in 2001.

Ms. Durrett received her award, which included an inscribed plaque and $1,000, at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Convention in Atlanta, GA on saturday, April 3, 2004. The Scadden Award was co-sponsored by Science Education for Students with Diasbilities (SESD) and the Regional Alliance of Science, Engineering and Math (RASEM).

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Award Winner of Year 2002

Ms. Sorel holds a Master's Degree in Education from the Harvard University School Of Education and is currently working on a second Master's degree in Special Education at Bank St. College. She received the Lawrence E. Scadden award for her work at the Mary McDowell Center for Learning, a Quaker elementary school for students with learning disabilities, where she developed a comprehensive inquiry-based science program and taught for 5 years. She is currently the Science Coordinator at the Brooklyn New School, a public magnet school for applied learning, where she supports classroom teachers in teaching science through modeling and collaborative planning. She has also published two articles in Science and Children magazine.

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Award winner of year 2001

Ms. Deborah N. Harris was the 2002 recipient of the Lawrence Scadden Award for Science Teachers of Students with Disabilities. Debbie has a degree in microbiology and chemistry from Texas Tech University and spent 11 years doing research on infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine. After doing volunteer work in the Science classroom, Ms. Harris received her teaching certificate and has been teaching middle school science for the last 10 years. Debbie's classroom philosophy is that every child should be involved in their science classroom so as to instill an interest in the sciences. She incorporates "hands-on" activities for most lessons and really enjoys having the students involved in problem-solving units that incorporate Science concepts.

Debbie believes strongly in including all students so she had classes filled with gifted/talented students alongside "at-risk" and students with physical and learning disabilities. At the time she received the award, Debbie's Science classroom included a deaf student, visually impaired students, and several autistic students. It is with the autistic students that Debbie really felt successful. These 3 students participated alongside the to hers and by the end of the year, one student with Asparger's Syndrome actually stood in front of the class to present his group's report.

Debbie recently left the public school system and is currently in a large private school in Houston. Although most of the population is "mainstream", Ms.Harris again wanted the students with Asparger's Syndrome in her classroom. She is working on them interacting more and more with the other students in the laboratory classroom. "Science is for everyone" as SESD so appropriately states", says Debbie.

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Award winner of year 2000

Ms. Charlene Counsell currently teaches a Special Education Elementary Resource Classroom which serves moderate to severely disabled students in grades kindergarten through sixth. Her teaching philosophy for all students has always been to direct all instruction toward increasing awareness of the world in which we live. Her goal is to heighten student awareness of their physical environment and increase their direct interaction and understanding of our world. Her primary method of instruction used to achieve this objective through sensory awareness and exploration. The majority of the curriculam aligns with kindergarten and first grade standards of learning. Using these standards as guidelines, necessary accomodations and adaptations are made to meet all levels of student learning.

Charlene Counsell received an award of $1,000 plus a certificate and plaque, at the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Convention in St. Louis Missouri. The Scadden Award was co-sponsored by Science Education for Students with Disabilities (SESD) and the Regional Alliance of Science, Engineering and Math (RASEM).

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Award winner of year 1999

Mr. Alan Roth taught at the Washington State School for the Blind (WSSB) in Vancouver, Washington. He was the recipient of the Tandy Corporation Prize as one of the top 100 outstanding science teachers in the nation and was named as one of Washington's four science teachers of the year. Roth successfully turned around and implemented new science curriculum for visually handicapped students at the secondary level. Because of his expertise, the WSSB is now known nationally as a leader in science education for blind students. Under his leadership, the school has been able to provide such classes as Chemistry, Physics, and Anatomy and Physiology to totally blind students. In addition, teachers from throughout the state enjoy his expertise and training both at WSSB and in their own school districts. He was a frontier in Physiology Summer Research Teacher and completed research on hypertension at Indiana University Medical School.

He currently teaches science at Indiana School for the Blind in Indianapolis, IN and is working towards a PhD in Science Education. He has recently been awarded an NSF grant to help students with visual impairments become more independent in chemistry classes.

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Award winner of year 1998

Mr. Donald Berthiaume , an educator for 29 years currently teaches at the Portland Arts and Technology High School, Portland, Me. He is a graduate of the University of Southern Maine with a B.S. in biology and a M.S. in education. He has served as president of the Maine Science Teachers Association and assisted in the writing of the Maine Curriculum Framework for Mathematics and Science Document. He also served on the State's Special Task Force Committee on Maine's Biotechnology Program. He was Maine's representative to the National Association of Biology.

Berthiaume has won many awards and he pioneered the first high school biotechnology program in the state of Maine. He has successfully designed an advisory board that includes academic, business, and representatives and elected officials from the community. At Biddeford High School, 28 years, he coached the National Ocean Science Bowl Team to National Prominence. Portland Public Schools selected Don to introduce and implement Portland's biotechnology program.

Mr. Berthiaume retired on July 31, 2004 from Portland Arts and Technology High School, Portland, Maine. Currently, he is a full-time college student beginning August 04 in the medical field. He is studying cardiovascular at Southern Main Community College. Before retiring, Don was educating an emotionally impaired student in his inaugural class.

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Award winner of year 1997

Ms. Pattyanne Corsentino has been teaching middle school math and science for 21 years, in an inner city in Denver, Colorado. Her classes are filled with students with many challenges. Not only physically and mentally challenged children but children with great emotional and financial needs as well. At times, Pattyanne is overwhelmed by these challenges but continually tries to be the best teacher she can be. "My students are my life. I love these Kids". I get so excited when I see them overcome huge obstacles, when they can face each task with enthusiasm and gusto. When they come back to see you after they have graduated from High School and tell you, "Miss C, you made a difference in my life". "These experiences can't be measured by a standardized test score or in the amount of your paycheck. They can only be remembered in your heart in which will last a lifetime". She said the support and encouragement of her family and groups such as RASEM makes her job a lot easier.

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