2008 Award Winners

Five of metropolitan Chicago's finest educators who work with children between birth and age eight have been selected as recipients of the 2008 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards. These educators exemplify the best practices of quality early childhood teaching: dedication, innovation, leadership, respect for children and their families, and commitment to professional growth.

The selection process began last fall when an esteemed committee of leaders in the field of early childhood education reviewed more than 200 nominees. Committee members conducted site visits on 85 of the candidates, and from these observations they selected 17 outstanding teachers as finalists for this award. The finalists work in preschools, home day care centers, childcare centers, Head Start programs, Preschool For All programs, and kindergarten through third-grade classrooms in public, private, and parochial schools in Cook and DuPage Counties.

Five of those outstanding educators have now been chosen to represent the best of the field, following a final application process that included additional site visits and interviews by fellows from the Kohl McCormick Academy of Outstanding Educators. These five representatives will be honored at the 2008 Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards luncheon ceremony on Tuesday, June 3, at the Westin Chicago River North.

The Kohl McCormick Award winners for 2008 are:

Renae Brooks
River Woods Elementary School, Naperville
First Grade

If history is any indicator, Renae Brooks knows she'll be seeing many of her River Woods Elementary first graders again - not only because they'll come to visit her in Naperville, but because many of them will become teachers themselves. There's something about the way she teaches that inspires her students to dedicate their lives to the classroom. Marilyn Peterson, CPS staff member in professional development, describes the magic in Renae's classroom that keeps her students coming back: "Renae has established an environment which hums with purposeful activity. She functions as a coach, a collaborator, a muse, but never as the star, and her students show a profound work ethic born of passion for an ever-increasing understanding of the world."

Barbara Clear
Evanston Day Nursery
2- to 5-year-olds

A Preschool For All instructor who began her career in theater, Barb is an outstanding educator who was born for the job. She nurtures and instructs her 2- to 5-year-olds at Evanston Day Nursery with a genuine skill that sets her students and colleagues completely at ease. She's a natural. "She has a great ability to use naturally occurring conversations and events to 'teach' social skills, vocabulary and other concepts," says Jim Price, a former Kohl McCormick Award winner. "She never teaches something in a didactic manner as a 'subject,' but rather throughout the day within the context of the children's activities and interests." Both an engaging performer and a talented instructor, Barb Clear inspires the youngest students to grow into their own learning, eventually soaring off on their own. "Barb is a Pied Piper," Jim Price proclaims. "Children follow her lead wherever she goes. They become the wind that catches her sails and she then follows them."

Anna Franczyk
Erie Charter School (CPS), Chicago
Third Grade

Anna Franczyk never expected to teach when she came to America, but she's certainly made the most of it. Though she arrived in the United States from Poland when she was already 18, Anna wasn't deterred, picking up the language and a new purpose in just a few years. Now, as an outstanding third grade teacher at Erie Charter School on the near west side, she uses her multicultural experience to create a culturally rich environment for her group of eager 8-year-olds, and they couldn't be more thrilled to have her. Anna and her students - predominately Latino in origin - have open and rich discussions about the children's identities and issues on culture. Carol Rancifer-Gearring, a former Kohl McCormick Award winner, describes the remarkable way Anna's curriculum has encouraged her students: "Her classroom is an academically rich environment that inspires student engagement. It is an academic sanctuary for them." As a recent immigrant to the United States, Anna Franczyk now welcomes her students into her own multicultural haven.

Marisol Sierra
McKinley Park Elementary School (CPS), Chicago
Preschool For All

Teaching her students from a kid-friendly model neighborhood within her classroom walls, Marisol Sierra is leading a special campaign against violence in her community. Convinced that her 3- to 5-year-olds are old enough to acknowledge neighborhood violence, she discusses and practices peaceful alternatives with them, preventing her little citizens from ever taking part. "We talk about gangs and guns and hurtful words," she says. "We talk about what guns do and how they hurt people. Then the children make connections between what they've learned and the gangs in their neighborhoods." Acting like the mature and independent thinkers they are, Marisol's Preschool For All students sign their names to an anti-violence contract. Acknowledged by CPS as a "model" preschool program, Marisol's classroom is constantly filled with parents and teachers eager to meet her. "Marisol is as much a model as her extraordinary classroom," Mildred Ebietomiye, Director of Education for the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation, concludes about this outstanding educator. "Any teacher should be just as thrilled as her students to learn from her."

Mary Woitas
Columbus West School, Cicero
Special Education
3- to 7-year-olds

"People need to change their attitude towards students with special needs. Our students can and do learn," declares Mary Woitas, special education teacher at Columbus West School in Cicero. She intends to be the force that changes those minds. Her students have severe and profound disabilities, but she is working endlessly to teach them like any other children. Conducting her classroom in age-typical math and alphabet lessons, Mary works happily and calmly, eliciting smiles with recorded music and voices, visual stimulation with stuffed animals, and her favorite group activity - singing with the autoharp. All the while, she is able to speak with a few students in sign language and send subtle cues to her assistants without missing a beat. "What makes Mary special is her ability to read her students' cues and respond to them where they are," says Erica Okezie-Phillips, Education Program Officer for the McCormick Tribune Foundation. Mary Woitas proves that a good teacher can look beyond the physical challenges children may have and reach each student's true potential, and her colleagues could not be more inspired. "Mary is our special education leader," says Shannon Cribaro-Difatta, site director at Columbus West. "We would be lost without her."

Each of the five representatives will receive:

• A $5,000 cash award
• A $1,000 cash award for the winner's school or center
• A classroom visit from the Kohl McCormick StoryBus, providing hands-on learning for early literacy
• A classroom field trip to and day of professional development from the Kohl Children's Museum of Greater Chicago
• A graduate-level course at Chicago's renowned Erikson Institute Each is also inducted into the Kohl McCormick Academy of Outstanding Educators

While there are numerous teaching awards in the United States, the Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards is the first awards program to formally recognize the contributions of teachers working with children from infancy through third grade. In its thirteenth year, the Kohl McCormick Awards program has become a model for recognition of outstanding early childhood educators.

"The Kohl McCormick award winners give Chicagoland's youngest children the desire, confidence and skills they need to be successful in school and in life," observes David L. Grange, president and CEO of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. "We are proud to honor these extraordinary educators for their positive role in developing our future generation."

"We applaud the commitment and creativity of these five outstanding teachers who nurture the curiosity of their young students, opening the door to learning and guiding them to become valued members of the community!" adds Dolores Kohl, president and CEO of the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation.

The Kohl McCormick Early Childhood Teaching Awards program is sponsored by the McCormick Tribune Foundation and the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation.

The McCormick Tribune Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to making life better for our children, communities and country. Through its charitable grantmaking programs, Cantigny Park and Golf, Cantigny First Division Foundation and the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, the Foundation positively impacts people's lives and promotes the ideals of a free, democratic society.

Since 1993, early childhood education has been a cornerstone of the McCormick Tribune Foundation's commitment to children. The Foundation has distributed $81 million in grants to build public awareness, change public policy and improve the quality of programs, curriculum and teacher training. Together, these priorities have advanced the goal of building a system of quality early care and education for children birth to age five in Illinois.

For more information about the Foundation and its efforts, please visit our Web site www.McCormickTribune.org.

With the goal of enhancing children's learning through the support of exemplary teaching, the Dolores Kohl Education Foundation was launched in 1972 as a private, not-for-profit international operating foundation. Having pioneered Teacher Centers in Illinois and Israel-which sparked a host of similar programs worldwide-the Foundation later launched and directed the Kohl Children's Museum, a model for early learning through experiential environments. For a decade, the Kohl International Teaching Awards honored local and national elementary and high school teachers. International Peace Prizes, media awards and lifetime achievement awards were presented for exceptional contributions to the field of education. As a catalyst for excellence in education from preschool to adult learners, the Foundation continues to operate innovative education and arts programs in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.dkef.org.