THE MISS FOLEY AWARDS
The Best Teachers - What did they do?

Did you have a favorite teacher whose influence affected your life for many years after you left school? Barry did, and her name was Miss Carolyn Foley.  In honor of her, he has devoted this page to favorite teachers everywhere.

These days teachers are assaulted from all angles about how they can improve what they do with their curriculum.  Standards and State Assessments have been the yard stick by which the public measures great teaching.  But is this true for the student or are there other ways to assess great teaching that elude legislators and test companies?   In a hope to delve further into the mystery of teaching, I’ve been asking teachers to send me their most influential teacher’s names and the one most important thing these teachers did that has stuck with them all these years. Below are some of the results. Print them up and add them to your personal curriculum.   If you would like to honor one of your best teachers simply click HERE and e-mail us their name, grade level and one thing they did that you remember. If you want, write your comments to the teacher. Perhaps one day they will come to this website and see your comments. We will add yours to the list.

Miss Foley Awards from our Site Visitors

Ron Graham - Ron is a full-time volunteer at Greely Middle School in Cumberland, Maine. He has been EXTRAordinary because of he roams our large facility to troubleshoot and offer one-one tutorials to teachers, and students grades 6, 7 and 8. Ron has an everyreadiness to smile and to help anyone with technology concerns and he knows EVERYTHING about computers and networking and software and
related resources. He has a son at the middle school and I am not kidding he volunteers every day, all day long. He is the most generous, astute volunteer I have ever met; he gets things done.

Ruth Kirkwood
GMS Teacher

Miss Carolyn Foley - She sang to us, had us do projects, made us all feel special and unique.
Click HERE to see the song I wrote about her.         -Barry Lane

Mrs. Stahan (3rd grade in Houston, Texas) --I cry now thinking of why I love her.  It's simple.  She loved me, unconditionally.  She just loved me.

Mrs. Faith Bonadonna - She personalized EVERYTHING!  She gave stickers and cards to make every day special. Her motto is "Reach for the Stars" and "Believe in the Magic of Your Dreams"

Jeff LaRoux - is the principal of Cantrick Middle School in Monroe, Michigan.  He is by far the most kid centered administrator I have ever had the pleasure to know.  He is innovative and has boundless energy and enthusiasm. His is so supportive of staff and strives to make our school the best middle school it can be. He is, thankfully, not your father's middle school principal!    -  Scott Hoppert

Mrs. Thompson - She was gentle and caring . I knew she believed in me. Her classroom was safe.

Mrs. Ostrom - Made the discovery of new words exciting.

Mrs. O - Made me feel like an author. What I wrote was worth sharing, publishing.

Mrs. Smiley - She let me be creative—small breakout groups—talent show—SRA/spelling ABC groups

Señora Gloria - We learned Spanish with plays and jokes.

Diane Hayes - She saw me she listened to me.  I was not invisible to her.

Mr. Maroneck - He believed that we could learn and grow or readers and writers and he was willing to invest a lot of time in supporting our growth. (e.g. meeting me after school daily to help prepare for a public speaking competition I wanted to enter.)

Sister Mary Vianig - She gave us books and turned us lose. I worked harder than ever in her classes.

Peggy Casbeer - taught with me when I first began teaching—we were a team planning together —inventing experiences to enrich our lessons—a dear friend—we shared our fears and our celebrations.

Glen Lamb - Gave me the courage to speak in front of others

Mr. Chuck Moore - He took us to outdoor school for a week, taught us strange fun songs and gave us lots of room to be -- We had a class government. I got to be a mayor (elected with much campaigning…accomplished very little in my term)

Mr. Lyon -  humor—expanded the rules—Latin humor--connected with kids--brought the subject to life

Mr. Smith - He treated his high school students as an equal.

Ernie Broughman - High school chemistry and physics – Always demystified these subjects by showing how they applied to our daily lives and practical applications.

Mrs. Daret - Empathized with my weight problem and made me feel like I had the support and understanding. Found me a PE uniform to fit qne encouraged me to get involved in sports.

Sister Margaret Anthony - challenged us with a few great fun assignments like creating and illustrating poetry books. Challenged us us to diagram Gerard Manely Hopkins poems---Challenged us to chart the plot of the Brother’s Karamazov

Mrs. Adams - 3rd grade  She cared about ME., touched me, recognized me and my interest in learning. I knew I wanted to teach from third grade on.

Mr. Reed Robertson—Shared personal stories—let me be myself.

Dr. Nellermooe - freedom—hands on—mentor to encourage me—shared in my proud moment, shared a similar passion for the outdoors

Mrs. Maloney - Your smiles, your patience… your fun in letting us explore your laughter---your dedication to us as learners and thoughtfulness…….I thank you!

Abruzo - (1) set standards and didn’t waver (2) used humor (3) Knew us individually (strengths, weaknesses)

Mrs. Hardman - Sense of humor---outings with class…field trips

Dr. Nancy King Hunt - She recognized my potential

Mrs. Gentry - Used humor to bring biology alive—Far Side cartoons on every test, (relevant to the topic) –Put Tabloid articles on the bulletin board then we would discuss if these phenomena were biologically possible or not.

Mrs. Ward – She helped me build my self-confidence and made school interesting

Miss Kuroda - She made school fun with things like popcorn parties, tie dye projects, and storybook projects.

Mr. Peña --- Honored our sense of voice while developing a desire to write for ourselves—sense of humor was also contagious

John Welty - (freshman language arts) Gave me the opportunity to enjoy writing

Mr. Arajou - Wore purple high top Converse---played nervously with rubber bands during lessons---taught me to read politics---told us to keep the text book in our lockers

Mr. Smith - He never mentioned the State writing assessment coming up, yet that year I earned a perfect score on the test! ----- Humor, love of reading and writing and personal stories

Bob Harmon - He was my friend

Mrs. Smiley - She let me be creative—small break out groups—talent show

Mrs. Mildred Peterson - 6th grade—He read to us—especially I remember a story about a black pony running free

Mrs. Burton - She took an interest in me and she cared about me

Jack Bagford - He lead me to come to my own conclusions—let me know how he felt on the defining issues of the day but didn’t insist I follow him—Invited me to his house for Thanksgiving

Dr. Eldridge  - inspired, caring , insightful, humorous, passionate, empathetic, courageous.

Sister Clare Marie –She was the first teacher I had who knew me as a person. She gave me confidence that I could be a leader and go to college.

Neil Swaigler - He made each individual feel like they were a valued member of his classroom by taking the time to get to know us as an individual.

Mrs. Trent - She had us keep a journal and go experience things outside the school building.

Mr Jagush - He had us doing creative mental games and activities that were difficult to solve. He let us get frustrated and then helped us to succeed.

Mr. Rigsby -  “Mind if I drift for a moment”, he would say with a big smile. He would then take the opportunity for the teaching moment. 15 minutes later we had learned a ton, been inspired and didn’t even know it.

Mr. Rathgeber
--provided opportunities outside of school
--challenged me to go higher… do better
--loved us…with all our faults
--let me know when I wasn’t performing to my ability
--got more personal—went to her house

Señor Gloria - We learned Spanish with plays and jokes

Mrs. Hatt - teased and joked with us—Had fun art/craft projects

Mr. Robinson - Helped us to discover difficult mathematical truths for ourselves

Mrs. Messerli - She believed in me. She made me feel beautiful, special, intelligent and even more so,
unique. No one ever noticed before that I WAS special.

Mr. Kunes - Listened—Had more confidence in us than we had in ourselves

Jean Galvin - She had the ability of recognizing strengths in each of us

Mr. Dick - 10th grade biology--- treated us like real people
--talked to us
--shared with us
--joked with us
--respected us

Mrs. Kayser - opened creativity, imagination which was lost through other teachers and treated me as an individual - showed interest and caring about issues, life and school.

Mr. William Histen - 10th grade English - taught me to laugh at myself and use it to reach others (that's why I teach middle school)

Miss Claire Byrne -   6th grade - taught me to accept myself and be unafraid

Mr. Bushy -  5th grade - Class went camping and he started me into stamp collecting

Miss Mulligan - 7th grade  Woonsocket RI - She made me try my best and inspired me to have confidence in myself.

Mrs. Edna May Sole , 6th grade teacher -  stood in front of class and read to us everyday

Mr. Dillon - Newport RI - He was so much fun. The first time I remember our desks in groups.

Mrs. Dowling - North Kingston RI - She always had and encouraging wink or smile just for me.  She knew my home life was difficult

Ms. Linder - Great Neck NY - She was very creative and I remember a great deal about those 2 years in school 35 years ago. She read Pippi Longstocking and we made a class mural, wrote songs about Pippi and performed them in a play.

Coach Milenko - Great Neck NY - He inspired me to pursue a course in Phys. Ed.  He let me come to school early each morning to pass out playground equipment to each classroom and made me feel special.

Mr. Feinberg - Coventry RI - He made learning interesting.  Learning was fun in his class.

Mrs. Snow -  5th grade -  A talker and a listener

Mrs. Barbara Stevenin - She has always encouraged me to follow my dreams.  She's a listener, listening to my highs and lows in life for the past 29 years!!!

Judy Eggemeir - with her positive flair, introduced me to professional writers and has renewed my interest in the teaching of writing.

Mrs. Owen - She invited us to her house on Saturdays for a writing club.

David Christopher - 9th grade -It was the very first Earth Day.  He encouraged us to do something to clean up the environment.  We walked )with picket signs) from our high school and had a funeral for the river, eulogy and all. 

Mrs. Dawson - 3rd grade Greenville, SC - She told us personal stories about her family.