STRATFORD — Stratford Excessive College English instructor Michael Fiorello is an advocate out and in of the classroom — and is getting nationwide recognition for it.
The Stratford Excessive College English instructor has been named the Connecticut winner of the Nationwide Schooling Affiliation Basis’s California Casualty Award for Educating Excellence.
The president of the Stratford Schooling Affiliation, the union which represents the college district’s lecturers, Fiorello by no means has been afraid to name out college officers on behalf of his colleagues.
He stated Friday that his educating work and union advocacy serve related ends.
“Schooling, to me, is liberation and empowerment,” Fiorello stated. “I imagine it’s the surest avenue to discovering significant work and success. Union work, and different issues I do, equivalent to advising the Gender and Sexuality Alliance, meet the identical want — rising personally, being personally empowered, and serving to others to develop.”
Fiorello, a Stratford native and Bunnell Excessive College alumnus, has taught for 31 years, 20 of them at Stratford Excessive and 11 previous to that as a center and highschool instructor in Bridgeport.
He stated 2020 had been one of the crucial troublesome years for educators and college students alike as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, however hopes the teachings realized from the expertise shall be utilized going ahead.
“Final yr was particularly difficult for college kids, households, and lecturers,” he stated. “Every little thing about training was impacted — making connections with and amongst college students, facilitating small group work, conveying one’s enthusiasm for a topic to college students. And to the extent that they’re secure, I hope for modifications that permit us to attach and collaborate extra authentically.”
Fiorello was been one of the crucial constant audio system throughout the public remark portion of Board of Schooling conferences, and led a protest final November as the college district ready to name again extra college students to colleges regardless of rising COVID instances.
In a ready assertion, Connecticut Schooling Affiliation President Kate Dias stated Fiorello is a becoming recipient of the educating excellence award.
“Michael is a devoted skilled educator and union chief who has persistently advocated for good working and studying circumstances and has labored exhausting to make sure the security of Stratford college students and educators throughout the COVID pandemic,” Dias stated. “He has earned the belief and respect of his colleagues and neighborhood members and has amplified lecturers’ voices on essential points, empowering them to take part in coverage discussions that impression college students, public training, and the educating occupation.”
Fiorello stated he was “thrilled and humbled” by information of the award.
“I’ve the utmost respect for the educators who work with and for our union,” he stated. “To be honored by them strikes me deeply, and I’m profoundly grateful.”
In a press launch, the NEA stated the award “acknowledges educators who embody excellence of their apply, advocacy for the occupation, dedication to fairness, range, and alternative, neighborhood engagement, management and encouragement for fellow educators, and assist for related, high-quality skilled growth.”
Fiorello will obtain the award on the NEA Basis’s Salute to Excellence Gala subsequent February.
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