PAT JORDAN-COWLEY CELEBRATED AS "NEWS 12 EDUCATOR OF THE MONTH"

(October 2007--Riverhead, NY) Mrs. Pat Jordan-Cowley, a 5th grade teacher at the Pulaski Street School, was recently celebrated as one of 12 Long Island teachers chosen to be a “News 12 Educator of the Month.” (See Movie Clip.) Mrs. Jordan-Cowley was one of approximately 40 teachers nominated for this distinction. News 12 and Dowling College, who co-sponsors the award, choose the teachers based on the nomination of their principal and a set of criteria. One of the panelists and the Dean of the School of Education at Dowling College, Dr. Clyde Payne, traveled to the Pulaski Street School to recognize Mrs. Jordan-Cowley for this achievement and to award her with a tribute and a plaque during an assembly at Pulaski.

Dr. Payne, who had been an interim principal at the Phillips Avenue School after his retirement and prior to his appointment at Dowling College, congratulated Mrs. Jordan-Cowley on her achievement and listed her many contributions to her students, her school, her district, her community and the larger global community. Dr. Payne recognized Mrs. Jordan-Cowley for her ability to:

• Place her students needs above everything else—by recognizing their academic, emotional and social needs – and tailoring her teaching to those needs.
  
• Share her love of literature with both her students and her colleagues throughout the building. Model enthusiasm for writing. Mrs. Jordan-Cowley is an author of two children’s books, That Ain’t Right and Corner Man. She enthusiastically embraces the Reading/Writing Workshop curriculum and has conducted Portfolio Book Publishing and Writing Contests.
  
• Work on curriculum with her colleagues and mentor other teachers, both formally and informally. A group of 5th grade teachers recently used Tomie dePaola’s birthday as a leaping off point for a letter writing unit.
  
• Provide her students with hands-on experiences, role playing and critical thinking opportunities.
  
• Involve her students in her concern for the environment. She involved her class in a “Save the Bays” project and was the recipient of the “Save the Bays” Award for being an exceptional teacher of bay stewardship.
  
• Teach her students about social studies by involving them in social projects. Her class wrote letters to pass the Harriet Tubman Bill and produced a quilt in her honor that traveled the entire Underground Railroad route with the Department of the Interior.
  
• Create meaningful and engaging lessons that extend to the larger community. She has been affiliated with NASA Teaching Projects, the Toshiba Project for Gifted and Talented Students, the Tag and Release Program for a species of fish in the Riverhead area, has participated in fundraisers for special environmental field trips and organized letter and gift package projects for veterans of the Iraq and Gulf Wars.

  The final judge of a great teacher, however, is his/her students, and Mrs. Jordan-Cowley’s students gave her a big “thumbs up.”
  
  “She knows how to make learning fun,” shared Joseph Butler.
  
  “I really like how she gets everyone involved in science experiments,” stated Garrick Lynch.
  
  “She’s great!” concluded Tyrell Brunskill.

 

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