Danielle
What’s your funniest teaching moment?
I had the unusual opportunity to teach my
own daughter’s math class in 4th grade.

She’s a great student but had struggled
to always complete her work on time. It
never made sense to me knowing what I
knew about her at home. One day when I
was giving notes to the class, I looked over
and saw that she was writing each word in
a diff erent color, making a rainbow page of
notes. The diffi culty in completing assign-
ments suddenly made sense. I laughed
about it, then quickly helped her make a
change to her notetaking skills.

How can parents and teachers work together
to empower and engage children?
First, teachers and parents both need to
assume good intentions. We may have
diff erent ideas about how to work with
students, but ultimately, we all have
the same goal- successful, happy, well-
rounded kids. Teachers should invite
parents into the classroom to volunteer
and spend time with their kids, and par-
ents can help by off ering support and
encouraging their children at home. I
send home a monthly newsletter letting
parents know what we will be working
on in each subject area and help parents
to fi nd real-world experiences that rein-
force what we are learning at school.

“I believe it is in
our human nature to
be explorers. We
have a natural desire
to want to see how
the world works,
but sometimes we
need someone or
something to spark
that interest.”
DA N I E L L E T R OT TA
Danielle Trotta
6TH THROUGH 8TH-GRADE
S C I E N C E T E A C H E R AT H O LY
R E D E E M E R C AT H O L I C S C H O O L
IN KENSINGTON, MD
12-year teaching veteran
Nominated by Kathleen Neary:
“As a science teacher, Ms. Trotta keeps
students engaged through hands-on
assignments and brings an element of fun
to the school day. But, she goes beyond that
role to have an impact on so many other
aspects of our community.

For the arts festival at our school — two
days of full immersion in the arts — she
comes up with creative and engaging projects
for the students, such as mandala painting
on rocks, painting an aurora scene on canvas,
making glitter glass jars with an LED inside
and teaching hand lettering. As the leader
of the astronomy club, she arranged for
students to launch model rockets at the
Goddard Space Center.”
“This year, Ms. Trotta also began an academic
competitions team. She had all of her
students take a test for the National Science
Bee and several of them qualified for the
regional event. Ms. Trotta met students at
the event (on a Saturday) and supported
them as they competed.

What originally got you interested in teaching?
When I was in middle school, my teacher
always told me that I would be a math
and science teacher. I always shrugged it
off , but little did I know that Mrs. Tag-
garse would be right! While in college,
I changed my major several times. I
was planning on doing everything from
volcanology to medicine. In the end,
I decided to teach. It’s not the path I
thought I would take, but I am so glad
I did because I could not imagine doing
anything else.

Why do you think teachers are important?
I believe it is in our human nature to be
explorers. We have a natural desire to
want to see how the world works, but
24 Washington FAMILY SEPTEMBER 2019
sometimes we need someone or some-
thing to spark that interest. Teachers are
important because they can ignite that
spark and love of learning. It is my hope
to be able to spark some sort of inter-
est in my students that will lead them on
a path to their future. Aside from that,
teachers don’t just teach their students
academics, we help students to become
contributing members of society. We
teach patience, tolerance, respect, per-
severance and, above all, kindness. Our
jobs are important because we have the
future of the world in our classrooms.

What is the single best piece of
advice you can give parents?
Let your children go! Middle school is a
time where students aren’t just fi guring
themselves out, but they are fi guring out
what academic strategies work best for
them! Parents defi nitely should monitor
their children and help them when nec-
essary, but they should let them try to
fi gure out what studying, organizational
and other academic strategies work for
them. Students need to see that they can
do it on their own!
What’s your funniest teaching moment?
It is so hard to pick just one moment,
but one of my favorites was during my
fi rst year of teaching. My 6th-grade class
was fi nally all quietly working on what
I had asked them to do. I looked up at
them and noticed that one student had
drawn a mustache on the side of his fi n-
ger and was holding it up to his nose
as if he had a mustache. I had to take a
deep breath because I was about to burst
out laughing, but not wanting to get the
class off track, I simply said, “take it off .”
Well, little did I know, that he had made
a paper razor (he even wrote Gillette
on it) and proceeded to pretend shav-
ing his mustache off . I completely lost
it…and lost the rest of that class period
for the day!
How can parents and teachers work together
to empower and engage children?
Parents and teachers are a team that
share a common goal! We should always
work together to help students achieve
their goals. Trust and communica-
tion are critical in order to maximize
student success.

If I weren’t teaching, I’d be …
If I weren’t teaching, I would be out of a
job! Honestly, I have no idea, I can’t picture
myself doing anything else!



Corey
Corey Spinosi
5 T H - G R A D E T E AC H E R AT OA K V I E W
E L E M E N TA RY I N FA I R FA X , VA
8-year teaching veteran
Nominated by Sheila Bartley:
“Mr. Spinosi is beloved by both students and
parents. He is positive, kind, creative and
effective. I have watched my son grow into an
engaged learner within the last few months,
thanks in no small part to the efforts of Mr.

Spinosi. His students come to school excited
to learn and listen every day.”
“I just recently discovered that Mr. Spinosi
was a key supporter of our school’s “Eagle’s
Nest” program. In an effort to build our
school community across all grades, we
have breakout sessions where kids from
every grade level meet up and discuss an
issue or topic, led by classroom teachers
and counselors. I love that Mr. Spinosi
looks at the entire school community and
helps facilitate change and improvement
well beyond his own classroom door. He is
a wonderful example to our students and a
great advocate for our school community.”
What originally got you interested in teaching?
My passion for teaching began when I
was a child. You would often fi nd me
playing school with the younger kids on
my street and I was the teacher. In ele-
mentary school, I always volunteered to
help my teachers doing whatever they
asked of me. I feel my elementary school
teachers were all responsible in inspiring
me to become a teacher. The little things
they would do in class would excite me,
such as moving our desks around giving
us the opportunity to become friends
with everyone, passing out stickers after
a spelling test, and using their special
chalk to write on the chalkboard. I knew
very early on that one day I would want
to have my own classroom and do those
little things to excite and inspire my
own students the way my teachers did
for me. As I progressed to high school, I
was determined to become an educator
later receiving my degree in elementary
education and a minor in in special edu-
cation from Slippery Rock University
in Pennsylvania.

Why do you think teachers are important?
Teachers have an extremely import-
ant job to do. We are responsible for
preparing our students for the future.

Teachers do not just teach differ-
ent subjects and assess them on their
academic success, we are also responsi-
ble for our student’s well-being, mental
health, and making sure our students
are kind and respectful global citizens.

Teachers share many of the responsi-
bilities that our parents have. We must
know how to have control over 25 plus
students’ behaviors at one time whilst
making sure each student is feeling pos-
itive about their school day and ready
to learn. It can certainly be exhausting,
but teachers have a special inner voice
that reminds us every day that our
responsibility is to effectively prepare
our students for their future.

successful. I demonstrate patience each
day even when it gets diffi cult. It can cer-
tainly be a challenge to show patience all
day long, but I do my best and it pays off .

I not only teach but model kindness in my
classroom, as well. I teach my students to
treat everyone with kindness even when
you are upset with them. Lastly, showing
a bit of humor in my classroom is one of
the most eff ective tools in my toolbox. I
want my students to laugh while learning.

Humor gets children to be more attentive
and actively be part of their learning.

If I weren’t teaching, I’d be …
Finding some way to work with children.

Who wants to work with boring adults,
right? Children are funny, enthusiastic,
carefree, and prevent the many stressful
migraines people may have in an offi ce
full of adult workers. Camp counselor,
sports coach, full-time caretaker…one of
those might work for me!
James What’s your funniest teaching moment?
Funny teaching moments occur every
day! I am not perfect and can easily stum-
ble on my words, misspell a word on the
board, call a student by the wrong name,
and even fall out of my own chair. My
class and I learn how to laugh at ourselves
very early on in the school year.

Heading into this new school year,
what are you most excited for?
Each school year has been completely
diff erent from the previous ones. These
diff erences are because of the students. I
am most excited to meet my new class!
My students are the ones who create the
classroom each year. They design how
the classroom will look, create the rules
the room should follow, and allow their
tiny personalities begin to grow bigger
and bigger each day. The school year isn’t
about data collection, collaboration meet-
ings, or checking the constant emails that
come through. The school year is about
building connections and relationships
with our students to ensure their school
year is successful. I am excited to meet
my future class!
What are three things you use
in your classroom every day and
could never live without?
I could never live without patience,
kindness, and humor in my classroom.

External objects and routines are great,
but without these internal charac-
ter traits, my classroom would not be
James Brent
1 S T- G R A D E T E A C H E R AT T U C K A H O E
E L E M E N TA RY I N A R L I N GTO N , VA
9-year teaching veteran
Nominated by Cici Schultz:
“Mr. Brent uses humor and wit to keep their
attention. He will put on different personas,
say whole sentences using only his hands,
gives every child the benefit of the doubt and
highly praises the ‘quiet’ kids.”
What originally got you interested in teaching?
When professional sports or being a
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle didn’t
work out, I went with the next logical
occupation. I’ve always enjoyed helping
young people whether it was as a volun-
teer camp counselor for Arlington Parks
& Rec or simply doting over my younger
cousins. I was also fortunate to have
many wonderful teachers while growing
up in Arlington who helped for my pos-
itive relationship with school. I try to
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