Horace Mann Magazine - Fall/Winter 2010-11 - (Page 22)

News of the School news of the school | HOR ACE MANN SCHOOL JOURNAL The Tina and David Bellet Teaching Excellence Award “The mind of a teacher should migrate into the minds of the pupils to discover what they know and feel and need.” – Horace Mann, from “On the Art of Teaching” Celebrates Ten Years of Inspiring Teachers at Horace Mann School Tina and David Bellet became involved with Horace Mann School when their children Suzanne ’96 and Stacey ’00 first enrolled as students in the School’s Nursery Division. Tina Bellet, a former teacher, is a Trustee Emeritus at Horace Mann School who has chaired the Trustees’ Education Committee. She is also a Trustee at Lesley University in Boston where she earned her masters in teaching. David Bellet is a Trustee of the Foundation for Teaching Economics. “The purpose of the award that we established at Horace Mann School has always been to recognize teachers for great teaching. But the process of selecting the finalists was also an important part of the award,” said Tina Bellet. “The nominating part of the process asks alumni and colleagues of teachers currently teaching at Horace Mann to reflect on their education here, or on the associations they have made while teaching at HM. For alumni the award provides an opportunity to reflect on teachers who inspired or influenced them, and who taught them well. Colleagues who nominate teachers get a chance to think about what inspires their own teaching, and the teachers who visit the classrooms of their peers during the evaluations get a chance to see what is taking place in parts of the School they might otherwise not have a chance to experience. “For the teachers themselves, we hope the self-evaluation they do, and the statement they are asked to prepare for the evaluating committee to review gives them a chance to pause and gain perspective on their own work as educators,” Bellet added. That was definitely the case for the finalists for the 2010 Bellet Award—Lower Division librarian Pat VanderWerff and Middle Division history teacher Isaac Brooks. “Since receiving the nomination for this award, I have spent a good deal of time reflecting on my career as an educator,” VanderWerff told those gathered at the dinner. She went on to say that this career In 1840, Horace Mann, president of the Massachusetts Board of Education, delivered a discourse to the Board entitled “On the Art of Teaching.” Instructing and inspiring those who undertake the momentous task of “teaching children,” by enumerating the qualifications of affinity for and understanding of those they teach. The special qualifications Horace Mann described 170 years ago well apply to the teachers at Horace Mann School. His words pertain, particularly, to those Horace Mann School educators who have been recognized, during the past decade, with the Tina and David Bellet Award for Teaching Excellence. The Award was launched at Horace Mann School by Tina and David Bellet in 2001 to acknowledge and further stimulate great teaching at the School. “The Bellet Award” program has since grown in dimension with the support of Dr. Tom Kelly, who added a financial award to the department from which each year’s finalists hail. The 2010 award presentation, held at a dinner on May 4, 2010, had special significance as Horace Mann School celebrated the Bellet family’s commitment to the cause of teaching at this School. In honor of the occasion Tina and David Bellet, and all the guests, were presented with a calendar prepared by Dr. Barbara Tischler, Horace Mann School Director of Curriculum and Professional Development, whose office coordinates the program. The calendar depicts each of those named finalists since the inception of The Bellet Award, and includes inspiring quotes about teaching culled from reflective statements the finalists submitted to the committee evaluating the nominees' work, or from speeches they delivered upon being presented with the award. Dr. Barbara Tischler presented a calendar commemorating the tenth anniversary of “The Bellet Award” to Tina and David Bellet. 22 Horace Mann Magazine Fall/Winter 2010-11 photo by David Parker

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Horace Mann Magazine - Fall/Winter 2010-11

Horace Mann Magazine - Fall/Winter 2010-11
Contents
Letters
Greetings from Dr. Tom Kelly, Horace Mann School Head of School
Greetings From Melissa Parento, Horace Mann School Director of Development
Horace Mann School Today
Dr. Tom Kelly Looks Back, and Forward, with Appreciation
Patricia Zuroski Launches New Diversity Initiative
Marcia Levy is New Head of Nursery Division
News of the School
Alumni Council Corner
Bookshelf
Class Notes
Memorials
Philanthropy and You

Horace Mann Magazine - Fall/Winter 2010-11