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Impact Award Winner
Daniel Sonnier // TEAM Academy // 6th Grade Reading
In the words of his nominators…
The winner of the Impact Award is 6th grade Reading teacher Daniel Sonnier from TEAM Academy. According to one, Daniel’s impact stretches from student learning to student character to other teachers in the building to his steady stream of external visitors “who are, upon visiting, instantly awestruck by by the feel, the investment, the rigor, and the joy in his classroom.” In one nominator’s words, “from the first moment Daniel spoke to students at TEAM, he helped transform TEAM from a school that often “battled” and “controlled” students, to one that empathizes with them and teaches them to think about their choices.” Another nominator compared Daniel’s classroom to a casino where “every detail purposefully impacts the way the students feel, think, behave, and learn. The curtains, stations, rugs, seat placement, fish tank, curtains, posters, exemplary work….everything makes his room a cozy educational sanctuary.” His colleagues recall students talking about going to his class the way they do about going to the movies over the weekend. In the words of one nominator, his impact is clear: “he’s made us all better teachers and TEAM would not be the same if he had not joined us.”
2011 Winners
Impact (im•pakt) [v.]
It is our mission and vision to build enough highly successful schools in Newark to create sweeping change that eventually ensures that all of our city's students are availed of a first-class education. In order to do this, we must not only increase the number of students we serve, but also the quality with which we do so, and the degree to which we prove that we can do so. The Impact award will go to the teacher whose students achieve the most outstanding academic gains in the network. This need not be defined exclusively by test scores, but the winner of this award is someone who can be proven to be making a dramatic impact on student achievement.
Nominees:
Daniel Sonnier, Winner (TEAM Academy)
Zonya Melendez (TEAM Academy)
Sarah Smalley (SPARK Academy)
