Best and Brightest of Area’s Teachers Love What They Do

Their backgrounds range from law to literature, but their love of teaching--and of the children they teach--sets them apart, according to their peers.

These seven South Bay teachers, selected to represent their districts in the national Teacher of the Year competition, have found a way to create that special classroom spark that makes students want to learn.

“These teachers are representing all of the thousands of teachers in the county who are doing a tremendous job,” said Janice Crawford, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. In all, the names of 67 teachers in the county were submitted for national consideration.

Esperanza Andrade-Banachowski thinks that “little or nothing will be learned or taught if the teacher does not have heart.”

And she does, her employers said.

Andrade-Banachowski has the “ability to light up a room with effervescence and positive energy,” said Kenneth Moffett, superintendent of the Lennox School District in which the teacher works.

A 41-year-old school counselor at Buford Elementary School, Andrade-Banachowski was an infant when her family moved to California from Michoacan, Mexico, in 1952. She began to learn English when she enrolled at St. Sebastian Elementary School in Los Angeles.

“Remembering the bewilderment and embarrassment as a Spanish speaker in an English-only kindergarten, I can feel especially for the non-English-speaking students,” she said.

Her life experiences have given her empathy for her students, she said, but have also raised her expectations of them.

“Because life is hard, I am a firm teacher,” she said.

She returned to St. Sebastian to teach after graduating from UCLA, but was forced to leave teaching briefly--doubling her salary by working as a mortgage banking representative--to support her ailing mother.

But she had left her heart in the classroom and quickly returned.

“Teaching had made me feel alive. It made me feel that somehow I was affecting the future,” she said.

*

For as long as she can remember, Marcia Avent had dreamed of becoming a teacher.

Her childhood teachers left a lasting impression on her, particularly the fifth-grade instructor who read to the class each day. Avent’s love of literature blossomed from those hours of reading.

Reading, she discovered, was the key to knowledge. She made it her mission to share that key.

For three years, Avent, 42, has been the language arts specialist at Alice McLellan Birney Elementary School in Redondo Beach.

“I was always fascinated with how children learn how to read,” she said.

Her fascination prompted her to obtain a reading specialist credential in addition to a master’s degree in education from Cal State Dominguez Hills.

“As a result of her dedication to learning and implementing this successful model, (Avent) has changed the lives of young children who viewed themselves as non-readers and (non-)writers to ones empowered with literacy skills and a sense of worth,” Avent’s colleague, Shirley Andrews, told the program committee.

*

Diane Corbin remembers first wanting to become a special education teacher after helping a hearing-impaired classmate who was being ignored by the teacher in her high school typing class.

“I sat next to her, so I would give her the directions again so she could attempt the assignment,” Corbin wrote in her biography to the Teacher of the Year judging panel. “I remember thinking, when I saw her smile at me, that I could have an opportunity to help students understand every day by choosing a career in special education.”

Now the 42-year-old special education resource specialist at Oak Street Elementary School in Inglewood sees smiles every day.

Born in Detroit, Corbin received her bachelor’s degree in special education from Wayne State University. She moved to Los Angeles in 1975 and received her master’s degree in special education from Cal State Los Angeles. She has taught learning-handicapped students in the Inglewood Unified District since 1977 and has worked at Oak Street Elementary for three years.

“Ms. Corbin’s strength lies in her ability to serve as a child advocate for children who might have special needs,” said Yolanda Mendoza, Oak Street’s principal. “She meets regularly with parents and often serves as the only person who truly cares for the student. When someone on our staff has a child who needs medical, counseling (or) psychological assistance, they are certain to ask Diane Corbin.”

*

William Fauver believes in saturating his students with information.

“If you throw everything at the kids--without sacrificing academic integrity--they’ll pick up something,” Fauver said.

His approach has proved successful not only in the 32-year-old teacher’s history and social studies classes at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, but also on the school’s award-winning academic decathlon team.

Fauver grew up in Visalia and moved to Los Angeles in 1981. He graduated from UCLA in 1984 with a degree in history.

Although teaching had always fascinated him, friends and family convinced him to pursue a law career, Fauver said.

He was a student at Loyola Law School for a year and “abhorred every moment,” he said. “Although I had chosen law because I wanted to help society, I soon discovered that the profession seemed immoral to me.”

Teaching allowed him to work with the future shapers of social change, he said.

Fauver is a firm believer in an old-fashioned teaching style: lecture and discussion.

He said he stresses respect and discipline in his courses and believes that a teacher must “genuinely care for his students, attend to their needs and nurture their academic talents.”

His teaching philosophy and style is successful, said Robert Sumpter, social studies department chair.

“There is literally a waiting list to get into his classes,” Sumpter said. “Previously apathetic students come alive because of the excitement he helps to create in his classroom.”

*

As a child, Mary Hall longed for summer vacations to end so she could go back to school.

“I counted the days until school began, anticipating the smell of new Crayolas and the ink on damp newsprint, the feel of stiff new Oxfords, the familiar sound of the school bell . . . and the excitement of opening a new textbook,” she said.

Because school was always a safe haven for Hall, 52, a fifth-grade teacher at Montemalaga Elementary School in Palos Verdes Estates, she has strived to make it one for her students.

“I’m totally against competition of one student against another,” she said. “I am totally for competing to be one’s own best self.”

Hall recently asked her social studies students to contact their oldest living relative and ask the person to describe his or her childhood, share a recipe and reveal the secret for a long life.

“Letters have been going around the world,” Hall said, “It’s made (the students) appreciate their own heritage and that of others.”

Hall’s creativity and passion for teaching are her strongest qualities.

“Not only as a role model, but also as a counselor/problem solver, she can literally shift an entire classroom to feeling good about themselves,” said school Principal Sanford Scholton.

*

School was the central focus of Magruder Middle School teacher Jane Murray’s childhood.

“School was where I made friends. . . . It was a lively place that stimulated my curiosity, challenged my mind and shaped my understanding of people,” she said.

“This was the place to be.”

It still is, said Murray, 52.

Her mission during her 25-year teaching career has been to help her students realize that “they become creators of meaning by learning about the past, building on their own experiences and sharing their knowledge with others.”

Magruder’s principal, Sid Morrison, nominated Murray for the award because “she believes in the capacity of all children to learn. She is a learner and, because of that, she participates in the learning process with students. She’s there with them as a coach and guide but never a final authority.”

Murray moved to Torrance after receiving her master’s degree in education from the University of Montana in 1962. She has taught at Magruder for 23 years.

“I am the model of a literate adult who enjoys learning enough to make it a lifelong quest,” she said. “I am the advocate, encouraging them to be risk-takers who feel safe and valued in their learning experience. I am the facilitator, who as students make meaning, gives them the scaffolding to express and share that meaning with those around them.”

Murray is the only one of the seven South Bay teachers who was selected to be among the 12 Los Angeles County educators chosen to compete in the California Teacher of the Year state competition.

*

Representing his district in the Teacher of the Year program is nothing new for Clark (Kevin) Post.

The Manhattan Beach Intermediate literature and journalism teacher was Redondo Beach’s Teacher of the Year representative in 1988 and is representing the Manhattan Beach City School District this year.

“I consider my greatest contribution in education to be that of a role model both to my students and my fellow teachers,” Post said. “I can be a strong male personality, yet show compassion, understanding and fairness.”

His principal, Billie Jean Knight, agrees.

“Mr. Post makes a difference in the lives of those around him,” she said. “He has a gentle, unassuming style that puts others at ease. His strengths of personal integrity, high expectations and warmth engender respect among his peers, students and the community.”

Post, 49, graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in English and began teaching in Redondo Beach in 1969.

“Students need a sense of belonging,” he said. “I feel that they need to feel they are a part of something important. Students need to feel that they have power.”