Jelaine Binford, the chair of the business education department at Curie Metropolitan High School, came in early Wednesday morning to check on a report that a virus was attacking the school’s computers.
But the “problem” was really a ploy designed to surprise Binford with a Golden Apple Teaching Award, considered among the most prestigious awards a Chicago-area schoolteacher can receive.
When Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan handed her a basket full of red apples with a single golden apple, Binford began to cry.
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“I’m honored, humble and so grateful,” she said, catching her breath between short sobs.
Binford, 54, who has taught at the school since it opened in 1973, is a demanding teacher who expects the best from her students in class and when they are at the after-school training jobs she helps them find, Principal Jerrelyn Jones said.
The awards, first presented in 1986 by the Golden Apple Teaching Foundation, will be given to 10 teachers this week. They were selected from a group of 681 teachers and 33 finalists. Each teacher will receive a tuition-free, fall-term sabbatical at Northwestern University, $2,500 and a personal computer from Apple.
The Golden Apple Teaching Foundation uses classroom interviews with students and colleagues of teachers to determine who receives an award. The foundation looks for dedication, enthusiasm and the ability to motivate students, spokesman Marshall Rosenthal said.
“Being able to present these awards makes me feel like Santa Claus,” Duncan said.
Diego Giraldo, a Spanish teacher at Jones College Preparatory High School in the South Loop, said he was honored to receive the award at a small reception after being surprised with an apple basket in his second-period class. Giraldo, 35, has been a teacher for six years.
“I don’t think he ever goes home from school,” said John Sieczka, a sophomore in Giraldo’s Spanish class. “His personality and everything is just so inspiring for me.”
Giraldo is widely respected among students for weaving social issues into academics, Principal Donald Frayand said. With the help of an outside grant, Giraldo’s Proyecto Voz (Project Voice) enables students to interview labor-rights activists to learn about immigration issues.
Giraldo himself was once an undocumented immigrant from Colombia. “I think my story motivates kids and shows them they can go for something and do better than me,” he said.
Cook County State’s Atty. Richard Devine had a bit of a surprise unrelated to legal issues Wednesday: His son, Tim, 33, a history and government teacher at Northside College Preparatory School in Chicago, won a Golden Apple.
Devine’s organization and creativity in the classroom makes him an excellent teacher, Principal Alan Mather said.
Of the 10 winners this year, two came from Evanston Township High School.
When the men in dark suits surprised Venessa Simmons-Woods in her classroom Wednesday, she recalled racing through a traffic light that morning and feared the worst.
But instead of getting a ticket, Simmons-Woods, 40, the lead teacher and coordinator of a study skills program at Evanston Township High School, found out she won a Golden Apple.
“I don’t like to think I’m that much different from my colleagues,” said Simmons-Woods, a 19-year teaching veteran who sees more than 200 students in her classroom per day.
In fact, Simmons-Woods, a self-described “polite pest,” credits her colleagues for tutoring her on a variety of topics so she can help students succeed.
The entourage also surprised English and humanities teacher Steve Newman as he corralled students into homeroom.
Newman, 34, a teacher for seven years, designed the school’s senior studies elective, a class that blends history, language arts and community service with off-campus learning. More than 60 students are enrolled in the course, which Newman co-teaches.
Paula Clark, 18, who had Newman as a freshman and a senior, was thrilled about her teacher’s award. “If you show the tiniest bit of interest in writing, he encourages you,” she said.
This year’s Golden Apple awards have also produced the youngest winner yet, according to the group’s records. Aaron Podolner, 25, received a Golden Apple on Wednesday as a crowd of administrators and colleagues ambushed his classroom with the good news.
The Oak Park and River Forest High School graduate, who returned to the school four years ago after graduating from college, beamed as his students gave him a standing ovation.
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“He deserves it,” said Michael Hardiman, a senior who went from nearly failing physics to earning a B. “He’ll help anybody before or after school.”