The following article was selected from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding---------------- Article forwarded by: Michael Lach Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://chicagotribune.com/news/local/article/0,1051,SAV-0102220361,00.html ---Forwarded article---------------- `A' IN TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS By Stanley Ziemba Erin Kelly squeezes the dryness out of teaching business and accounting by giving her students real-life experiences, caring about their problems as well as their test scores, and by simply refusing to let anything or anybody get her down. "She is a very organized and efficient person but is never aloof with her students," said John McGraw, principal of Tinley Park High School, where she teaches. "She brings an incredible amount of energy to her classes and always carries a smile on her face. She refuses to let anyone around her have a bad day. "If you had to use just one word to describe her, the best word would be the one used most by her students in describing her teaching skills and personality," he said. "That word is awesome." Her enthusiasm and commitment led educators and administrators to select her as one of the 10 winners of this year's Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, the premier teaching award in the Chicago area. Kelly, 50, learned of her award Wednesday morning when Elaine Schuster, the new president and chief executive officer of the Golden Apple Foundation, showed up at her 9 a.m. Web design class and surprised her with a bushel of red apples topped off with a gold-colored apple. "I love and I'm challenged every day by what I do, including teaching accounting, which some people would describe as a very dry subject," Kelly said. "I love and care very much about my students and derive tremendous satisfaction from watching them set attainable goals and then reaching those goals. "I'm a parent and I see my role as a teacher as a parental responsibility," she added. "I try not only to nurture my students academically, but also emotionally. I strive to make my classes not only interesting and entertaining, but also a safe, warm place where students will want to come each day." She is the first teacher from Tinley Park High School to receive the award, McGraw said. "I believe she's also the first teacher in (Community High School) District 228, which includes Tinley Park, Oak Forest Bremen and Hillcrest High Schools, to be so honored," he said. Kelly and the other winners, five of whom will be announced on Thursday, were selected from 30 finalists in Cook, Lake and DuPage Counties. Several hundred teachers were nominated in September. In addition to being honored at a black-tie gala on May 14 at Chicago's Shakespeare Theater, the winners receive an Apple computer, a semester sabbatical at Northwestern University, $2,500 and membership in the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, an active organization that develops and supports programs to improve education. The Golden Apple Award was established in 1985 by venture capitalist Martin J. Koldyke in partnership with public television station WTTW/Channel 11 and Northwestern to honor outstanding teachers in the Chicago area and to provide them with a platform from which to improve their profession. Teachers can be nominated by a student, a teacher, an administrator, a parent or a school administrative staffer. Kelly, who spent the first seven years of her teaching career at Oak Forest High School and the last seven at Tinley Park (with a 16-year sabbatical in between to raise her two sons, Chris, 23, and Ryan, 18), was nominated for her Golden Apple by Tinley Park High School sophomore Colleen Callahan. "What makes Erin an especially worthy recipient is the fact that she is a very caring teacher who works with students as a co-sightsetter," McGraw said. "She neither places herself above her students or below them, but, instead, works along with them in helping them set and reach attainable goals." In addition to accounting, Kelly teaches a class that helps students get real-world business experience. It meets at 7 a.m. a couple of times of week for those students who want to pursue a career in the business world, either as an executive, a computer expert, a Web-site designer or a secretary. As part of the class, Kelly places students in jobs with local businesses. She also teaches a class, begun at the school this year, in Web site design where students write software and assist nonprofit organizations in establishing their own Web sites. Kelly, who lives in Chicago's Beverly community with her husband, Dan, said she was inspired to become a teacher by those who taught her at the now-defunct Little Flower Catholic High School on Chicago's South Side in the 1960s. She earned a bachelor's degree in education from Chicago State University and a master's degree in business education from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. But the most meaningful lessons in education that she's received, she said, are from her students and fellow teachers, and from raising her own children. "I think I'm a much better teacher because of having been a parent," she said. "Like a parent, a teacher has to be a good listener and be intuitive. You have to pick up when the kids in your class are not cooking. You have to be aware of everything that touches the lives of your students. "You also can't do this job in a vacuum. To be successful, you have to be surrounded by good teachers, administrators and staff who motivate you to always strive to do better. Here at Tinley Park, I've been blessed with having that kind of support." Other teachers named Golden Apple recipients on Wednesday were all from Chicago: Murray Fisher, a special education teacher at the Southside Occupational Academy; Jacqueline Gnant, a physics teacher at DuSable High School; Tracy Van Duinen, an art teacher at Austin Community High School; and Elizabeth Kirby, a history teacher at Kenwood Academy. -- This is the CPS Science Teacher List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
