Lish Named AAFCS National Teacher of the Year Merit Finalist for Innovative Child Care Program
(Alexandria, Va. – April 26, 2010) — Sandy Segal Lish, CFCS-HDFS, of Billerica Memorial High School in Billerica, Massachusetts, has been named an American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) 2010 National Teacher of the Year Merit Finalist. A representative from Goodheart-Willcox Publisher will recognize Lish as a merit finalist at the AAFCS 101st Annual Conference & Expo in Cleveland, Ohio, this June.
The AAFCS National Teacher of the Year award recognizes exemplary teachers who utilize cutting-edge methods, techniques, and activities to provide the stimulus for and give visibility to family and consumer sciences elementary and secondary education. Each AAFCS affiliate selects its Teacher of the Year and the winning affiliate entries are submitted to AAFCS for the national competition. From the Affiliate Teachers of the Year, up to three merit finalists and one National Teacher of the Year are selected.
creativity, innovation, and progressive techniques in the program; ability to sustain funding and
overcome obstacles or challenges; positive influence on the lives of students; relevancy and timely impact on the students, school, and community; and increasing the visibility, recognition, and support of the FCS profession within the community.
“It is an honor to be recognized as a 2010 National Teacher of Year Merit Finalist and to bring national attention to a program that provides students with the cutting-edge techniques needed to succeed in the highly competitive workforce. I am very thankful for the support from the school administration, faculty, and the Billerica community. Their support has become the backbone to my program’s success,” said Lish.
In 1996, Lish re-established the child care program at Billerica Memorial High School on a part-time basis. Within the first three years, she developed the curriculum to align with the National Standards for Family and Consumer Sciences and Massachusetts Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework, increased class enrollment, and began working full-time. To date, her program has served close to 1,000 junior and senior high school students.
In Lish’s classes, students are not only gaining valuable knowledge, skills, and hands-on experience in child care, they are learning about possible career pathways and developing 21st Century Media Packs that will help them when applying for employment, scholarships, or college. The “media packs” are hardcopy and digital portfolios that demonstrate students’ acquisition of technical and application skills, document their knowledge and training, and show they can meet high work standards and expectations.
The hardcopy portfolio contains a resume, letters of recommendations, pictures from class activities, awards and certificates, sample lesson plans, and other items that showcase positive aspects of a student’s capability. For the digital portfolio, students express their experiences through a PowerPoint presentation with music and pictures from class activities, employment experiences, school involvement, community activities, family, and friends.
“Mrs. Lish provided me, as well as the rest of the class, with extensive knowledge that I never thought I would gather from a high school course. Her passion for teaching is very apparent through her ability to engage her students in what goes on each day in class,” noted Perette Ducey, a junior at Bridgewater State College majoring in Early Childhood Education.
Sandy Lish, CFCS-HDFS, is a Nashua, New Hampshire, resident and member of the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences, Association for Career and Technical Education, Association for Childhood Education International, and American Federation of Teachers. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Lish co-chairs the Billerica Memorial High School’s NEASC steering committee for the 2012 visit. She also organized the high school’s tech prep endeavor and currently represents the high school at Middlesex Community College for career and technical education meetings. In 2002, Lish received the Massachusetts FCS New Professional of the Year Award.
Based in the Washington, D.C., area, AAFCS is the only professional association for family and consumer sciences students and professionals from both multiple practice settings and content areas. For more than 100 years, AAFCS has focused our mission on providing leadership and support for professionals whose work assists individuals, families, and communities in making more informed decisions about their well-being, relationships, and resources to achieve optimal quality of life. Our members provide research-based knowledge about the things of everyday life, including human development, personal and family finance, housing and interior design, food science, nutrition and wellness, textiles and apparel, and consumer issues. They are early childhood, elementary, secondary, university/college, and Extension educators, administrators and managers, human service professionals, researchers, community volunteers, business people, and consultants who create integrated solutions to complex social and economic challenges.
Interviews/Quotes
For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Gwynn Mason at 703-706-4600, ext. 4621, 703-859-8235, or gmason@aafcs.org.
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