Roseann Coonerty Layne
Inspiring Teacher Award
The Roseann Coonerty Layne Inspiring Teacher award was
founded by the Coonerty Family in honor of their relative, Roseann Coonerty
Layne, who taught in Santa Clara County for the better part of 33 years and in
Santa Cruz County for 9.
Roseann Coonerty Layne’s aspirations to be a teacher started young, as she
listened to her mother’s stories of teaching during the Coonerty’s nightly
dinner conversations. Dazzled by her history teacher in college, Rosie knew she
would teach History and American Government. She began teaching at 22. She was a
great teacher--one of those brave ones who are willing to take on the challenge
of awakening the minds of early teens and challenging them to achieve.
Good teaching demands that we hold students to high
personal standards of expression and intellectual curiosity. The highest goal of
teaching is in its art: the ability to light the fire in each and every student,
igniting in them the courage to be themselves and open their minds and hearts to
others, to share their ways of thinking with the world. Rosie understood and did
this well. She worked hard, spending long hours teaching her students how to
think, ask questions, do research and write clear, concise essays. Her family
would barely see her for weeks at a time. She spent hours reviewing student
essays, correcting each one and encouraging students to achieve their best.
Rosie came from a family of political obsessives and the
Coonertys were often in the spotlight. However, she followed her mother’s path,
seeing that the greatest opportunity to change the world was by lighting up
young minds. She was a heroine of the highest order. Rosie’s quiet brilliance
was known mostly by those she taught and by their parents. It was an excellence
that focused on the child, first and foremost.
Roseann Coonerty Layne Inspiring Teacher Award Criteria:
·
Nominations are open to middle- or high-school teachers in Santa Cruz
City Schools District who teach writing, history, social studies, government,
civics or any other writing-intensive course.
·
Nominators are encouraged to identify the unsung teacher, a teacher whose
impact may not have been recognized outside the students and families she or he
may have affected.
·
Nominees should demonstrate the following attributes:
·
An unwavering commitment to opening up the world to his or her students;
putting the students’ needs, interests and abilities first; helping students
realize their academic potential and new levels of self awareness.
·
Motivating and encouraging students’ creative and critical thinking.
·
Acting as an mentor to students, challenging and encouraging them to
reach their goals.
