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2001
AWARD WINNERS
The Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico
(GAFNM) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established in 1994 with a
mission for recognizing excellent teachers and improving the quality of
teaching.
Each year the GAFNM
recognizes a small number of teachers from around New Mexico with the
Golden Apple Award. The selection of these teachers is made through a
rigorous, comprehensive process that includes teams of evaluators making
site visits to the teachers’ classrooms and their schools. Golden Apple
Award recipients receive a stipend, a generous professional development
award, a computer system, and ongoing professional development through
their membership as a Golden Apple Fellow in the elite Golden Apple
Academy.
Golden Apple Fellows
give back to the profession through the many ways, both formal and
informal, in which they mentor and help prepare other teachers. One
significant program they provide is the Golden Apple Scholars Colloquium.
This two-week summer workshop provides practical advice and valuable
classroom tools and techniques for college students preparing for their
student teaching internships and first year of teaching.
Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico
505.268.5337 voice
2403
San Mateo NE, Suite S-11
505.268.5456 fax
Albuquerque, NM 87110
gafnm@earthlink.net
Web Site:
goldenapplenm.org
Mission
The Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico is
dedicated to the recognition, recruitment and professional development of
outstanding teachers to improve the quality of education for all
children. The Foundation rewards teaching excellence, recruits promising
students into the profession, and renews the commitment of dedicated
teachers. The GAFNM fulfills this mission through three initiatives:
Golden Apple Awards, Golden Apple Scholars Program, and Golden Apple
Academy.
·
Golden Apple Awards: This
program recognizes K-12 teachers from across the state for their
excellence in teaching. Award recipients, known as “Fellows,” agree to
teach in New Mexico for at least two more years. Over the eight years the
award has been presented in New Mexico, it has grown in recognition and
prestige and now ranks among the most visible teacher recognition awards
in the Southwest.
·
Golden Apple Scholars Program:
This new program, begun in 2001, recruits future teachers (immediately
prior to their student teaching) and provides a two-week colloquium in the
summer that focuses on areas essential to new teachers making a successful
transition from the university to the classroom. The teachers who have
completed the Scholars Program in Chicago, per the University of Illinois
research, are strong in the following areas: “Golden Apple teachers
registered stronger responses on belief in student capacity to learn and
to collaborate with other students . . .these teachers also were less
inclined to think that some students are unreachable . . .they exhibited a
more robust sense of person efficacy than their more traditionally trained
colleagues . . . they also exhibited a greater sense of collaborative
possibility, expressed by their regard for community, both within the
school as well as for that beyond the walls of the schools . . .”.
With a retention rate of eighty-two percent, there are now over one
hundred Golden Apple Scholars teaching in Illinois. We hope to achieve
similar results in New Mexico
·
Golden Apple Academy: The
Academy of Fellows are the Golden Apple Award recipients who, as stewards
of their profession have two responsibilities: (1) to utilize their
insights in addressing key education issues, initiatives, and programs;
and (2) to engage in ongoing professional development throughout their
careers.
Our mission requires continuing funding support
for operating costs for long-term organization sustainability including:
growth of the Golden Apple Awards, Golden Apple Scholars Program and the
Golden Apple Academy; creating additional statewide university
partnerships to secure sabbatical tuition support and a “quality pipeline”
of excellent future teacher candidates; and, facilitating an expanded NM
media/public awareness campaign for the Foundation to foster increased
recognition of teaching as an honored and treasured profession.
History
The Golden Apple
Foundation of New Mexico (GAFNM) is modeled after the highly successful
and accomplished Golden Apple Foundation of Illinois, founded in 1985 by
Martin J. Koldyke. In 1993, Mr. Koldyke, a part-time resident of New
Mexico, described his Illinois program to the members of the Santa Fe
Community Foundation and urged our state to develop a similar effort.
Local leaders responded, the first meeting of
GAFNM was held, and in 1994 the IRS granted the newly organized foundation
a 501 (c) 3 status. From May 1994 through May 1995, financial support was
established, partnerships were formed with three institutions of higher
education to donate sabbatical scholarships, and KNME TV was contacted to
contribute the production of the annual awards ceremony for the Golden
Apple Awards.
The first class of five Golden Apple
Award-winning Fellows was announced in 1996, and included teachers from
across northern New Mexico. In 1999, the GAFNM and the UNM College of
Education formed a winning partnership that is collaboratively addressing
some of New Mexico’s most critical educational needs, including continued
professional development for teachers (Golden Apple Academy) and teacher
preparation and retention (Golden Apple Scholars Program). An important
milestone achieved in 1999 was the expansion of the GAFNM to a statewide
foundation and naming Golden Apple Award winners from Cimarron, Clovis,
Farmington, Albuquerque and Las Cruces. The 2003 Golden Apple Awards mark
our eighth anniversary of recognizing and rewarding excellence in teaching
in New Mexico.
What’s New?
Selection of 2004 Golden Apple Fellows
Close to 400 nominations for elementary school
teachers were received in time to meet the November 24 deadline for the
2004 Golden Apple Fellows. The nominations represent 191 schools in 62
communities from all parts of New Mexico. As the next step in the
process, nominated teachers complete an application that provides
information on their students and teaching methodologies, their
professional development, and their service to their schools and
communities. Golden Apple Fellows recognized in prior years will read the
applications and send semifinalists on to the Nomination and Selection
Committee, who will then choose the 15 – 21 finalists. Each finalist will
receive a day-long visit from a team of three members of the Committee who
will observe the teacher’s classroom and interview a number of people
regarding the teacher’s work. The 2004 Golden Apple Fellows chosen from
the Finalists will be recognized at the May 7, 2004, Tribute to Teachers.
2004 Tribute to Teachers
Mark your calendars! You won’t want to miss
the 2004 Tribute to Teachers, a special day to honor the Golden Apple
Fellows chosen through the comprehensive selection process, as well as
Golden Apple Fellows from years past. This year’s Tribute will be a
luncheon on May 7 at the newly renovated Student Union Ballroom at the
University of New Mexico. Lots of recognition for educators and education
champions will be the order of the day and evening, with festivities
resuming at the ballpark that night for the game between the Albuquerque
Isotopes and the Omaha Royals.
Golden Apple Scholars
The Golden Apple Scholars Colloquium is a
two-week program provided for college students preparing for their student
teaching internships or for their first full year of teaching. The
Colloquium offers these students an opportunity to learn from and be
mentored by the masters – Golden Apple Fellows and other National Board
Certified teachers.
Topics covered in the Colloquium complement
what students have learned in their college classrooms by providing
practical instruction on what to expect and how to prepare for the reality
of day-to-day teaching. Topics include curriculum planning and design,
assessment, classroom management, special education, bilingual education
and multicultural issues, legislative issues, as well as many hours of
practical tips on teaching and working together with other teachers.
First offered in 2001, the Colloquium gets rave
reviews from students who participate. The friendships formed with their
peers and with the teaching Fellows go well beyond the two-week program
and provide these students with an invaluable support network as they go
into their own classrooms.
The Colloquium is coordinated by a trio of
Fellows – Sherry Mangold (1996), Mina Dosher (1997), and Edna Alvarado
(2001) – who are assisted by 2001 Scholar Lori Goldstein.
Golden Apple Academy of Fellows
The Golden Apple Academy of Fellows is composed
of all the Fellows who have been recognized over the years with the Golden
Apple Award. Membership now includes 42 Fellows who represent an
important voice in the dialogue on educational quality and education
reform issues.
Each year, Fellows participate in an Academy
Institute, a professional development program that contributes to their
continued learning and classroom excellence. In several past Institutes,
the Academy has issued a position paper on topics of key relevance to
teacher quality and educational success for all children. For example,
the Institute in 1999 was a Summit on Literacy and led to the development
of a document entitled “Summit on Literacy – High Expectations for All,”
as well as “The Golden Apple Academy Reading Bill of Rights.” In 2000,
the Institute joined with National Board Certified Teachers to prepare
“Teacher Leadership Core – An Action Plan for Recruitment and Retention.”
A document to define criteria and needs for quality professional
development is currently being drafted, based on the session of Fellows
held in the summer of 2003.
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