SPHS English teacher named County Teacher of the Year

Halpern has been involved in a number of activities over the years that benefit her community and especially young people. In L.A. County she was an advisor to the Environmental Issues Club at Marshall High. Also in Los Angeles, she served as a Neighborhood Watch Coordinator and spearheaded an effort to close down a local billiard hall that she says attracted drunks, drug addicts, vandals and car thieves.At Santa Paula High School she was instrumental in starting the Accelerated Reader Program. This is a computer managed reading program that tests students' reading comprehension of books and rewards them with points. She has also served on the local Anti-Defamation League's Public School Liaison Committee for the past two years.Celia Ward is the SPHS Librarian. In her letter to the selection committee, Ward says that Annette cares deeply about her students and is an excellent teacher. "For instance, when she discovered to her dismay that most students in a recent class had never heard of the Holocaust, she quickly prepared a lesson, engaged a Holocaust survivor as a speaker and arranged a field trip to the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum for the entire class," she said.Principal Gaitan also sent a letter of recommendation to the selection committee on Halpern's behalf. "Mrs. Halpern is known as an outstanding educator and is highly respected amongst her colleagues," he noted. "Mrs. Halpern has provided her students with a challenging education using a variety of learning models that include reading books with contemporary tittles that are of interest to our students. She has also been the key person in our English Language Development program as well as assisting with the implementation of the Accelerated Reading Program on our campus."John Merrill, another English teacher at SPHS said he was not surprised at Halpern being honored. "She is definitely worthy," Merrill said. Another teacher, Basil Augustine was also pleased with the news. "I'm very happy someone as worthy was acknowledged," he said. "I couldn't have been happier."Halpern says that she's always believed that, in order for students to thrive, they need to be provided with a calm environment of mutual respect, honesty and dignity. "In my 'Sacred Temple of Learning' (aka Room 412) the profanity, crude language and vulgarity of the outside world cease to exist," she writes. "We treat each other with an unusually high level of civility. My students are initially not accustomed to this atmosphere but they always rise to the occasion, and they feel secure within it. In addition to my insistence of honesty, dignity and civility within the classroom, I have always striven to build and maintain high academic standards."Halpern notes that the psychic rewards of teaching have kept her enthusiastic and renewed, year after year. "When a student thanks you for giving him a sense of pride in his heritage and therefore changing his life for the better, it is a feeling of gratification that will never be forgotten," she said. "When a student is so excited by a book that you have recommended that he devours all of the works by the same author, the satisfaction is immeasurable. When a student realizes how powerful he can be by having the ability to write a succinct and articulate letter to a company or elected official, you have given him/her a gift for life."She recommends teaching to others, "because in spite of all its problems and pressures, it is a gratifying and interesting way to spend one's working day," she said. "No matter what, teaching is never boring. The fresh, new students with their budding personalities and varied talents make the start of each school year an exciting prospect, full of promise. In addition, teaching allows one to keep one's independence and, to a certain extent, be one's own boss."