Melinda A. Pellerin-Duck
Massachusetts Teacher of the Year
The High School of Commerce, Springfield, MA
Grades 9-12, History, Law, Technology

My teaching philosophy
No child can afford to leave school unprepared or ill equipped to face life’s challenges. As teachers, we have a moral obligation to make sure every one of our students has been challenged academically and has been consistently held to high and rigorous standards. Academics are teachers’ primary purpose and I am committed to offering my students a world-class education that will prepare them for future success. My work, however, does not end with the academic preparation of students. Of equal importance is for my students to learn to view themselves as contributing and valued members of our nation and the global community.

My philosophy in action
Lessons from students, family and friends have taught me that patience is a virtue to be embraced in the classroom every day. I’ve learned perseverance, even when the struggle seems insurmountable. I’ve learned love and had this love reinforced by the gifts each child brings to the classroom experience. I’ve learned about hope and I know not to judge a person by outside distractions because their inner beauty is what counts.

As a teacher, I continue to search for these virtues in each student. These are the lessons I try to instill in each miracle that walks across the threshold of my classroom. Activism has always been an integral part of my teaching. In 1993, one of my colleagues and I created a curriculum unit that used technology to foster greater understanding between students enrolled in African American history classes and French classes at the Springfield High School of Commerce and students from the College Catholique, a secondary school on the Ivory Coast. The unit asked students to use electronic mail and video to practice speaking, writing, and translating English and French while learning about student life in another country. Charged with documenting “Life for a Typical American Student” and sharing it with their Ivorian counterparts, our students acted as tour guides for the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, learning about the history and culture of their city and using a video camera to create a virtual tour. Students from the Ivory Coast used video to share their “Trials and Tribulations as Typical Ivorian Teenagers.” Senator Edward Kennedy sent representatives from his office to watch the students and their cultural exchange. The project culminated in a teacher exchange; John Koffe, a teacher at College Catholique, came to visit and teach in Springfield and my colleague and I traveled 4,300 miles to teach in Africa.

My greatest teaching accomplishment
My greatest teaching accomplishment is the community involvement and activism I encountered while teaching at Duggan Middle School. Students who enrolled in my law-related education class became actively involved in a campaign to reopen our local public library branches – budget cuts had prompted the city to close the libraries in some neighborhoods, and my students believed this would deny them a powerful learning tool while also denying the community a central gathering place and resource. Working with the Pioneer Valley Project (PVP), a voluntary social activist organization, my students and I campaigned before, during, and after school, as well as weekends, to share our message about the importance of neighborhood libraries to community leaders. Students produced a multimedia presentation on the role libraries play in their lives. They learned civil rights strategies for nonviolent confrontation and participated in demonstrations, speaking at rallies and labor meetings. They wrote to the mayor and to city council, and addressed parent groups and the superintendent. Our commitment to this effort and the students’ hard work has resulted in a revamped library system with longer branch hours. Even more importantly, this collaboration has forged lifelong relationships and a sense of activism, which my students have incorporated into my classroom.

The most critical issue facing educators today
The most critical issues for urban school systems are attendance and high-stake testing. How do we keep our children in school when they are failing?

Ways to resolve this issue
It takes a village to raise a child. Schools need the support of the community, parents and our policy makers.

Schools and communities must be committed to really working on the serious problems in the inner city. These problems surface in our schools.

We need to commit to early intervention programs at an early age, effective parenting programs for those who need it and after-school programs that are realistic for both students and families.

One thought to inspire other teachers to succeed
Too often, we hear that old quotation, “Those who can’t, teach.” It has been used in popular film and culture to poke fun at and criticize our profession. Yet, ours is a vocation of love. True teachers know this. Those who instruct, who nurture, who hope patiently and lovingly each and every day understand the saying should be, “Those who can, teach.”

One lesson every student should learn
You will soar, you will succeed, and I will not let you fail. Trust me – believe in me as I do in you.

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