Pati T. Pati, Jr.
American Samoa Teacher of the Year
Leone High School, Pago Pago, American Samoa
Grades 9-12, Music (choral)

My teaching philosophy
In my choir classes, there are no proficient, mainstream, or remedial students, they are all music students. They are all given a talent from God, and it is my calling and duty to bring it out of them.

My philosophy in action
What do soldering, sand, and greenhouses have to do with my philosophy? I have created activities using all of these to help liven up the pre-algebra curriculum. Students soldered electrical boards after a discussion of the proportion of tin and lead in the solder. Then they soldered stained-glass kits during a geometry unit to study surface area, perimeter, and interior angels. I designed an activity to measure the shear strength of bass wood sticks by suspending a bucket from the sticks and adding sand until the stick breaks. Students repeated the process, adding a stick each time, creating a line plot showing the increase in strength relative to the number of sticks. Currently, we are in the process of setting up greenhouses to measure the effect of fertilizers on sunflower growth rates. These activities, and many others, involve my students in the learning process and help them connect content with the real world.

My greatest teaching accomplishment
My greatest teaching accomplishment is seeing my music students perform (sing or dance) with all the confidence that they did not have. My reward is seeing them perform with pride and joy, and knowing that they are better individuals because of my class.

The most critical issues facing educators today
In American Samoa it would be the teaching salary. We are losing a lot of good educators to other fields because of the pay.

Ways to resolve this issue
Put more money into teacher's salaries.

One thought to inspire teachers to succeed
Remember, the future of our country is in our hands.

One lesson every student should learn
You can achieve your dreams if you put your mind and heart to it.

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