July 29, 2024 • 13 mins
The FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence, founded by Glenn and Amanda Fuhrman, recognizes and celebrates extraordinary New York City public school teachers who inspire learning through creativity, passion, and commitment. Our guests are 2024 Manhattan Grand Prize Winner Dr. Gifty Asamani, from The High School for Math, Science and Engineering, and Queens Grand Prize Winner Aaron Lober, from Halsey Middle School 157. For more details, including 2025 application information, visit flagaward.org.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to get connected with Nina delRio, a weekly conversation about fitness,
health and happenings in our community onone oh six point seven Light FM.
Good morning and thanks for listening toget connected. Once again, we are
pleased to introduce winners of the FlagAward for Teaching Excellence. Founded by New
Yorkers Glen and Amanda Furman, theFlag Award recognizes and celebrates extraordinary New York
(00:27):
City public school teachers who inspire learningthrough creativity, passion, and commitment.
And our guests, We are verypleased to welcome Manhattan Grand Prize winner,
doctor Gifty Asamani from the High Schoolfor Math, Science and Engineering. Doctor
Asamani, thank you for being heretoday, Thank you for having me and
Queen's Grand Prize winner Aaron Loeber fromHalsey Middle School one fifty seven, Welcome
(00:50):
erin. Thank you very much toboth of you, Congratulations on your wins,
and thank you for being on theshow. You can find out more
about the Flag Award at Flag Awarddot org. This Isn't a word in
its fifth year, I believe thatreceives well over a thousand nominations every year
from students, parents, principles andcolleagues gifty doctor Asa Moni, How did
you find out about your nomination andhow closely did you follow the process.
(01:15):
So I heard about the Flag Awardfrom previous years. I've heard about it
and I student of mine also happenedto hear about it and he said he
would recommend me. So I didn'tknow when the recommendation was sent, but
eventually, I think a few monthslater, I received notification that I needed
(01:37):
to fill out some applications answer somequestions. So that's how it started.
And at that time, I wasactually in the Gambia when I heard about
filling out the form, So Iwas really glad that Riser followed up doing
all the extra stuff that I neededto do. That's a great surprise to
actually be nominated by a student andthen have them sort of upsho you along
(02:00):
the way. Aaron, you actuallyhad a surprise reveal when you won.
Correct. Yeah. My assistant principal, Nate ta Chungi really charismatically put together
a fake assembly at my school,and I guess he really thought this through.
He was like, I'm going todisguise it as National Donut Day,
(02:21):
and so I really thought I waswalking to an assembly about donuts and was
like ready to understand like the breakdownsof like just what a donut is,
like some historical facts and then yeah, lo and behold two people walk on
stage with a giant check and thenthe rest becomes usory. Oh very funny.
So each grand prize winner from eachof the five New York City Bros,
(02:44):
plus one pre K to fifth gradeteacher from any Burrow receives a twenty
five thousand dollars unrestricted cash prize,and each winning school receives a ten thousand
dollars grant. Let's find out moreabout your work, starting with doctor giftysemoney.
So, as a STEM teacher,you're interested in exposing your students to
interactions and experiences with hands on learningand real science. And as I understand
(03:06):
it, doctor Asamoni, you haveestablished affiliations with Harlem DNA Lab, Cuny
Advanced Research Center, and Rockefeller Universityto help students immerse themselves in activities not
available at the school. Can youtalk about what those might be? Sure?
I also have affiliation with New YorkWater. So New York Water usually
(03:27):
they have we go to a highbridge and they learn how to build a
bridge. So they do some engineering, hands on engineering work and it's community
based there. You know, theyabout twenty five kids come together and they
build this bridge and it's a longline and they really have fun laughing and
enjoin the process. Rockefeller University theyhave an outreach lab the equipments that you
(03:53):
know, the sequencing centrifuge and thegel litrophoresis and all that. We do
not have it on campus, andso when they go they're able to actually
do these labs and experience what itmeans to run a jail. So when
I used the phrase run a jailin class, it becomes relative. They're
(04:15):
able to understand, oh, thisis what it means to run a jail,
because these are some of the questionsthat do come on the Love and
Environment Regions exam. So you wantto make the work, you know,
more present and more relative to theireveryday experiences. The award includes a twenty
five thousand dollars cash prize for eachgrand prize winner and ten thousand dollars to
(04:36):
the school. Do you have anyspecific projects or initiatives in mind for the
funding for me, specifically for thetwenty five dollars, so I assume everybody
takes a vacation or something like thatwith some of it, But as far
as the students go, I havenot thought about anything yet. And yeah,
So for how I'm going to spendthe money on me, I remember
(04:59):
my for Dulcie showing. Dulcie askedme that question and I said, well,
I have a youngest son about togo to college in two years and
he said, no, you shoulduse that money on yourself. This is
not for calling. I said,that's true, but you know, as
a parent, so either if I'mpaying for it, it's the same thing,
right absolutely. You know, I'mdefinitely going to be adding it to
(05:25):
some savings account, you know,try to grow it and use it as
a you know, as I needit. Yeah. Our guests are doctor
gifty Asamoney, a science teacher atHigh School for Math, Science and Engineering
in Manhattan, and Aaron Loeber,a STEM teacher at Halsey Middle School one
fifty seven in Queens. They arewinners of the grand prize of twenty five
thousand dollars from the Flag Award forTeaching Excellence. You can find out more
(05:48):
at Flag Award dot org. So, Aaron, you are the winner representing
Queens. I understand you have abackground in special ed and English. What
motivated you to transition into STEM.Honestly, the opportunity kind of fell on
my lap. I got my initialcertification, I finished my bachelor's in English
(06:09):
education. So my first job wasworking at a high school called Nnpadam Business
Academy with the intention to be afull time English teacher and kind of following
my mentor, Katie Woo's footsteps,and it didn't work out like that.
I ended up teaching at the middleschool that I'm currently at as a life
(06:31):
Skills tech teacher. So I workedwith it's called the ACES program at our
school. So essentially, these arestudents that would disabilities that would allow them
to be students at a D seventyfive schools. I loved it. I
was like, this is the kindof work that I want to do.
So I decided to pursue a specialeducation degree to be able to continue this
(06:54):
level of work. And I wasable to do that for a year,
and then that summer I found outmy school is no longer going to continue
the position, and so they askedme, well, would I pivot to
doing something STEM. So I'm justlike, you know, let me,
let me give it a shot.Why not? And I really I really
found my passion here. I feellike this is the kind of work where
(07:15):
there's tangible goals, and I feellike I'm helping bringing students to career oriented
goals so they could, you know, have an idea of what's going to
happen post high school and skills andcredentials to hopefully find them quality job.
So, from what I understand isyou incorporate student centered education, social emotional
(07:39):
learning, and experiential learning into yourteaching methods, what might that look like
in a particular lesson? A lotof it is student driven, you know
when you say students centered education,so to start there. So just to
just to give an example, oneunit I'm pretty passionate about, is I
tea hydroponic sustainable form of gardening withoutsoil. And so the students get to
(08:01):
choose what plant they want to growover the next couple of months. So
they usually choose a spice because atthe ends I'll make something with the spices
together. So like last year andthe cilantro sauce for everyone, and we
had like a chips and dip kindof party at the ends. They also
understand that it's a process. It'sa hands on so when they see like
their plant growing or decaying, there'sfactors that are that are doing it.
(08:24):
It's like what was the weather,what's the pH in the water? How
much nutrains are the getting So thatprocess I think it's really valuable for students
is that the more they're involved inthe work, the more they're taking away
from it. So I would alsolike to mention the other Grand Prize winners,
(08:45):
and interestingly, so many of themhave student led projects. So for
the Bronx, the winner was EmilyJones. She's an eighth grade ELA teacher
at CIS three h three, theLeadership and Community Service Academy in the Bronx.
Among other roles, Emily run astudent advisory group where student voices are
amplified through podcasts and digital portfolios.She's also the director of the drama department,
(09:07):
in which a third of students inthe school participate. In Staten Island,
the winner is Stacey Belize Space Shuttle, Columbia Public School fifty eight.
She's an elementary school library media teacherwho, among her accomplishments, transformed the
school's library into a media space,integrating stream enrichment into the curriculum. In
Brooklyn, the winner is Kelly Preston, who teaches social studies at Urban Assembly
(09:30):
Institute of Math and Science for YoungWomen, who she redesigned courses from teacher
led instruction to student led learning inone year that led to a fifty percent
increase on test scores on the GlobalHistory Regents and The pre K fifth grade
winner is Alisia marson Kowski and Englishas a New Language and Art teacher at
PS one twenty in Queens. Shecreated a popular curriculum teaching eanl through the
(09:54):
lens of art history. There's somuch information about these winners. It's fast
when you read about what everybody's doingat flag Award dot org. But to
you, doctor Giftyessemoni and Aaron Lowber, I know you're just meeting for the
first time on this call for Maybewe'll start with Gifty. When you see
what your fellow nominees and winners areaccomplishing, what strikes you about their work
(10:16):
and their creativity, their drive andbeing included in this group, it's it's
just phenomenal. This is my twentythirty year I just finished my twenty thirt
year of teaching, and it's workthat you do and you just do it
because of the students, and it'snot, you know, for some big
award. And I think that's justcame I see, you know, as
(10:39):
a surprise, and it's a goodsurprise. But I think what I hear
is the passion and all the winnersare doing it for the students, to
help the students progress their knowledge.And what Aaron just talked about in terms
of having student centers, social,emotional and all that, when you make
(11:01):
the learning relative and they walk intothe classroom and they're doing hands on and
you know, it gets all messyand all that, and they're learning through
that process, it's just fun.It makes the STEMP come, you know,
very alive, and they you know, they're doing something that they see
the results as they as they're workingthrough it. It's really great. And
that's what I hear all the otherwinners that are doing something that is progressing
(11:26):
the knowledge for the students, andthey make it all about the kids.
And I think, you know,that passion is coming through, you know,
across the board. Aaron, doyou have any thoughts? Yeah,
I feel pretty passionate about the factthat we all hear work in the largest
school district in the world, andit's just filled with incredibly passionate individuals that
(11:48):
they're not out here because they knowthe Flag Award exists, and they're all
trying to reach that grand prize likethey're out here because they truly love what
they do. And when I thinkabout this question, I really think about
the teachers that aren't currently teaching rightnow because they've felt the burnout, the
(12:09):
hard work, and the pressure thatalso comes with this profession. There's been
so many educators that have come throughmy school and have left, and I
thought they did such a remarkable joband at such a high level impact on
the students and the community as awhole, and I wish they were still
in education, and I wish thatthey felt the kind of regard that they
(12:33):
should be held in. And soI hope that in the coming years the
nominations for this award like exponentially increaseand there's more of an emphasis on you
know, these teachers are really dedicatingtheir lives to this work, and I
hope someone's showing them appreciation. Thenomination process for the twenty twenty five Flag
(12:54):
Award launches September eleventh. Students,parents, principal's, fellow teachers, and
other colleagues can nominate New York Cityteachers at Flag Award dot org. Many
more details there. Our guests havebeen the twenty twenty four Manhattan Grand Prize
winner, doctor Gifty Asamani and Queen'sGrand Prize winner Aaron Loeber. Thank you
(13:15):
for being on Get Connected, andcongratulations to you both. Thank you so
much. This is great. Thankyou so much. This has been Get
Connected with Nina del Rio on oneoh six point seven light Fm. The
views and opinions of our guests donot necessarily reflect the views of the station.
If you missed any part of ourshow or want to share it,
visit our website for downloads and podcastsat one oh six to seven lightfm dot
(13:37):
com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to get connected with Nina delRio, a weekly conversation about fitness,
health and happenings in our community onone oh six point seven Light FM.
Good morning and thanks for listening toget connected. Once again, we are
pleased to introduce winners of the FlagAward for Teaching Excellence. Founded by New
Yorkers Glen and Amanda Furman, theFlag Award recognizes and celebrates extraordinary New York
(00:27):
City public school teachers who inspire learningthrough creativity, passion, and commitment.
And our guests, We are verypleased to welcome Manhattan Grand Prize winner,
doctor Gifty Asamani from the High Schoolfor Math, Science and Engineering. Doctor
Asamani, thank you for being heretoday, Thank you for having me and
Queen's Grand Prize winner Aaron Loeber fromHalsey Middle School one fifty seven, Welcome
(00:50):
erin. Thank you very much toboth of you, Congratulations on your wins,
and thank you for being on theshow. You can find out more
about the Flag Award at Flag Awarddot org. This Isn't a word in
its fifth year, I believe thatreceives well over a thousand nominations every year
from students, parents, principles andcolleagues gifty doctor Asa Moni, How did
you find out about your nomination andhow closely did you follow the process.
(01:15):
So I heard about the Flag Awardfrom previous years. I've heard about it
and I student of mine also happenedto hear about it and he said he
would recommend me. So I didn'tknow when the recommendation was sent, but
eventually, I think a few monthslater, I received notification that I needed
(01:37):
to fill out some applications answer somequestions. So that's how it started.
And at that time, I wasactually in the Gambia when I heard about
filling out the form, So Iwas really glad that Riser followed up doing
all the extra stuff that I neededto do. That's a great surprise to
actually be nominated by a student andthen have them sort of upsho you along
(02:00):
the way. Aaron, you actuallyhad a surprise reveal when you won.
Correct. Yeah. My assistant principal, Nate ta Chungi really charismatically put together
a fake assembly at my school,and I guess he really thought this through.
He was like, I'm going todisguise it as National Donut Day,
(02:21):
and so I really thought I waswalking to an assembly about donuts and was
like ready to understand like the breakdownsof like just what a donut is,
like some historical facts and then yeah, lo and behold two people walk on
stage with a giant check and thenthe rest becomes usory. Oh very funny.
So each grand prize winner from eachof the five New York City Bros,
(02:44):
plus one pre K to fifth gradeteacher from any Burrow receives a twenty
five thousand dollars unrestricted cash prize,and each winning school receives a ten thousand
dollars grant. Let's find out moreabout your work, starting with doctor giftysemoney.
So, as a STEM teacher,you're interested in exposing your students to
interactions and experiences with hands on learningand real science. And as I understand
(03:06):
it, doctor Asamoni, you haveestablished affiliations with Harlem DNA Lab, Cuny
Advanced Research Center, and Rockefeller Universityto help students immerse themselves in activities not
available at the school. Can youtalk about what those might be? Sure?
I also have affiliation with New YorkWater. So New York Water usually
(03:27):
they have we go to a highbridge and they learn how to build a
bridge. So they do some engineering, hands on engineering work and it's community
based there. You know, theyabout twenty five kids come together and they
build this bridge and it's a longline and they really have fun laughing and
enjoin the process. Rockefeller University theyhave an outreach lab the equipments that you
(03:53):
know, the sequencing centrifuge and thegel litrophoresis and all that. We do
not have it on campus, andso when they go they're able to actually
do these labs and experience what itmeans to run a jail. So when
I used the phrase run a jailin class, it becomes relative. They're
(04:15):
able to understand, oh, thisis what it means to run a jail,
because these are some of the questionsthat do come on the Love and
Environment Regions exam. So you wantto make the work, you know,
more present and more relative to theireveryday experiences. The award includes a twenty
five thousand dollars cash prize for eachgrand prize winner and ten thousand dollars to
(04:36):
the school. Do you have anyspecific projects or initiatives in mind for the
funding for me, specifically for thetwenty five dollars, so I assume everybody
takes a vacation or something like thatwith some of it, But as far
as the students go, I havenot thought about anything yet. And yeah,
So for how I'm going to spendthe money on me, I remember
(04:59):
my for Dulcie showing. Dulcie askedme that question and I said, well,
I have a youngest son about togo to college in two years and
he said, no, you shoulduse that money on yourself. This is
not for calling. I said,that's true, but you know, as
a parent, so either if I'mpaying for it, it's the same thing,
right absolutely. You know, I'mdefinitely going to be adding it to
(05:25):
some savings account, you know,try to grow it and use it as
a you know, as I needit. Yeah. Our guests are doctor
gifty Asamoney, a science teacher atHigh School for Math, Science and Engineering
in Manhattan, and Aaron Loeber,a STEM teacher at Halsey Middle School one
fifty seven in Queens. They arewinners of the grand prize of twenty five
thousand dollars from the Flag Award forTeaching Excellence. You can find out more
(05:48):
at Flag Award dot org. So, Aaron, you are the winner representing
Queens. I understand you have abackground in special ed and English. What
motivated you to transition into STEM.Honestly, the opportunity kind of fell on
my lap. I got my initialcertification, I finished my bachelor's in English
(06:09):
education. So my first job wasworking at a high school called Nnpadam Business
Academy with the intention to be afull time English teacher and kind of following
my mentor, Katie Woo's footsteps,and it didn't work out like that.
I ended up teaching at the middleschool that I'm currently at as a life
(06:31):
Skills tech teacher. So I workedwith it's called the ACES program at our
school. So essentially, these arestudents that would disabilities that would allow them
to be students at a D seventyfive schools. I loved it. I
was like, this is the kindof work that I want to do.
So I decided to pursue a specialeducation degree to be able to continue this
(06:54):
level of work. And I wasable to do that for a year,
and then that summer I found outmy school is no longer going to continue
the position, and so they askedme, well, would I pivot to
doing something STEM. So I'm justlike, you know, let me,
let me give it a shot.Why not? And I really I really
found my passion here. I feellike this is the kind of work where
(07:15):
there's tangible goals, and I feellike I'm helping bringing students to career oriented
goals so they could, you know, have an idea of what's going to
happen post high school and skills andcredentials to hopefully find them quality job.
So, from what I understand isyou incorporate student centered education, social emotional
(07:39):
learning, and experiential learning into yourteaching methods, what might that look like
in a particular lesson? A lotof it is student driven, you know
when you say students centered education,so to start there. So just to
just to give an example, oneunit I'm pretty passionate about, is I
tea hydroponic sustainable form of gardening withoutsoil. And so the students get to
(08:01):
choose what plant they want to growover the next couple of months. So
they usually choose a spice because atthe ends I'll make something with the spices
together. So like last year andthe cilantro sauce for everyone, and we
had like a chips and dip kindof party at the ends. They also
understand that it's a process. It'sa hands on so when they see like
their plant growing or decaying, there'sfactors that are that are doing it.
(08:24):
It's like what was the weather,what's the pH in the water? How
much nutrains are the getting So thatprocess I think it's really valuable for students
is that the more they're involved inthe work, the more they're taking away
from it. So I would alsolike to mention the other Grand Prize winners,
(08:45):
and interestingly, so many of themhave student led projects. So for
the Bronx, the winner was EmilyJones. She's an eighth grade ELA teacher
at CIS three h three, theLeadership and Community Service Academy in the Bronx.
Among other roles, Emily run astudent advisory group where student voices are
amplified through podcasts and digital portfolios.She's also the director of the drama department,
(09:07):
in which a third of students inthe school participate. In Staten Island,
the winner is Stacey Belize Space Shuttle, Columbia Public School fifty eight.
She's an elementary school library media teacherwho, among her accomplishments, transformed the
school's library into a media space,integrating stream enrichment into the curriculum. In
Brooklyn, the winner is Kelly Preston, who teaches social studies at Urban Assembly
(09:30):
Institute of Math and Science for YoungWomen, who she redesigned courses from teacher
led instruction to student led learning inone year that led to a fifty percent
increase on test scores on the GlobalHistory Regents and The pre K fifth grade
winner is Alisia marson Kowski and Englishas a New Language and Art teacher at
PS one twenty in Queens. Shecreated a popular curriculum teaching eanl through the
(09:54):
lens of art history. There's somuch information about these winners. It's fast
when you read about what everybody's doingat flag Award dot org. But to
you, doctor Giftyessemoni and Aaron Lowber, I know you're just meeting for the
first time on this call for Maybewe'll start with Gifty. When you see
what your fellow nominees and winners areaccomplishing, what strikes you about their work
(10:16):
and their creativity, their drive andbeing included in this group, it's it's
just phenomenal. This is my twentythirty year I just finished my twenty thirt
year of teaching, and it's workthat you do and you just do it
because of the students, and it'snot, you know, for some big
award. And I think that's justcame I see, you know, as
(10:39):
a surprise, and it's a goodsurprise. But I think what I hear
is the passion and all the winnersare doing it for the students, to
help the students progress their knowledge.And what Aaron just talked about in terms
of having student centers, social,emotional and all that, when you make
(11:01):
the learning relative and they walk intothe classroom and they're doing hands on and
you know, it gets all messyand all that, and they're learning through
that process, it's just fun.It makes the STEMP come, you know,
very alive, and they you know, they're doing something that they see
the results as they as they're workingthrough it. It's really great. And
that's what I hear all the otherwinners that are doing something that is progressing
(11:26):
the knowledge for the students, andthey make it all about the kids.
And I think, you know,that passion is coming through, you know,
across the board. Aaron, doyou have any thoughts? Yeah,
I feel pretty passionate about the factthat we all hear work in the largest
school district in the world, andit's just filled with incredibly passionate individuals that
(11:48):
they're not out here because they knowthe Flag Award exists, and they're all
trying to reach that grand prize likethey're out here because they truly love what
they do. And when I thinkabout this question, I really think about
the teachers that aren't currently teaching rightnow because they've felt the burnout, the
(12:09):
hard work, and the pressure thatalso comes with this profession. There's been
so many educators that have come throughmy school and have left, and I
thought they did such a remarkable joband at such a high level impact on
the students and the community as awhole, and I wish they were still
in education, and I wish thatthey felt the kind of regard that they
(12:33):
should be held in. And soI hope that in the coming years the
nominations for this award like exponentially increaseand there's more of an emphasis on you
know, these teachers are really dedicatingtheir lives to this work, and I
hope someone's showing them appreciation. Thenomination process for the twenty twenty five Flag
(12:54):
Award launches September eleventh. Students,parents, principal's, fellow teachers, and
other colleagues can nominate New York Cityteachers at Flag Award dot org. Many
more details there. Our guests havebeen the twenty twenty four Manhattan Grand Prize
winner, doctor Gifty Asamani and Queen'sGrand Prize winner Aaron Loeber. Thank you
(13:15):
for being on Get Connected, andcongratulations to you both. Thank you so
much. This is great. Thankyou so much. This has been Get
Connected with Nina del Rio on oneoh six point seven light Fm. The
views and opinions of our guests donot necessarily reflect the views of the station.
If you missed any part of ourshow or want to share it,
visit our website for downloads and podcastsat one oh six to seven lightfm dot
(13:37):
com. Thanks for listening.
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