First-year teacher Lia Ferrante was awarded the Teacher of Promise Award on Jan. 16. According to Austin ISD, the Teacher of Promise Award is given to teachers in their first year who improve the campus environment, are enthusiastic about teaching and are student-centered. Ferrante was surprised in her classroom and celebrated by students and staff during sixth period. Prior to becoming a world geography teacher, Ferrante did political organizing work in Philadelphia and worked as a grant writer for a non-profit in New Jersey. Ferrante believes that teaching has been a great way for her to use her community-service skills to help students and do what she loves.

“I feel like I’m walking in my purpose with teaching, that it’s aligned with both what I love in this world, what’s important to me in this world and my skill set,” Ferrante said.

Ferrante is currently a world geography teacher and although she would be happy teaching other classes, she believes that the subject is very important in today’s changing world.

“There are many subjects I would love to teach,” Ferrante said. “I would love to do English, I would love to do philosophy, I wouldn’t even mind doing science. But I think that with all the societal and political pressures in the world right now, that being able to act as a conduit for students to know themselves and the world around them and be confident navigating the world and understand both the beauty and suffering across from every inch of America to every inch of the world is something that’s very important for me.”

Edie Davidson, a freshman in Ferrante’s third-period class shared her appreciation for Ferrante’s teaching style. She said that Ferrante makes world geography fun and interactive for her and other students.

“Ms. Ferrante has this creative way of teaching us by making it fun and interactive but also educational,” Davidson said. “ She is very humorous, which makes learning more fun and interactive, and in my specific class, we are always laughing about something. She is such an amazing teacher and she certainly deserved the award and truly shows promise as a teacher.”

Freshman Darryn Sorrells agrees that Ferrante’s teaching style is inspirational and engaging for students.

“She is very entertaining,” Sorrells said. “Whenever she is teaching I want to be engaged. She is also very smart and cares deeply about her students and their education.”

Sorrells, a member of the girls basketball team, invited Ferrante to the team’s Teacher Appreciation Night. Sorrells believes that because they both are in the first year at McCallum, she and Ferrante have a shared connection.

“I invited her to teacher night because it’s her first year and it’s my first year, so I wanted us to have that experience together,” Sorrells said. “Also, she’s a great teacher and I really adore her.”

Ferrante agrees that the experiences she has shared with her freshman students allow her to form a special bond with them.

“It’s this really transitional time working with freshmen because they’re no longer middle schoolers, but they’re not quite high schoolers, but I think that’s a lot of fun, even if it’s sort of a lot to grapple with,” Ferrante said. “But working with first years as a first year, I think was absolutely perfect for me that we got to experience our first year at McCallum together. And so I think particularly this first year will be one of the absolute most memorable years of teaching, even if I have 30 years under my belt.”

Ferrante believes that watching her students grow and having the opportunity to encourage that process makes teaching incredibly special.

“The [students] mean everything to me,” Ferrante said. “I mean, that’s what this is all about, right? Yeah, seeing them grow academically, intellectually, socially, emotionally, behaviorally, literally, as they get taller and tower over me, it just means the world to me that I have had any sort of impact or influence on them in any sort of small way. It’s my hope and my prayer that they leave my classroom feeling more confident, loving learning, loving, living and hopefully building some empathy for the world.”

 

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Davidson believes that teachers play an important role in our society as they shape their students and support them through their struggles and successes.

“Teachers help us learn things in many different ways and perspectives,” Davidson said. “They all have different teaching methods, but I think the best teachers are the ones that have a lot of patience and focus individually on each student. That way, they could help a student who is struggling because they would know what they need help with.”

Ferrante will be honored at the AISD Salute Awards in May, along with the other Teacher of Promise winners from other schools.

“I’m very honored and I want to continue to work, to have earned it,” Ferrante said. “It was validating for all the work and care I have put into this job over the past year. But that being said, it could have gone to any of the other first-year teachers. They’re all brilliant, and I hear good things about all of them.”