By Mrs. Azzarelli-Brown
A heart-felt thank you to Mrs. Wagar for passing the torch to me in March! It was such a surprise! Thank you also to everyone who shared kind words in response. You all sure know how to make a person feel good!
I feel very lucky to be part of the East community, where I am surrounded by supportive, caring colleagues. I am especially grateful for those of you who have been open to working with me in my new role. From the extra e-mails you send to let me know how I can help students to taking the time to touch base about an upcoming assignment, thank you for collaborating with me. On behalf of your students, I would like to share a huge THANK YOU!!!
Please join me in congratulating our next torch recipient….. Ms. Uddin!!!
Ms. Uddin is our ESOL teacher. She has the very challenging job of helping students to understand EVERYTHING! From geometry and algebra to Shakespeare and essay-writing, Ms. Uddin does it all! She is always busy preparing lessons to help her students understand concepts across subject areas, with the added challenge of helping them to communicate and become fluent in a language that is not their native tongue. I get tired just watching her.
Ms. Uddin pushes into the classrooms of five different teachers in English and social studies. On top of supporting students in these classes, Ms. Uddin helps a student who spoke no English when he arrived this year to learn algebra. It is amazing to watch her in action.
When Ms. Uddin is not in a classroom, she can be found in 316 working one-on-one with students to help them study, write an essay or work through a challenging text. She rarely has a free minute. Outside of the classroom, Ms. Uddin supervises the new Muslim Student Association and attends student events.
Ms. Uddin is a tireless advocate for students. She truly wants them to learn as much as they can and helps them to rise to the challenge. She mentors students who are away from their families and gives them a safe place to land throughout the day.
Ms. Uddin’s students are lucky to have her and so are we! And even though she will not like the attention, please join me in congratulating Ms. Uddin, this month’s Torch recipient!!!
