Herricks High School English teacher Brittany Ruisi was selected as an Educator of Excellence by the New York State English Council. She has been a valuable part of the district’s faculty since 2014 and was honored at the annual awards luncheon in Albany on Oct. 18.
Ruisi was nominated by Director of ELA, Reading, and Library Services, K-12 Michael Imondi and teacher Christina Delsignore, who together commended her drive, inspiration and character, excellence, passion, creativity, innovation and dedication to the profession.
“Brittany works tirelessly to ensure that her students will be successful with the challenges they will face in the 21st century,” Imondi said. “Her goal is always to have students connect what they’re doing in the classroom to their world around them. As a result, she has engaged students in authentic assignments that go beyond the classroom walls.”
Ruisi has introduced countless interactive, unique projects that integrated technology and engaged her students and brought the curriculum to life. She has pioneered assignments in which students created their own podcasts based on topics that interest them, developed units around blog writing where students studied professional blogs and eventually created their own, infused social media into classroom initiatives and led students in developing their own vision boards. She prompted students to ask their own “big questions” about the world, which provided a long-lasting framework for thinking. She has connected classic literature to the current day’s generation and brings current culture into writing. She had students sitting down for professional interviews for jobs that they researched and would like to pursue in the future.
“She constantly challenges her students to think about how English is not only a subject analyzing literature or rhetoric but about life and its lessons,” Delsignore said.
Additionally, Ruisi has enhanced learning and success through the classroom environment. She transformed her instructional space into one that includes circulator conference tables, unique artwork, inspirational quotes, discussion questions, and goal-oriented graphic organizers. She has collaborated with other faculty members on differentiated lessons for the English language learner population and has helped guide struggling seniors to graduate on time. Her ongoing professional development involvement brought the Google Genius Hour Projects to Herricks and she also contributed to the state-recognized Senior Exit Portfolio initiative.
Her dedication extends throughout the school community in her role as a coach that led the badminton team to be named Conference Champion last year, as well as that of senior adviser for the Class of 2019, planning major building-wide events.
“She is meticulous in planning and committed to giving her students the best experience,” Dr. Imondi said. “She always maintains high standards for all of her students while making sure to allow for multiple pathways to success.”
Submitted by Herricks Public Schools
