If it hadn't been for that nasty bite from a stray dog, teacher Melinda Wilson would not have been standing in front of her dance class today, tears streaming down her face as she held a basket of apples.
The sight of blood and torn tissue made Wilson faint, she recalled. So, convinced she didn't have the stomach to go to medical school as she had intended, she turned to another love—teaching dance.
Wilson spent the next nine years pushing her students to new heights at Curie Metropolitan High School in Chicago.
The extraordinary academic rigor of her classes and her personal commitment to her inner-city students made her one of the 10 educators honored with surprise classroom visits today to be told they were 2007 Golden Apple winners.
Wilson called the honor the "Super Bowl of teaching."
"She's always pushing you to be the best, not only in dance but in everyday life," said Curie senior Dario Martinez, who nominated his teacher for the award. "When I came into her class, there was such a sense of relief and freedom where you could just be yourself."
Also this morning, at Evanston Township High School, teacher Aaron Becker and his students were in stocking feet, sitting on rugs and pillows and surrounded by ornate drapes, maps and Middle Eastern memorabilia, when the Golden Apple presenters arrived.
More than a dozen people spilled out into the hallway as Glenn "Max" McGee, a former state schools superintendent who serves on the Golden Apple Foundation board, announced that Becker was one of six outstanding educators in the Chicago area honored with surprise visits this morning.
"This is the Academy Award of teaching," McGee said.
Becker, 38, a history teacher from Chicago, said he felt as if he had already won the award when he was nominated earlier this year for a Golden Apple.
"You guys were so amazing and made me so proud," he told his students to several rounds of applause. "This is the icing on the cake."
"Mr. Becker is awesome," said Peter Brody, 18, a senior who stopped by the class to see what the commotion was all about.
Brody gave Becker a hug, and described the Middle Eastern living room that is the classroom just one of the ways that Becker makes students feel comfortable.
On some days, the students help themselves to a mug of hot tea that Becker brewed, often using tea leaves he has purchased from some exotic locale he has visited.
"It's just kind of a nice atmosphere," said Brody, who took U.S. history and Middle Eastern history class with Becker. "You can tell he absolutely loves the subjects he teaches."
The six Golden Apple teachers honored today included two private school teachers, two from suburban schools and two in Chicago Public Schools. Three more educators will be honored Thursday.
Lake Forest Academy fine arts teacher Gina Williams got her surprise visit last week because her school was to be on spring break this week.
Besides Wilson and Becker, the other winners notified today included:
Samuel Dyson, a physics teacher at Payton College Prep in Chicago who offered his students weekly seminars on the Zulu language and culture and organized an two-way exchange with a South African school.
David Derbes, another Chicago physics teacher from the University of Chicago Lab High, who teaches his students to challenge scientific truths and view the world with a skeptical eye.
John Naisbitt, a Hinsdale Central teacher who found his calling by building the confidence of his least motivated students. Shock, surprise and humility washed over Naisbitt's face this morning as a crowd of family and colleagues entered to announce his award.
"He teaches us not just the stuff we need for school, but about life," said 17-year-old Courtney Evans, a junior in Naisbitt's U.S. history class.
Joseph Ekpo, who teaches history, ethics and moral theology to his students at Fenwick High, a Catholic school in Oak Park. Ekpo guides his students to understand character and vice by immersing them in community service projects.
A total of 803 high school teachers from Cook, Lake, Will, Kane and DuPage counties were nominated for the award, which was first presented in 1986. The 32 finalists were chosen in January. Each finalist then was observed in their classroom and their principal, colleagues, students, and students' parents were interviewed.
The award alternates every third year among early elementary, middle elementary and high school teachers.
Each of the 10 Golden Apple Award winners will receive a tuition-free fall-term sabbatical at Northwestern University; a personal computer; $3,000; and membership in the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, which now has inducted 210 award-winning teachers who work together on professional development and teacher training. The Award winners will be honored at the annual awards ceremony May 12 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
