She does not see 'bad' students: Bremerton teacher recognized with student-focused award

BREMERTON — Johnny Luzitano was braced for the worst when showing up for a meeting at Armin Jahr Elementary to discuss his son Daniel's outbursts in class.

Daniel, a first-grader, was dealing with severe emotional and behavioral problems. In the classroom, he would yell and throw things. Luzitano knew Daniel wasn't learning and that he was making it harder for other students as well.

So when Daniel's parents showed up for a meeting with his teacher, Ashleigh Schiano-Oliver, they were prepared for her to recommend moving him out of the classroom — possibly out of the school.

"We were expecting her to say 'We can't do this ... we're going to have to find some alternative school.'"

But when Schiano-Oliver met Daniel's parents, she had a different message: She wasn't giving up on him.

"Right when she started talking, she put her hand on my wife's arm and said, 'This is going to be OK, we're going to get through this.'"

Schiano-Oliver started a behavior plan for Daniel that not only gave a numerical value for his behavior but also rewards. She taught him sign language and gave him permission to touch her shoulder while teaching as a sign that he needed immediate attention. They created "secret signals" that allowed them to communicate with each other during lessons without disrupting the other students. And, they connected over bugs — a love of Daniel's that Schiano-Oliver was able to leverage to get him to do writing assignments and other academic tasks he struggled with.

"I call him my bug expert, because we were always looking at bugs, and that's how I was able to connect with him on getting him to do a lot of academics," Schiano-Oliver said.

Nonprofit Honored recognizes teachers across US

For Schiano-Oliver's work with Daniel, Luzitano nominated her for recognition by the nonprofit Honored, which works to recognize teachers across the United States who have deeply impacted the lives of students. Schiano-Oliver was named the November honoree, and her and Daniel's story is making the rounds. She's among 59 teachers in 27 states who have received the award since the organization was launched in 2017. The award comes with $5,000.

After months of working with Daniel and getting him to the point where she no longer had to send home daily behavior reports and he was finishing his work in class, she found out about the nomination.

When she found out she won, Daniel had already known. He found Schiano-Oliver in the lunchroom.

"He started jumping around the gym and it was a lot of hugs," Schiano-Oliver said. "Seeing that excitement meant more than the award."

Karen Sonneborn, founder of Honored, said she was inspired to create the organization after the passing of her father, John Hammerback, a professor at California State University, Hayward. His impact on students was so great, that upon his death many of them reached out to her to tell her that his influence changed their lives.

"One of his students emails me every day on his birthday and his day of passing to check in with me and my sister just to say 'Thank you, your father's influence changed my life,'" Sonneborn said.

Award puts spotlight on amazing educators

She wanted to create an organization that puts a spotlight on students' words and testimonials about the role of amazing teachers in their lives. Since its launch in 2017, the organization has received 3,675 nominations from parents and students, which it shares with each teacher regardless of whether they are given an Honored award. It has a stable of award-winning radio, TV, newspaper and magazine journalists who craft narratives about the relationships between the students and the teachers who win that are shared on Honored's website and beyond.

The $5,000 award has no strings attached — there's no pressure for teachers to spend the money on something school-related.

"One of the teachers' children needed braces," Sonneborn said. For another, it helped with a down payment for a new home. Another took a vacation.

"We wanted each teacher to feel really celebrated and special," Sonneborn said about the mix of things bestowed upon each Honored teacher.

Schiano-Oliver, who attended Armin Jahr as a kid and is a Bremerton High grad, is in her 10th year of teaching. She said the plan she created for Daniel was based on one she has used for multiple students who have struggled with behavioral issues or have other special needs. Now teaching kindergarten, she said she has multiple students in her class on it now.

Teaching sign language, which she first learned in high school, helps her students overcome some of the behavioral issues that come with kids wanting immediate attention and feedback. She describes being able to correct students without stopping her teaching.

"And then it's also a silent correction, and not embarrassing a kid," she said.

Schiano-Oliver, who said sign language also benefitted her own learning as a student, advocates active learning for all her students. She said learning the signs gets kids' arms and bodies moving and connecting with the concepts, which helps them recall them more easily than if they were just looking at a picture. Beyond that, she describes her classroom as a "flexible" learning environment with a variety of chairs, stools, "wobble towers" and more.

The Honored award, Schiano-Oliver said, helped validate what she's doing in the classroom.

"It’s reassuring that I’m doing great things in the classroom, and it keeps me teaching, which is hard these days," she said.

Daniel is now in second grade at Armin Jahr, and he's frequently a guest in Schiano-Oliver's kindergarten class. He continues to be motivated by a rewards system that allows him to visit her once his work is complete, and on some days, he helps her teach her kindergarteners, she said.

Luzitano said that Schiano-Oliver will be "a security" for his son as he goes through school at Armin Jahr. And that he will "always, always" remember her.

"She does not see 'bad' students, she sees students that sometimes need extra help or to be taught things other than math or spelling to be successful in life," he wrote in his nomination letter to Honored.

When asked how Daniel describes his relationship with her, Luzitano said that it's hard for Daniel to put it into words, but there's a sense of comfort and acceptance.

"He loves her. That's what he will say, that he loves her," he said.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Bremerton teacher 'Honored' with award that recognizes student impact