Cara Matthews
New York Teacher Senior Editor/Reporter
Middle School Awards Night
Twenty-five middle school educators were honored at the UFT’s inaugural Middle School Awards Night on May 15. Some 200 members and guests attended as members' roles in students' lives at at key stage of development were highlighted and celebrated.
Better Speech and Hearing Month Celebration
The UFT Speech Improvement Chapter presented 31 awards at the 19th annual Better Speech and Hearing Month Celebration on May 27. Award-winning topics and projects included raising awareness about stuttering, communicating with devices, using a school snack shop to expand communication skills and bringing speech therapy into the classroom.
‘Crafting’ her lessons
UFT Excellence in Education Award-winning teacher Stephanie Edwards of Brooklyn's International HS at Prospect Heights taps into her English language learning students' creativity to effectively teach them social studies and economic concepts.
Stitching together the pieces in retirement
Louise Naples, a retired school secretary, has become an avid quilter in retirement. Her quilts were recently on display at The Center, a communal gathering space at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens, Queens.
Members lobby state lawmakers online
In the days following UFT Lobby Day in Albany, scores of UFT chapters held virtual lobby days in their schools to urge state lawmakers in emails and social media posts to fix Tier 6, update the state’s Foundation Aid formula and enact other UFT legislative priorities.
Candidates must walk in teachers’ shoes
Candidates for New York City mayor must fulfill a new prerequisite this year if they want to be considered for the UFT’s endorsement: They have to spend a day in a New York City public school classroom helping educators.
Money, power and ‘RESPECT’
More than 1,600 paraprofessionals and fellow UFT members came together from across the city on April 2 to call on the New York City Council to pass legislation to give paraprofessionals an annual “RESPECT check” of $10,000.
Striking a chord with lawmakers
Fixing Tier 6, providing adequate funding for public schools, banning cell phones in school and supporting union programs such as the UFT Teacher Center were the focus as about 1,000 educators and parents traveled to Albany for UFT Lobby Day on March 10.
Learning takes flight
Ninth-graders at NEST+m, a gifted and talented K-12 school on Manhattan's Lower East Side, took their science lessons to new heights during a class trip to the Intrepid Museum.
Having his ‘aha’ moment
Mohammed Hossain, a UFT CTE Award winner and engineering teacher at the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture in Queens, found his way to a career in education after realizing he found joy in helping people have their own "aha moments" with challenging material.