Clearwater Adult Education Center

John Meros is a highly skilled, innovative ESOL teacher. He consistently seeks to advance his students’ learning opportunities. Mr. Meros provides creative activities that engage students in a variety of ways and he has the incredible ability to develop lessons that allow students to work collaboratively with one another. In a recent visit to Mr. Meros’ high beginning ESOL classroom, I observed and participated in a multidisciplinary lesson that had students creating their own autobiographies. Students were placed in groups of four.  Each student answered, in writing, several questions about him/herself.  They then developed a paragraph and read it aloud to their peers.  The final step had students orally sharing their personal stories.  As a result of this lesson students developed skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  They were highly engaged, excited, and proud of their work.

Mr. Meros is a leader among peers.  His demeanor is one of collegiality.  He enjoys collaborating with other teachers in order to provide students with fresh approaches to learning.  Mr. Meros is a valued member of his professional learning community.  Colleagues seek his advice and expertise which he willingly shares thereby establishing a trusting and cohesive team.  Through these team communications, Mr. Meros gleans information pertaining to our students’ needs and acts on meeting them accordingly.  One example is Mr. Meros’ afterschool volunteer program.  One day a week, after the end of his contractual day, Mr. Meros becomes an official district volunteer for the ESOL students.  During this time, students meet with Mr. Meros to get assistance in navigating processes in their new, American world.  He helps students complete rental agreements, get bus passes, open a bank accounts and enroll in the GED program.  He also helps them prepare for their child’s teacher conference, as well as many other functional daily issues.

It is evident in all that Mr. Meros does to provide for the students of Clearwater Adult Education Center they come first for him.  He is caring and respectful while at the same time maintaining professional standards.  John Meros is the consummate educator.  He truly gets enormous personal satisfaction from teaching and helping students to achieve their goals.  It is my honor to nominate Mr. John Meros as our Teacher of the Year.