QUEENS — A Forest Hills pre-K teacher has won the prestigious Big Apple Award, which honors the best educators in the city.
Rhonda Corin, 59, who has worked at P.S. 101 "The School in the Gardens" for 15 years, said she was thrilled to be recognized.
Working with 4 year olds, she said, is her dream come true.
“They are pure, they are untainted and they laugh probably 27 times a day,” she said.
The award, in its third year, was presented earlier this month to 12 New York City teachers who were selected from among 4,500 nominees citywide.
“The Big Apple Awards celebrate educators across the city and honor those teachers who inspire students, model great teaching and enrich their school communities,” the Department of Education wrote on its website.
The winners receive a $3,500 classroom grant and get to serve as fellows to Chancellor Carmen Fariña next year, according to a spokesman for the DOE.
Before starting her teaching career, Corin worked as an accountant in the Garment District. When her daughter Nicole, who is now 29, went to pre-K, Corin said she realized that teaching kids that age was what she really wanted to do.
“They really are sponges. They love to learn. They are eager and they present new opportunities to a teacher to extend their learning,” she said.
Corin earned her master's degree in education from Mercy College and began teaching at local pre-K programs, including the Church-in-the-Gardens, before getting a job at P.S. 101.
Corin, who was nominated by local parents, said the lengthy process she went through before winning the award included an interview, DOE representatives observing her lessons and writing several essays about her career as a teacher, a curriculum she uses and her methods to build trust with children and their parents.
The chancellor personally called her to inform her that she had won and to congratulate her, Corin said.
Corin said her secret to good teaching is to always listen and to respond to what children say.
Every year, before she comes up with a series of themes to explore, she asks kids about their interests, which she later incorporates into her classes. Some are curious about animals, others want to learn about the circus while others like teddy bears.
Her classes are always hands-on. When they studied apples, they turned the classroom into an orchard and made apple sauce. When they talked about snowmen, Corin brought some snow into the school, built a snowman with the kids and then they analyzed why it melted.
Teaching young kids, she said, involves a lot of nurturing and emotional engagement. She holds them when they cry and crawls on the grass with them when they learn about ladybugs, she said.
Pre-K is all about “making friends,” she said, and giving the children a “foundation to feel good about yourself.”
And she always has to have plenty of tricks to keep the kids’ attention, she said.
“You are on stage," she said. "You really need to have big pockets full of surprises.”
