At 27, a class guy is Teacher of Year
Published: January 26, 2006
Teacher Linda Pogoda jumped up and down and shouted ”Yes!” when the Broward 2007 Teacher of the Year was named at a ceremony Wednesday.
The winner was her former student at Walter C. Young Middle School: Brian Dassler, now a teacher at Stranahan High.
”At 11 years old, he was destined for leadership in education,” Pogoda said.
At 27, Dassler is the youngest person ever to receive top-teacher honors in Broward. A teacher for just three years, he was chosen over 11 district finalists and more than 200 other school winners.
Dassler told the crowd that he hoped students throughout Broward would get the kind of education he received at Cooper City High.
”I am a proud product of Broward County public schools,” Dassler said. “Many of the individuals in this room are like parents to me.”
Several of Dassler’s students attended the luncheon ceremony at the Broward County Convention Center, crying and cheering after his name was announced. Fellow Stranahan teacher Juan Formoso held up his cellphone and beamed the announcement to the school office, where an excited group of assistant principals and students whooped and hollered.
Through the static and applause on the cellphone, Dassler’s voice broke through: “. . . a teacher of the year in every individual.”
”That’s him, so humble,” intern principal Regina Cameron said, “giving everyone credit.”
The schoolwide intercom announcement generated still more excitement.
”Awesome. Awesome. We need flowers,” senior Triana Peña said.
”I knew he was gonna win. He deserved it,” said 17-year-old junior Eric Lewis, who attended the ceremony and teased that Dassler was “just gonna get more big-headed.”
Dassler teaches English to 10th-graders and a senior class for the Urban Teacher Academy Program, which prepares high school students to be teachers.
Students say Dassler’s dedication to make sure they succeed, the time he spends on his work and the interest he takes in their well-being made him a lock for the title.
He has surprised parents by handing out his cellphone number so they can reach him anytime. When one student told Dassler that the hurricane spoiled her food, he brought some in for her.
And, students said, turning in a half-hearted research paper is not an option: Dassler will just make them do it again.
”He doesn’t accept failure,” senior Brittney Robinson said.
Despite his relatively short time in the classroom, Dassler has long been a fixture in the Broward school district.
As a high school senior in 1996-97, he served as student advisor to the School Board, where he was a vocal advocate for students on issues including teen curfews, random drug testing and uniforms.
APT ASSIGNMENTS
His students on Wednesday said ”Daz,” as they sometimes call him, gives them assignments that prepare them for teaching, like writing six-page research papers and preparing résumés and portfolios.
”It’s stuff we need to become that great teacher he wants us to be,” senior Shannon Oliver said.
More than 1,200 people attended the ceremony, which honored teachers as stars and alternated between a Broadway and Hollywood soundtrack.
Last year’s winner, Jasmin Deboo, passed the torch and said it had been an honor representing the “phenomenal, knock-your-socks-off, ain’t-no-one-better teachers of Broward County.”
TEARS OF JOY
After the ceremony, Dassler said he had cried when Superintendent Frank Till called the school to tell him he was a finalist.
”I’m still beyond words. I could fall over right now,” he said. “I’m blown away.”
After the hugs and congratulations, pictures and interviews, Dassler headed back to Stranahan for an after-school meeting of the senior class executive board.
”We’ve got work to do,” he said.
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