Her Story
Christine Lungren-Maddalone began teaching in 1970 in parochial schools in South Bend, Indiana and Los Angeles County, before joining the Long Beach Unified School District as an elementary classroom teacher in 1974. Over the next fifteen years she taught grades 2 through 4, including a class for gifted students, eventually becoming a California Mentor Teacher and, later, the Language Arts Mentor Specialist for the Chapter 1 population at Whittier Elementary — an urban, inner-city school in Long Beach.
Much of her career centered on building students’ self-esteem alongside their academic skills. She developed and presented self-esteem enhancement trainings for staff, parents, and community volunteers throughout her district, and in April 1989 brought six of her fourth-grade students to speak at the California State Task Force on Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility’s final public hearing in Sacramento — where they put together a multimedia presentation using song, dance, poetry, and artwork. In August 1992 she was appointed to the California State Advisory Panel on Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility, one of just three educators selected for the role.
Her recognition built steadily in her final years in the classroom: the Long Beach Unified School District’s 1992 Teacher of the Year, one of eleven Los Angeles County finalists sent to the statewide competition for 1992 California Teacher of the Year, and an action-workshop presenter at the ASCD’s 46th Annual Conference in San Francisco.
Beyond the Classroom
Immediately after the April 1992 Los Angeles civil disturbances, Lungren-Maddalone started after-school self-esteem enhancement classes at Whittier, using literature to help students process what had happened to their neighborhood — one activity compared the historical destruction and renewal of the Nashua River Valley to their own city’s need for repair and hope. Parents told her their children felt safer in their own neighborhood again after going through the program.
She wrote, narrated, and co-produced two educational videos highlighting her students’ academic and social successes — “Catch the Vision of Rising Stars” and “We Think We Can!” — raising over $7,000 in community donations to fund the first and helping bring the second to audiences citywide. She built lasting corporate partnerships for Whittier Elementary, bringing in the Sheraton Hotel of Long Beach, Toyota Auto Body Corporation, and BlockBuster Video as school sponsors, and created the Personal Pal for Progress Program, pairing local business people with students as writing correspondents throughout the year.
She served on numerous district committees, held membership in the Junior Leagues of Los Angeles and Long Beach since 1970, and belonged to a long list of professional organizations, including the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Council for Self-Esteem, and the Global Alliance for Transforming Education.
Philosophy Into Action
Lungren-Maddalone believed that an outstanding educator provides “a secure, positive, inclusive, nurturing, and engaging classroom environment,” where a child’s efforts, achievements, and failures are all treated as necessary steps in a lifelong learning journey. That philosophy showed up directly in how colleagues described her classroom discipline style:
“In her positive disciplining she allows the child to see ‘failure as the backdoor to success.’ The child goes through the specific problem and is given behavior strategies to use now and in the future.”— Randolph E. Ward, Ed.D., Area E Superintendent, Long Beach Unified School District
She often paraphrased educator Marva Collins to describe her own approach: “Educators must expect their students to soar on the wings of academic excellence — for these students will become the living messages of a time many of us will not see.”
In Her Own Words
“As a classroom teacher, my students believe in the student civil rights as follows: we each are unique and important; we each show positive regard for one another; and we ‘dare to dream’ for many goals together.”— from her essay, “A Classroom Teacher”
“When I see my students actively involve themselves in learning because of the real sense of meaning it provides for their future lives – I know my decision to be a teacher is as correct in 1993 as it was in 1970.”— from her essay, “A Classroom Teacher”
What Others Said
“Christine Lungren-Maddalone is a stellar 21st century educational teacher and leader. Her teaching skills are superior; her professionalism and helpfulness to fellow colleagues is outstanding. Mrs. Maddalone’s students and their parents regard her as a remarkable role-model, motivator and instructor.”— Cathy Elaine Jones, Nominator, Mentor Teacher Program Specialist
“I have known Christine since childhood… She is the embodiment of what an excellent teacher should be – positive, inspired, motivated, sensitive to each student’s needs and individual style of learning… Christine Lungren Maddalone is able to empower each student to believe in themselves and their abilities and create excitement for lifelong learning.”— Hope E. Zink, Elementary Grade Teacher, Friend and Colleague
“Christine Lungren-Maddalone is a dedicated educator twenty-four hours a day… Without Mrs. Lungren-Maddalone’s clear vision, persistent determination, and creative talent this incredible video story would not have been produced.”— Randolph E. Ward, Ed.D., Area E Superintendent, Long Beach Unified School District
“I remember third grade the most vividly, because of you… You made learning so much fun. When I look back on all my teachers, Mrs. Maddalone is always my favorite… Someday I’m going to be a teacher, and I hope to be just like you. I will never forget Room 18, or third grade, or you!”— Jennifer Binkley, Former Student, Grade 12