Her Story
Marguerite Izzo teaches fifth-grade English language arts and social studies at Davison Avenue Intermediate School in the Malverne School District on Long Island. Most lessons begin with a song, poem or short video, and she asks questions that make students think, then she greets them with a smile, a hug or a fist bump. Students reconfigure the desks every month, and sometimes she sits at a student’s desk and raises her hand while a “scholar” at the ActivBoard teaches the grammar lesson.
Her classroom library holds hundreds of titles, her walls are covered with a “Homework Hall of Fame,” and she uses props such as oversized glasses and magnifying glasses to teach close reading. She uses picture-book mentor texts so students can write from different characters’ points of view. A student wrote that she is “the only teacher that makes me love learning” and that “she always calls us ‘scholars.'”
Her students have earned some of the district’s top scores on state tests. She asks her fifth graders for the same anonymous evaluations her Adelphi graduate students complete, because “students appreciate the opportunity to be heard.”
Beyond the Classroom
Izzo was New York State Teacher of the Year in 2007. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan invited her, with the presidents of the NEA and AFT, to represent American teachers at the first two International Summits on the Teaching Profession. She helped create the Teacher Leader Model Standards, serves on the board of the National Network of State Teachers of the Year, and advises the New York State Board of Regents.
She directs the Malverne Teacher Center, writing its annual grant, surveying faculty and planning courses, and she has mentored six teachers in seven years. She is an adjunct professor of education at Adelphi University. In her school she organized evening meetings to explain the Common Core to parents, and a standing-room crowd stayed to thank her. Her school received a Milken Foundation fellowship through her work.
Philosophy Into Practice
Izzo believes that “when treated with respect and confidence in their abilities, students grasp the material being taught much more readily,” and that “a relationship based on genuine caring between the teacher and student must be established and fostered.” She says every child “has his own challenges,” and she reaches out to students whose clothes or homework show the strain.
She has turned down administration many times, because “I choose to lead from the classroom,” and she works to give teachers “a leading role” in education policy: “Many of the pitfalls of implementation of new policies would be avoided if there had been more teachers at the table.”
“A teacher effects eternity: he can never tell where his influence stops.”— Henry Adams, quoted by Izzo
In Her Own Words
“I love teaching.”— Marguerite Izzo
“I choose to lead from the classroom to help improve education because I am happiest and most productive there.”— Marguerite Izzo
“I gauge my success upon their love of learning, and their outstanding levels of achievement.”— Marguerite Izzo
What Others Said
“Few educators embody teacher leadership through work in policy, practice, and advocacy.”— Katherine Bassett, nominator
“I would place Marguerite Izzo in the top handful of master teachers whom I have had the pleasure to call my friends.”— Dr. James H. Hunderfund, Superintendent, Malverne Public Schools
“Mrs. Izzo is a teacher who is truly the hallmark of our profession.”— Edward Tallon, Principal, Davison Avenue Intermediate School
“She has made me a better professional as she does with all those fortunate enough to work with her.”— Stacey Montemarano, colleague
“Mrs. Izzo is the best teacher in history.”— Fifth-grade student