Beatrice G. Brown
I would like to nominate Beatrice Brown for the Branford Education Hall of fame. Beatrice was an elementary classroom teacher for 35 years. She taught for 3 years in New Haven and for 32 years here in Branford. After retiring as a classroom teacher, Beatrice has been working as a paraprofessional at John B. Sliney School since 2001. Bea's dedication to the young students of Branford for so many years makes her an excellent candidate for the Branford Education Hall of Fame.
Bea has worked as a paraprofessional in my 1st grade classroom for the last 11 years. I first met Bea during my 2nd year at Sliney. Bea was assigned to work in my classroom in order to support a new student with an emotional disability. As a beginning teacher, I was struggling to meet the challenging needs of this child. I was amazed by how effortlessly Bea was able to connect with the boy and treat him with kindness, respect and love. Since then, she has been an endless source of support, knowledge and guidance not just to the students in my class, but to me as well.
Bea has continued to work in my classroom as a literacy aide supporting students of all levels during reading, writing and phonics instruction. She has also worked as a special education paraprofessional differentiating for students in my class with a wide range of needs. Whether Bea is asked to read a chapter book with a group of students or if she is helping a child learn to identify letter and sounds, Bea approaches each child with integrity, gentleness and warmth. She holds high expectations for children and lets them know that they are capable. So many times, I've overheard her telling kids: "You can be anything you want to be."
Each day, during our Reader's Workshop, Bea works with a small group of children. Each time she meets with kids, she passes along her love for reading and gets kids excited about the books they're reading. Her enthusiasm, along with her explicit instruction begins to unlock the world of reading for our youngest learners.
At Sliney, Bea has also worked as a Paraprofessional for our RTI coordinator. She is responsible for delivering instruction to students in different grade levels who are striving to improve their reading skills. Each year, I have seen students in my classroom be able to exit the RTI program because they have been able to improve their decoding skills and progress to the 1st grade-level benchmark. This is due not only to Bea's diligence as an instructor, but to her ability to convey her confidence in children that they can do it.
Bea has touched the lives of so many children in her decades of teaching. She has even been able to work with the children of her own former students. Her years of dedication, hard work, and kindness will live on within the hearts of so many of her students and co-workers. I feel honored to work with such a wise and caring teacher. I know I have become a better teacher because of her example. It is my hope to be able to honor Mrs. Brown with this esteemed recognition.
Bea has worked as a paraprofessional in my 1st grade classroom for the last 11 years. I first met Bea during my 2nd year at Sliney. Bea was assigned to work in my classroom in order to support a new student with an emotional disability. As a beginning teacher, I was struggling to meet the challenging needs of this child. I was amazed by how effortlessly Bea was able to connect with the boy and treat him with kindness, respect and love. Since then, she has been an endless source of support, knowledge and guidance not just to the students in my class, but to me as well.
Bea has continued to work in my classroom as a literacy aide supporting students of all levels during reading, writing and phonics instruction. She has also worked as a special education paraprofessional differentiating for students in my class with a wide range of needs. Whether Bea is asked to read a chapter book with a group of students or if she is helping a child learn to identify letter and sounds, Bea approaches each child with integrity, gentleness and warmth. She holds high expectations for children and lets them know that they are capable. So many times, I've overheard her telling kids: "You can be anything you want to be."
Each day, during our Reader's Workshop, Bea works with a small group of children. Each time she meets with kids, she passes along her love for reading and gets kids excited about the books they're reading. Her enthusiasm, along with her explicit instruction begins to unlock the world of reading for our youngest learners.
At Sliney, Bea has also worked as a Paraprofessional for our RTI coordinator. She is responsible for delivering instruction to students in different grade levels who are striving to improve their reading skills. Each year, I have seen students in my classroom be able to exit the RTI program because they have been able to improve their decoding skills and progress to the 1st grade-level benchmark. This is due not only to Bea's diligence as an instructor, but to her ability to convey her confidence in children that they can do it.
Bea has touched the lives of so many children in her decades of teaching. She has even been able to work with the children of her own former students. Her years of dedication, hard work, and kindness will live on within the hearts of so many of her students and co-workers. I feel honored to work with such a wise and caring teacher. I know I have become a better teacher because of her example. It is my hope to be able to honor Mrs. Brown with this esteemed recognition.
I am writing this letter recommending Beatrice Brown for Education Hall of Fame. I taught with Bea for 16 years at J. B. Sliney School from 1990-2006. I was also her paraprofessional at Indian Neck School for one year prior to being hired as a full time teacher. Bea has been an inspiration for all the teachers she worked with at both Indian Neck and Sliney Elementary School. As my mentor, she impressed me with her dedication to each and every student in her class. She was committed to meeting each student based on his or her individual needs. Bea would conference with each child and would quickly assess the student’s skill and performance level. Consequently, she would develop a plan for each child and carry out her lessons in a methodical and sequential manner. Bea would scaffold each lesson and would go to great lengths to explain each concept and model the activities. Teaching first graders to read was one of Bea’s trademarks. She took great pride in every lesson and was an expert in teaching of both decoding and comprehension. Bea especially enjoyed working with the remedial and special needs students, and she would often take students from my class that needed additional support. I often would walk in her class and see her at her horseshoe shaped table with 6-8 students intensely working review a phonics rule or working on the students’ fluency. She believed in helping the students develop a strong foundation in all subject areas and spent countless hours making sure each child had the necessary skills before moving on. Bea would differentiate her instruction because she understood and valued a child’s individuality. Whenever possible, Bea would vary her instruction to meet different learning styles. In order provide for different modalities she would utilize manipulatives, visual cues, or auditory cues, etc. to reinforce the skills. Even after retirement, Bea returned to Sliney to work as a paraprofessional demonstrating her commitment and love of teaching. I’ve always admired Bea because of her caring and loving nature. Her students always knew how much she genuinely cared for them. Her dedication to teaching and her love to meet the students’ needs is the reason I believe she should be inducted to the Branford Education Hall of Fame.