Teaching Excellence Award Goes to Facing History Educator

Stephanie Rossi, a social studies teacher at Wheat Ridge Senior High School and Denver/Rocky Mountain States Advisory Board member, traveled to Washington, D.C., where she was honored as one of five finalists for the National Education Association Foundation Teaching Excellence Award. Stephanie Rossi, a social studies teacher at Wheat Ridge Senior High School and Denver/Rocky Mountain States Advisory Board member, traveled to Washington, D.C., where she was honored as one of five finalists for the National Education Association Foundation Teaching Excellence Award.  She was the first Colorado finalist in the Foundation's history and ably represented Colorado Education Association's 38,000 members.

Rossi, who has been teaching social studies in Jefferson County Schools since 1980, was recognized for her creative and thoughtful teaching and for inspiring students to become active participants in society.

"Throughout my life, the Hebrew phrase, ‘tikkun olam' meaning ‘world repair' has called me to action. . . . My frustration with Holocaust curricula that exploit the horrors, but fail to answer ‘why?' led me to Facing History and Ourselves. The insightful curriculum allows for rich and meaningful conversations where students can delve deeply into choices made by others, and themselves, and feel safe in that exploration."

A parent wrote the following in their support letter, "For her students, Ms Rossi is a treasure trove. For her, however, the treasure trove is in the minds and hearts of her students. She is the kind of educator who draws out what is inherently there by encouraging, clarifying, and edifying. Students are encouraged to delve, to think for themselves, to form opinions and ways of interpreting and assessing life -- in order to arrive at the truth. I have been told that she never judges or condemns, but rather, by means of a series of astute questions, guides her students to more "solid ground." Never is their trust in her compromised. Students are made to feel accepted, no matter how unformulated their views or incomplete their life experiences."

On their letter of support for Ms. Rossi, her AP History students wrote, "The lessons learned in her classes provide an abstract and different way of thinking. The value of her class goes beyond just receiving a grade. The class allows us to think for ourselves and to be independent. Mrs. Rossi has had a deeper impact on us more than any other teacher in the school. She is the woman who has left a footprint on our hearts."