We were away for a few days, escaping from all the angst in the education world. We’ve come home to find an outstanding teacher in the news. Danielle Bero, a New York HS teacher is not only featured, but the story celebrates her strategies to engage struggling students by connecting schoolwork with their lives — something that some standards advocates regard as frivolous. Danielle was nominated for a “Hometown Heroes in Education” award, a one-time competition by the NY Daily News. New Yorkers, we hope you find ways to keep such recognition going more regularly, so that your community can appreciate the hard but rewarding work that their teachers do.

We will write to the story’s author, journalist Ben Chapman, to find out how this got into the paper. We need to learn how to make this happen!