American Teacher Awards

The ingredients include big-name celebrity hosts--among them Carol Burnett, Jon Voight and Robin Williams--film clips, production numbers and black-tie sartorial splendor. Your usual show-biz awards show? Not quite. There's nothing usual about the honorees or the passionate spirit of "The American Teacher Awards" on the Disney Channel Sunday at 7 p.m.

When you're standing next to Goofy, it's hard to repress a humorous impulse. Fred Carrington, one of three nationwide finalists for the Disney-co-sponsored American Teacher Awards in physics, found himself in that spot Thursday during an assembly at Grant High School. True to his jocular reputation--nearly everyone at Grant calls him "Derf," Fred spelled backward--he uncorked a vintage pun after head pats and a thumbs-up from Goofy. "Someone asked me this morning if I was going to retire.

A Capistrano Valley High School teacher got a Disneyland-size surprise last week when it was announced that she had been chosen one of 36 teachers nationwide to receive the American Teacher Award. Angela del Carmen Martin Gorno was the only Orange County teacher and one of only four from California to be selected. The award, sponsored and presented by the Walt Disney Co. and McDonald's, recognizes outstanding efforts by educators. "I'm in awe," Martin Gorno said. "It's unbelievable."

A Capistrano Valley High School teacher got a Disneyland-size surprise last week when it was announced that she had been chosen one of 36 teachers nationwide to receive the American Teacher Award. Angela del Carmen Martin Gorno was the only Orange County teacher and one of only four from California to be selected. The award, sponsored and presented by the Walt Disney Co. and McDonald's, recognizes outstanding efforts by educators. "I'm in awe," Martin Gorno said. "It's unbelievable."

A Los Angeles elementary schoolteacher was named the nation's outstanding teacher of 1992 and won $25,000 during an awards ceremony Sunday at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Hobart Elementary School instructor Rafe Esquith won top honors for his work with gifted fifth- and sixth-graders in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles. Esquith helps the children stage Shakespearean plays and teaches them about classical music, fine literature and algebraic equations.

As a teacher and descendant of slaves, I find it highly ironic, paradoxical and extremely contradictory that Disney can sponsor the American Teacher Awards celebrating excellence in teaching, but is afraid to offend by accurately and realistically depicting slavery and the Civil War in its proposed American history theme park ("Disney Unsure How It Will Organize New Theme Park," March 9). Is this Disney's way of saying they're afraid of criticism, so they knuckled under to critics' objections to their plans for portraying slavery so realistically that visitors could "feel" what it was like to be a slave?

Huong Tran Nguyen of Westminster, who arrived in the United States as a student at the height of the Vietnam War, remembers a college instructor's admonition that she would never measure up to her white peers as a teacher. On Wednesday, Nguyen, a Long Beach high school teacher, was named outstanding teacher of 1994 by the Walt Disney Co. She accepted the award Wednesday night during ceremonies in Washington.

Huong Tran Nguyen, who arrived in the United States as a student at the height of the Vietnam War, remembers a college instructor's admonition at the time that Nguyen would never measure up to her white peers as a teacher. On Wednesday, Nguyen, a Long Beach high school teacher, was named outstanding teacher of 1994 by the Walt Disney Co. She accepted the award Wednesday night during ceremonies in Washington, D.C.

When you're standing next to Goofy, it's hard to repress a humorous impulse. Fred Carrington, one of three nationwide finalists for the Disney-co-sponsored American Teacher Awards in physics, found himself in that spot Thursday during an assembly at Grant High School. True to his jocular reputation--nearly everyone at Grant calls him "Derf," Fred spelled backward--he uncorked a vintage pun after head pats and a thumbs-up from Goofy. "Someone asked me this morning if I was going to retire.

Grant High School's Fred Carrington is anything but a lackluster teacher. Jumping around his physics laboratory, shooting off air-compression rockets, making bad puns and pecking students on the forehead--instead of yelling--when they (rarely) doze off, Carrington is smitten with both teaching and students. For his obvious amor, Carrington, 58, recently became one of 60 teachers honored in a series of Disney Channel video profiles.

Grant High School's Fred Carrington is anything but a lackluster teacher. Jumping around his physics laboratory, shooting off air-compression rockets, making bad puns and pecking students on the forehead--instead of yelling--when they (rarely) doze off, Carrington is smitten with both teaching and students. For his obvious amor, Carrington, 58, recently became one of 60 teachers honored in a series of Disney Channel video profiles.

Huong Tran Nguyen, who arrived in the United States as a student at the height of the Vietnam War, remembers a college instructor's admonition at the time that Nguyen would never measure up to her white peers as a teacher. On Wednesday, Nguyen, a Long Beach high school teacher, was named outstanding teacher of 1994 by the Walt Disney Co. She accepted the award Wednesday night during ceremonies in Washington, D.C.

Huong Tran Nguyen of Westminster, who arrived in the United States as a student at the height of the Vietnam War, remembers a college instructor's admonition that she would never measure up to her white peers as a teacher. On Wednesday, Nguyen, a Long Beach high school teacher, was named outstanding teacher of 1994 by the Walt Disney Co. She accepted the award Wednesday night during ceremonies in Washington.

As a teacher and descendant of slaves, I find it highly ironic, paradoxical and extremely contradictory that Disney can sponsor the American Teacher Awards celebrating excellence in teaching, but is afraid to offend by accurately and realistically depicting slavery and the Civil War in its proposed American history theme park ("Disney Unsure How It Will Organize New Theme Park," March 9). Is this Disney's way of saying they're afraid of criticism, so they knuckled under to critics' objections to their plans for portraying slavery so realistically that visitors could "feel" what it was like to be a slave?

Three Los Angeles area teachers are among 36 instructors from around the country being honored this week in Orlando, Fla., during the Walt Disney Co.'s annual American Teacher Award festivities. Arcadia elementary schoolteacher Patricia Ann Baltz was selected for her contributions to the science program at Camino Grove Elementary, where she initiated the school's Science Festival and began a cross-age science study program linking students with those from a nearby high school.

Along with math, reading, current events, science and music, Belen (Bubba) Garcia's students get daily lessons in self-esteem. They don't even realize it. It's just part of the routine. Each morning, 25 fifth- and sixth-graders line up outside Room 11 at Patrick Henry Elementary and take turns looking Garcia in the eye and shaking her hand hard. Once inside, they scamper around the room collecting 10 hugs and bidding each other "a good day." "I want them to do more than just survive.

Along with math, reading, current events, science and music, Belen (Bubba) Garcia's students get daily lessons in self-esteem. They don't even realize it. It's just part of the routine. Each morning, 25 fifth- and sixth-graders line up outside Room 11 at Patrick Henry Elementary and take turns looking Garcia in the eye and shaking her hand hard. Once inside, they scamper around the room collecting 10 hugs and bidding each other "a good day." "I want them to do more than just survive.

It is still dark at 6 a.m. when sixth-grader Henry Artign sets out for the eight-block walk from his Koreatown home, past the hulks of burned-out stores, to the campus of Hobart Elementary. When he arrives at Room 52, his teacher, Rafe Esquith, is already there, preparing for a school day that will not end until the sun goes down.

A Los Angeles elementary schoolteacher was named the nation's outstanding teacher of 1992 and won $25,000 during an awards ceremony Sunday at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Hobart Elementary School instructor Rafe Esquith won top honors for his work with gifted fifth- and sixth-graders in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles. Esquith helps the children stage Shakespearean plays and teaches them about classical music, fine literature and algebraic equations.

It is still dark at 6 a.m. when sixth-grader Henry Artign sets out for the eight-block walk from his Koreatown home, past the hulks of burned-out stores, to the campus of Hobart Elementary. When he arrives at Room 52, his teacher, Rafe Esquith, is already there, preparing for a school day that will not end until the sun goes down.