Teacher's world approach wins $1,000 award

Deanne Moore, an English teacher at Hingham High School, has earned the GEM-AIG WorldSource Teacher Award for Excellence in International Education. The $1,000 prize goes annually to a teacher who makes exceptional contributions to the field of global education in K-12 classrooms.

"In an English classroom, students can use literature and film as a means of penetrating international boundaries, challenging their own beliefs, complicating their thinking, and reaching a richer understanding of the world that they live in," Moore said.

"The honor is well deserved," said Hingham High principal Paul Girouard-McCann. "Her commitment to global education is extraordinary and has found expression in a number of ways."

One way is expanding her students' horizons by exposing them to a wide range of world literature. She said that before a 2007 summer institute on the Middle East, she'd never studied that region in any depth nor considered it when redeveloping the 10th-grade curriculum at Hingham High.

But, she said, "My colleagues and I chose the Iranian graphic novel 'Persepolis' as this summer's communitywide reading selection and plan on permanently integrating it into the 10th-grade curriculum, moving forward. We're using this as an opportunity to examine other Middle Eastern texts and films and consider how we can expand these efforts."

During the past several years, she has helped transform the 10th-grade English curriculum from British to world literature and spearheaded on effort to introduce more diverse literature to Hingham's Community Read program. Additionally, having taught English to high school students in Bosnia as part of a teacher exchange program several years ago, Moore has since developed a unit on literature from that culture.

In July, she accompanied 11 Hingham High students on a four-week trip to India and plans a similar trip to Vietnam in 2010. By using such resources, she plans "to continue to bring the world into the classrooms at Hingham High School."

The award is given by Global Education Massachusetts and AIG WorldSource, an international insurance and financial services company.

ROGET EXPLAINED: "What's another word for thesaurus?" Burlington native son and comedian Stephen Wright once asked. Author Joshua Kendall might know. He wrote "The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus" and will be speaking at 2 p.m. today in the Duxbury Free Library. Kendall will talk about his research on Peter Roget's life, the man whose name is synonymous for his most famous work, "Roget's Thesaurus." The event is free, but call 781-934-2721 to make sure there are seats.

GETTING OUT YOUNG VOTERS: "Kids Voting Plymouth" needs volunteer help in teaching young people about democracy and the importance of voting. Since 1996, Plymouth has participated in the program from the national model Kids Voting USA. Lessons are taught in classrooms and students vote in mock polling places. The school drawing the highest percentage of student voters is awarded the Kids Voting trophy in honor of Phyllis Hughes, who started Kids Voting Plymouth. Volunteers are needed to work at polling stations and assist with registering student voters and counting ballots on Nov. 4. For information, call 508-830-4476.

Plymouth schools are participating this year even though the state chapter of the national organization has no money. Area businesses and community groups have stepped forward to fund the process, including the Rotary Club of Plymouth, Entergy, Eastern Bank, HarborOne Credit Union, Cape Auto Body, the Cold Spring Elementary School PTO, and the Plymouth Area League of Women Voters.

BUILDING A DREAM: Habitat for Humanity of Greater Plymouth has scheduled a wall-raising ceremony at the ongoing Women's Build project at 138 Grove St., Kingston, for Saturday at 1 p.m. Habitat will be joined by the homeowners, Kathy and Jason Silvia, and their children, who have been named Family of the Month by Habitat International.

BUSINESS BRIEFS: Brothers Craig and Karl Phillips have opened Senior Equity Financial Inc. in Holbrook. The brothers worked with their mother, Pam Phillips, at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage as a family team, with the company becoming one of the top reverse mortgage originating teams in the country, they said. Information on the new company may be found at seniorequityfinancial.com.

Bloom Lingerie, a women's boutique, has opened at 61 Water St., Hingham. It is owned by Melinda Wojcieszak and Wendy Ferullo.

Skipjack's restaurants has added a sushi bar to the Skipjack's at Patriot Place in Foxborough, under the direction of master sushi chef Tsui Hiu Tou, formerly of Oishi and Ginza. Skipjack's are also located in Newton, Natick, and Boston's Back Bay.

Reach Paul E. Kandarian at Kandarian@globe.com.