Charlestown High teacher talks with US Secretary of Education
(Video by Jessica Madden-Fuoco)
Charlestown High School teacher Amy Piacitelli learns she will have a chance to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan just five minutes before he called Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is calling just four teachers from across the nation to thank them for their work, and one of those teachers spends her days educating students at Charlestown High School.
Amy Piacitelli, a history teacher at Charlestown High School, received her surprise call from Duncan Wednesday morning in recognition of her work, but Piacitelli, the history team's content leader, said all her co-workers deserve to be thanked for their work.
"It's exciting because I do work hard--like we all do. It’s also a little embarrassing especially right now because we all do," said Piacitelli, sitting with fellow teachers congratulating her and asking about the call she described as "low key."
"This school is full of wonderful teachers and I don't know that I should be singled out, but I do feel honored," Piacitelli said.
Duncan called Piacitelli as part of the national Teacher Appreciation Week. The two talked about Piacitelli's Advancement Placement history class and school.
“I told him that our school was a school really moving in the right direction and that it's a school that it's easy to be a good teacher in," Piacitelli, a Medford resident who has been teaching at Charlestown High for 11 years, said.
“We have a really supportive administration and a structure that allows teachers to work together and collaborate,” she said.
What makes all the hard work worth it, Piacitelli said, was the students.
“It's always something new and fun, and every day is different," she said.
"I believe that what I'm doing--what were all doing--it's important, and it's really nice and I think rare if you looked at sort of the general population to be part of a group that says what I do every day is really important. It makes the hard work worthwhile."
(Video by Jessica Madden-Fuoco)
Charlestown High School teacher Amy Piacitelli talks about what she and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan discussed during a phone conversation Wednesday as part of Teacher Appreciation Week.
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