A whole new world
Award-winning teacher helps kids see beyond their community 

Winning the distinguished McGraw Prize in Education was a thrill Reynauld Smith will long remember, but it doesn't compare to the pleasure he derives from exposing his inner-city students to the global world.

A history teacher at Eastern Senior High School, in Washington, D.C., Smith received the award for his work with the school's Model United Nations Program. Through the program, which he took over in 1999, Smith annually works with around 20 students who represent the school in Model U.N. competitions.

Smith, a member of the Washington Teachers Union, trains his charges in public speaking and Robert's Rules of Order, and has them write policy resolutions to go before a mock United Nations. He also teaches his students about global issues, such as nuclear proliferation, land mines and drug trafficking, that come before the United Nations.

"We research these issues, and the kids have to make speeches and prepare resolutions based on where the country they are representing stands on that issue," explains Smith.
Staff from the U.S. Department of State meet regularly with Eastern's Model U.N. team as part of a partnership the school has with the department. "The kids were blown away when these experts would actually come to the school and talk to them about foreign affairs issues," says Smith, who has taught for 36 years.

All of this is in preparation for the annual Model U.N. competition held at the State Department at which the Eastern students compete against other schools from the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

"It's run just like the United Nations in New York City," Smith says about the competition.
But it doesn't end there. In recent years, financial support from the U.N. Foundation has made it possible for Smith to take some of his students to Ecuador, Mexico, Portugal and other countries to compete in the Model U.N. program. The first trip was to the Dominican Republic; the Eastern team won that competition and was voted "best delegation."

"These trips have opened my students' eyes to a world they didn't know existed and has given them a new confidence in themselves," he says.

Each winner of the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education, which in 2007 was awarded to three people, receives $25,000. The award is named to honor the chairman emeritus of the McGraw-Hill Companies for his commitment to education.

Model U.N. programs are a great way for students to learn about international relations. For details, visit www.state.gov/p/io/mdlun/.

There's a lot more to teaching than just subject matter
Prerequisites to learning: manners, organization and good study skills

Ninth-grade social studies teacher Martin McKeon's top priority in the classroom "is to instill the skills that students need to be successful high school and college students."

His teaching techniques "are very much focused around classroom decorum as a prerequisite for academic achievement," says McKeon, a member of the AFT's Sanford (Maine) Federation of Teachers. "From the first day of the year, I teach students why it's important to stand up when a teacher, or any adult, enters the room." Once manners—including proper behavior in a professional environment—are instilled, "everything else falls into place."

This year, something else fell into place for McKeon. In September, he was named Maine's 2008 Teacher of the Year. It's an honor bestowed by his colleagues in education that McKeon describes as "gratifying, overwhelming and humbling."

When state education commissioner Susan Gendron named McKeon Teacher of the Year at a school assembly, more than 1,400 students gave him a standing ovation.

"The process itself is very affirming," McKeon says of the rigorous process the state finalists are subjected to, including paperwork, presentations, interviews and classroom visits. McKeon, who has been teaching ninth-grade social studies at Sanford High School, his alma mater, since September 1984, also places a premium on organization and study skills. "A lot of teachers may tell students they should be organized and they should be studying, but students need to be taught how to do those things," says McKeon. Helping students develop these skills is important to him. The intellectual and social growth of students in their freshman year is what attracted McKeon to this grade level. Students "really come in as children who are striving to be adults," he says. "So the changes during that year are very significant."

A consummate professional, McKeon also posts his resumé on his page of the school's Web site. "It is really interesting for students and parents to see who is running this classroom," says McKeon, noting that teacher salaries are public information. "I think a teacher's background should be public."

McKeon hasn't always been in a state of classroom bliss, however. Several years ago, he asked himself how he could possibly make it to 30 years in the profession. "I think every teacher goes through phases," he says, including disillusionment.

Today, however, McKeon "can't imagine retiring. I enjoy teaching more now than I ever have." He also can't imagine not being a member of his union. "These days it would be foolish for anybody not to be a member of their teachers union," he says.