They now are entering fourth grade, just a few years from middle school, but Joseph Racanello will always remember the time he spent with a particular group of students at Brooklyn Scholars Charter School.
Racanello initially taught them when they were in first grade. For some, it was their first time physically being inside a school building because of the pandemic altering their kindergarten experience.
For Racanello, a special education teacher, and the co-teachers at Brooklyn Scholars, that meant teaching students foundational concepts and typical school routines. Fortunately, he had many of them the following year in 2022-23, allowing there to be an ongoing connection that made it easier to establish a bond.
“Being able to know where they came from in first grade and hit the ground running from September on where we left off the previous year, that stood out,” he said.
Racanello was honored as an Excellence in Teaching winner as part of the NHA Excellence Awards for the 2022-23 school year.
“It was very rewarding, it was a great honor to be able to receive this award and to be able to represent special education teachers,” he said. “We put a lot of thought, work, and planning into what we do.”
He has been teaching at Brooklyn Scholars for six years and said the students’ progress wouldn’t be possible without all the support from the school.
“What makes my work possible is having amazing co-teachers,” Racanello said. “As a special education teacher, a lot of what I do is co-teaching, and it’s a lot of teamwork. Having amazing co-teachers and teammates is what makes a lot of the things I do possible. Co-teachers, administration, it’s all a huge collaboration.”
Racanello said his arrival at Brooklyn Scholars came somewhat serendipitously and he was drawn in by its Moral Focus-based curriculum. And while a strong school culture is touted at many places, he said it rings especially true at Brooklyn Scholars, which has outperformed the district for 12 years.
“Sometimes that’s not always the case,” he said. “Not every school has the amazing school culture that Brooklyn Scholars does.”
Having teachers who were invested in his future propelled Racanello to become a teacher himself. And their devotion lives on in his approach each day at Brooklyn Scholars.
“We do not only learn with our mind, but also through what we feel with our heart and what we experience through our actions,” he said. “This is something I try to keep in mind as I plan the various lessons and activities I use while teaching my students.”
Keep up the excellent work, Mr. Racanello!
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About Brooklyn Scholars Charter School
Brooklyn Scholars Charter School is a tuition-free, public charter school in Brooklyn, New York, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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