No. 14 Vol. 9
New View Media Group • 1-800-691-7549
May 8, 2018
Wayne Woman Celebrates Career As Riverdale Teacher, Motivates Aspiring Educators To Stay On Task
I
By Cheryl Conway t is one thing to be celebrated, yet another to join in the celebration. That is what award winning teacher Marianne McCarthy of Wayne is doing not only in May but every day. May is the month in which teachers get recognized for the contributions they make to education and society. Tuesday, May 8, is Teacher Appreciation Day;
May 6 to May 12, is Teacher Appreciation Week; and the entire month is labeled National Teacher Appreciation Month. While many appreciate all of the dedication teachers put into their professions and celebrate throughout the month, there are teachers such as McCarthy who appreciates and values her role as an educator for the past 38 years. Mc-
Carthy, 58, currently teaches English language arts for grades kindergarten through fifth at the Riverdale Public School, where she has been for the past 18 years. She also specializes in small group intervention for students in grades six through eight as well as special education students, coined by McCarthy as ‘special ability students.’ With a maximum of nine students per group, McCarthy meets with five groups daily focusing on reading, writing and spelling. There is no other place she would rather be. “They drive me every day to get out of bed,” says McCarthy. “They make me want to be a better teacher every single day. I have the most phenomenal superintendent who’s given me all the tools to do what I need,” like going to workshops. “The people around me are very supportive,” including teachers and staff.
Marianne McCarthy enjoys spending time at Grounds for Sculpture with a book. “Work hard-play hard,” with her other loves including reading, art, music, dancing ballet, exercising, hiking and planting. “August is fun time.”
Before coming to Riverdale, McCarthy taught at Lincoln Park Elementary Schools for two years for the preschool disabled class. When an opening for a new program was available 18 years ago at Riverdale and one of McCarthy’s students was trans-
ferring there, she decided to follow. “I like to start things: I like to intervene,” says McCarthy. “When I saw a challenge ahead of me 18 years ago, I said ‘let me grab the challenge.” Her first teaching job was at Cold Spring Harbor in
Long Island, N.Y., where she taught regular education classes for first grade and second grade for 18 years. Growing up on a farm in Long Island, McCarthy moved to Wayne 19 years ago after she got married. She attended Farmingdale Unicont. on page 4