Stanhope School District selects Governor's Teacher Recognition Award winner

Stanhope — Robert Franceski has been selected as the recipient of the Governor’s Teacher Recognition Award for Valley Road School in the Stanhope Public School District. Franceski has been the middle school mathematics teacher since 2003. He has served on the district’s committee to rewrite the math curriculum and is also a member of the school’s Crisis Team. He has chaperoned the eighth-grade class trip to Washington, D.C., and will chaperone the seventh grade class trip to Boston, in May. Mr. Franceski provides an atmosphere that is conducive to learning everyday in his classes. He believes that teachers should have a solid grasp of their subject area so they are able to pass along that knowledge to their students. When teaching mathematics, he provides information in the simplest manner possible. Mr. Franceski feels patience is another key to his success. He constantly provides further examples until the class “gets it.” Mr. Franceski has his students actively involved, using classroom technology and challenges his students to take the lessons to the next level. Along those lines, he relates math to everyday life, which he accomplishes by sharing his own personal experiences when explaining examples. A student summing up his experience in middle school expressed his nomination of Mr. Franceski by saying, “Mr. Franceski makes math fun!” Valley Roach School is proud to have Mr. Franceski teaching here and making math fun for the students.