
UB Athletics Honors Deandra Modica As CFP Big Day Recipient
9/14/2020 1:15:00 PM | General
BUFFALO, NY – Deandra Modica, an English as a new language teacher (ENL) at Lovejoy Discovery School #43 has been honored as the College Football Playoff Big Day recipient and has been rewarded with a $1,000 Donors Choice gift card to be used towards teaching and student resources.
Modica is responsible for 34 English Language Learners (ELL) in grades K-8. The students represent eight different home languages, which include Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Lai, Mai Mai, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. She supports her English Language Learners in both stand-alone ENL and integrated class settings. In her stand-alone ENL classes she utilizes a specialized curriculum for student assessment, text leveling, and instruction.
In addition, Ms. Modica creates content-based and literacy focused lessons that utilize trans-languaging techniques to develop students' English language proficiency and critical thinking skills. Furthermore, in the integrated class setting she collaborates with content area teachers to prepare differentiated materials suitable for ELLs in their English Language Arts classes and utilizes various teaching strategies to develop her students' English speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.
"Ms. Modica is the perfect candidate for the Extra Yard for Teachers award because of the excellent job she does to help her students grow academically and socially in the school setting and at home," said Lovejoy Discover principal Orniece Hill. "As an advocate for her students and their families, she has been vocal about the increased difficulties her students are experiencing during remote learning due to language barriers and limited resources. Ms. Modica could use the resources provided by this award to purchase materials that will help her students to more effectively engage with their teachers and classmates during this unprecedented time."
The CFP Big Day event is the largest single-day effort of community impact ever undertaken by the extended college football family and is a national day of supporting and celebrating teachers, by saying "thank you" to amazing educators. More than 150 partners across the country are expected to participate, including universities, conferences, bowl games, high schools, and corporate and educational organizations.
The CFP Foundation's Extra Yard for Teachers platform is successful in supporting and uplifting teachers by focusing on four major areas: Recognition, Resources, Professional Development, and Recruitment & Retention. Over its first five years of existence, Extra Yard for Teachers has collectively invested approximately $38 million nationally in support of education, supporting 311,000 teachers nationwide and more than 7 million students.
Modica is responsible for 34 English Language Learners (ELL) in grades K-8. The students represent eight different home languages, which include Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Lai, Mai Mai, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. She supports her English Language Learners in both stand-alone ENL and integrated class settings. In her stand-alone ENL classes she utilizes a specialized curriculum for student assessment, text leveling, and instruction.
In addition, Ms. Modica creates content-based and literacy focused lessons that utilize trans-languaging techniques to develop students' English language proficiency and critical thinking skills. Furthermore, in the integrated class setting she collaborates with content area teachers to prepare differentiated materials suitable for ELLs in their English Language Arts classes and utilizes various teaching strategies to develop her students' English speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.
"Ms. Modica is the perfect candidate for the Extra Yard for Teachers award because of the excellent job she does to help her students grow academically and socially in the school setting and at home," said Lovejoy Discover principal Orniece Hill. "As an advocate for her students and their families, she has been vocal about the increased difficulties her students are experiencing during remote learning due to language barriers and limited resources. Ms. Modica could use the resources provided by this award to purchase materials that will help her students to more effectively engage with their teachers and classmates during this unprecedented time."
The CFP Big Day event is the largest single-day effort of community impact ever undertaken by the extended college football family and is a national day of supporting and celebrating teachers, by saying "thank you" to amazing educators. More than 150 partners across the country are expected to participate, including universities, conferences, bowl games, high schools, and corporate and educational organizations.
The CFP Foundation's Extra Yard for Teachers platform is successful in supporting and uplifting teachers by focusing on four major areas: Recognition, Resources, Professional Development, and Recruitment & Retention. Over its first five years of existence, Extra Yard for Teachers has collectively invested approximately $38 million nationally in support of education, supporting 311,000 teachers nationwide and more than 7 million students.
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