teaching
diversity Mother Teresa School Teacher Amanda Ocariz Wins Award BY PATRICIA MCGEEVER
In Amanda Ocariz’s language arts class at Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School in Liberty Township, students learn what it means to be an upstander. “The bystander is someone who stands by and watches. The upstander stands up and does something,” said Ocariz. The books her seventh and eighth graders read drive this message home. They include To Kill a Mockingbird, Elie Wiesel’s Night and A Long Walk to Water, which recounts how Salva Dut was born in Sudan, lived as a refugee for a decade and eventually returned home to bring clean water to those in need. “I wanted to read about good examples and people doing the right thing,” said Ocariz. “And, a little bit of people doing the wrong thing so we can learn about that, too.” The selected novels and memoirs look at the fight for Civil Rights and basic human rights, shining a light on discrimination, diversity and the difference between right 3 8 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH
and wrong. Ocariz’s ability to challenge her students’ thinking earned her this year’s “Excellence in Teaching Diversity Award” from the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. She is the first Catholic school teacher to earn the honor. In nominating her, principal Aideen Briggs said Ocariz stretches children’s thinking about themselves and their world: “By exposing her students to the failures of humanity as well as its achievements, she shows them the ugly and beautiful truth of what it is to be human, and how important it is to look inward for what is right, and then act outward toward redemption for all.” Ocariz developed the curriculum and started the junior high program at Mother Teresa with co-teacher, Karen Geiger.
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By exposing her students to the failures of humanity as well as its achievements, she shows them the ugly and beautiful truth of what it is to be human...
