Suzanne Valenza - Résumé

English Teacher, Advisor, Mentor

Jericho High School, Jericho, NY

September 2000 - Present

Teacher of English language arts, media, and journalism. I spearheaded digital portfolios, Nest (our school's social/emotional initiative), our alternative school, integrated co-teaching, interdisciplinary team teaching, and a senior experience program. I engage students in project-based learning with an emphasis on technology integration. I designed and teach a college level creative writing course and have trained three additional teachers to help with demand. I created and lead our school's New Media Communications program which is a four-year sequence in multimedia online news production and includes sports journalism. I advise our school's a ward-winning online newspaper The JerEcho and its video broadcast division, the Jericho News Network. I serve as a mentor for newly hired teachers, a cooperating teacher for student teachers, and an instructor of a variety of in-service courses for Jericho faculty and staff.

Canon Future Authors Project Facilitator

Summers 2017-2021

I founded and facilitated an annual summer writing workshop for a select group of high school students and faculty. Participants engage in all aspects of the writing process to create original works of writing and digital photography which Canon U.S.A, Inc. then publishes.

Click here for information about our 2021 publication, "Emergence."

Click here to explore how our 2019 publication was received by Michelle Obama's publishers.

Click here for Canon Solution America's 2019 press release.

Click here to discover more about our 2018 publication, "Words of Art."

Click here to learn about our 2017 program.

Teacher Leader

University Heights H.S., Bronx, NY

1986-1996

I served as a teacher leader for an academic team consisting of 150 students and 10 staff members. Our emphasis was on innovative, personalized instruction that resulted in portfolio-based exhibitions of skills and content. In order to advance and graduate, students had to prove mastery of our domains of learning rather than earn grades toward Carnegie units. I was a member of the principal's administrative and long-term planning committees, and I taught a full array of integrated, thematic classes to students in grades 7-12 including advisory.

Educational Consultant

1990-Present

I have facilitated staff development workshops and conducted on-site teacher training for a number of professional development organizations including: The New York City Writing Project, The American Social History Project, Design for Differentiation, Project Adventure, Inc., and The Coalition for Essential Schools.

Education

The Graduate Center, CUNY | M.A., Liberal Studies

New York University | B.S., Cum Laude

Major in English Education with a minor in Computer Science

Awards and Recognition

Association of Suffolk Supervisors for Educational Technologies (ASSET )Bright Lights Award for extraordinary and innovative contribution integrating technology in schools

Two time Jericho SEPTA Grant recipient to fund technology, projects, or programs that inspire, enhance or enrich the standard of education for students with disabilities

Skills

Web design, video production and editing, Movie Magic Screenwriter, audio recording and editing, digital photography, pottery, watercolor painting