East Haven Public Schools (EHPS) named its three 2023 Teachers of the Year, which include Joseph Melillo Middle School (JMMS) language arts teacher Lauren Condosta. She reflected on her reception of the honor as a wonderful surprise.

“It is such an honor. When I found out I won it, I was overwhelmed and honored. I was almost in disbelief,” says Lauren. “I’m very, very grateful to be a part of this town, and I’m so happy to be a part of JMMS.”

Lauren gave a shout-out to all EHPS personnel in the district, including “every single teacher, paraprofessional, secretary, custodian, administration [person],” for their constant support for one another, something she says is rare in other districts.

“Something tragic happens, something awful happens, you rally around each other to take care of each other. Something amazing happens, you celebrate their accomplishment,” she says.

Lauren has been with the East Haven school district for 19 years and cannot imagine herself teaching language arts in any other. Nor can she imagine teaching the subject anywhere else but the middle school level.

“What I love about English, especially in the middle school setting, is that we get to get the best of both worlds. We do reading, and we do writing. So not only are we reading novels like ‘The Giver’ that go back as far as I can remember, we’re also incorporating newer novels like ‘Brown Girl Dreaming’ and ‘Long Walk to Water.’ So you’re exposing students to what it’s like to be a refugee and poetry and dystopian, utopian societies. And on top of that, now they’re writing about it,” Lauren says.

Even more specifically, Lauren enjoys teaching at the eighth-grade level, which hits the sweet spot between more advanced work in high school and the culmination of nearly everything students have learned up to their final year in the intermediary years of their education. It’s a unique time for them to see who they are now before moving on to a bigger stage where they will discover even more about themselves.

“We’re laying the foundation for the rest of their lives. Elementary [school] is beautiful because you are setting them up for school, and they’ve never been, and [eighth-grade] is preparing them for high school. That’s where they’re going to figure out what do they want to do with the rest of their life…middle school, you’re still developing, you’re still growing up, and we get to give them that opportunity.”

But Lauren also understands that “middle school is a tough age…a very awkward age” where students with curious minds and questions are used to using social media. That can make it “harder now to share those ideas and kind of raise your hand and put yourself out there.” That’s why she believes it is critical to meet students where they are at in their lives, even before diving into their work.

“Until they feel valued in the classroom, I’m not going to reach them. So I need to make sure that every single kid that walks through the store feels that they’re cared about and they’re valued and that they’re important. So once they understand that and that they understand that this classroom is kind of a family and everybody takes care of each other, and everybody takes a part in it, then the learning can happen,” says Lauren.

When students finally feel engaged, it’s their active participation, and when “the light bulb goes off” in their heads regarding the contents of their work, that lets her know she has made that connection. From there, students can feel more comfortable getting involved in lessons, asking questions, and presenting their own ideas related to the books they read and write about.

Simply put, the students and those moments are what Lauren recognizes as the greatest part of being an educator.

“It’s the kids. It’s the students every single day,” she says.

And every day is something different with her students, another way for her to understand them on a deep emotional level.

“When a kid is having a bad day, you feel the bad day. When the kid’s having a good day, you feel that. It’s a whole mix of emotions. So I can come home and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, it was a really rough day. Let me tell you what happened.’ And then there’s days where I’m like, ‘Oh my God, it was an awesome day too.’”