Four MCPS teachers have won Excellence in Teaching Awards from the Marian Greenblatt Education Fund, which recognizes teachers for excellence in motivating and educating students. This is the 12th year awards have been given.

Selected to receive awards were veteran teachers Joseph Bellino of Montgomery Blair High School, Sharon Kahl of Clarksburg Elementary School and Cheryl Sellitti of Cold Spring Elementary School. Robert Ferrell of John T. Baker Middle School received the Excellence in First Year Teaching Award.

At ceremonies held in their respective schools, the teachers were presented plaques along with $3,500 total prize money. The veteran teachers received $1,000 each, and the first year teacher received $500.

Joseph Bellino has been a teacher of English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) and has taught social studies to ESOL students since 1974. Both at Montgomery Blair High School and beyond, he has been recognized for his teaching and extracurricular work to help ESOL students. In 1986, he established Silver International, a newspaper for international students systemwide.

Sharon Kahl, a fifth grade teacher at Clarksburg Elementary School since 1996, has 29 years of teaching experience in Montgomery County Public Schools. Among Kahl's many accomplishments are serving since 1989 as an inservice coordinator/trainer and as a new teacher consultant/mentor/trainer. As a lead teacher in science since 1991, she has written curriculum, designed performance-based assessments, and written and provided training for teachers.

Cheryl Sellitti has worked as a fifth grade teacher in the Cold Spring Elementary School Center for the Highly Gifted for the past nine years. Her accomplishments include organizing and conducting the National Geographic Geography Bee, the fifth grade social studies Native American Potlach program, the school-wide spelling bee and Word of the Week vocabulary activities.

Robert Ferrell, winner of the first year teacher award, came to Baker Middle School as a sixth grade science teacher after teaching in the summer at the Goddard Space School. He is the sponsor of the science team at Baker. Ferrell has been recognized for his creativity and his use of cooperative learning groups within his labs so that lessons are naturally differentiated and students learn to use higher level thinking skills.