How do academics captivate their college students? Right here, in a function we name How I Educate, we ask nice educators how they method their jobs.
Join Chalkbeat’s free month-to-month publication How I Educate to get inspiration, information, and recommendation for — and from — educators.
Angelo Imperati by no means wished to develop into a instructor. He disliked college and couldn’t wait to complete.
He solely went to school to make his mother and father pleased. However whereas there, he befriended a woman and commenced to take the identical programs as her. Quickly, he discovered himself student-teaching and signing as much as take the instructor certification exams.
Twenty-one years later, Imperati is an award-winning fifth grade instructor at P.S. 75 within the Bronx, the place he teaches math to 3 courses and leads social research classes twice per week to his homeroom class. He additionally began a basketball league for his college students and past. As 2025’s FLAG Award for Instructing Excellence grand prize winner for elementary college educators, he obtained a grant for $25,000, and his college obtained $10,000. (Nominations for the 2026 FLAG awards are open by Nov. 30.)
Imperati couldn’t be happier than educating youngsters from the borough the place he was born and raised, making studying really feel related to their lives.
“I share tales about myself, and present them how I’ve used the matters I’m educating in actual life settings,” Imperati mentioned. “I create word-problems utilizing my college students as characters in the issue. We, as a category, act out the issues to convey it to life, and college students start to make that connection between what they’re studying and the applying of it in a real-world scenario.”
He focuses on constructing neighborhood and a “sense of belonging” for his college students. At lunch, he opens up his room to youngsters from throughout his college for tutoring. He cooks for his college students on Thanksgiving and brings his outside pizza oven from residence to make pizza with the fifth graders for an end-of-year occasion.
His method yields tutorial outcomes, Imperati mentioned. Of his 60 college students who took the state math checks, 55 of them — or 92% — confirmed proficiency ranges. The citywide common for fifth grade math was 57%, based on public information.
And although he’s happy with his college students’ check scores, he was disheartened to see that check prep applications had been mainly the one possibility when it comes to after-school actions. So he began a basketball league and has been frequently including groups over about 10 years.
“It was an ideal outlet for youths to exhaust a few of their vitality, and provides them an organized exercise with one thing that they take pleasure in doing,” Imperati mentioned.
We talked to Imperati about his method to creating college really feel related and enjoyable. This interview has been edited for size and readability.
What’s one thing taking place locally that impacts what goes on inside your classroom or college?
My college is positioned within the South Bronx. A few of our college students dwell in shelters, wrestle financially, or come from damaged properties. Some youngsters don’t know the place they will sleep, or the place their subsequent meal will come from; however but they’re nonetheless anticipated to care a few fraction, a decimal or anything getting taught.
I imagine this can be a instructor’s and a faculty’s greatest impediment. How can I get them to care about training once they have all these odds towards them? How can I empower them and assist them overcome life’s challenges? How can I make them really feel like their existence issues and are important components of their communities? As an educator, I really feel immense strain to do all the things in my energy to assist put these youngsters on a route to success.
How have you ever boosted scholar efficiency? What’s your secret?
It’s about constructing a relationship the place college students really feel valued and revered. I imagine when you’ve established that sense of belief and respect together with your college students, they are going to work more durable to make you, their households, and most significantly themselves proud.
We’re a neighborhood of learners that observe a development mannequin; a classroom the place the main focus is on sensible, individualized targets for each baby.
Along with this, I strategically pair college students as much as encourage collaboration in my classroom. It creates an environment the place they’re all chargeable for one another’s studying and success. I hand over my lunch on daily basis to do lunch-and-learns. My high math college students keep to “tutor” any baby who needs to come back for further assist. They eat, mingle, and study.
Lastly, I talk usually with my college students and fogeys. I create on-line assignments that deal with matters which were taught in earlier classes and questions that relate to the present subject being taught. College students are anticipated to finish and submit these every day assignments on Google Classroom. Each night I verify these assignments and go away suggestions for each scholar.
I additionally created a digital math pocket book that college students, mother and father, and guardians can entry anytime they want readability or help with the work.
What’s your favourite lesson to show and why?
With regards to math, I don’t actually have a favourite lesson to show. I simply love to show. I like the problem of discovering methods to make math sensible for my college students. I like discovering methods to encourage and encourage youngsters (particularly youngsters from the Bronx) how to achieve success of their academic paths, easy methods to in the end achieve success in life, and the way they are often constructive contributors to their revered communities and world they dwell in.
I like educating college students on previous occasions like slavery, World Struggle II, and what occurred to the Native Individuals in the course of the age of exploration. I educate concerning the present injustices which are taking place in our world at present and the way we are able to study from the wrongdoings and injustices of the previous. These classes create wonderful discourse round matters like racism and inequality, and permit college students to have a look at the world from a special perspective. It helps construct neighborhood throughout the classroom, and I imagine college students are reworked by these classes.
Inform us concerning the basketball league you’ve based. Why is teaching so essential to you?
I started by organizing a basketball program throughout recess time for fourth and fifth graders to take part in. I had about 30 youngsters that might take part every day. I started to note the distinction it was making, particularly with the “troubled” youngsters. I began to make them chargeable for their conduct and lecturers to remain in this system.
Later that 12 months, my principal employed a basketball group to come back and work with the youngsters. If I bear in mind appropriately, she paid about $15,000 for 9 weeks. On the finish of the 12 months, I put forth a proposal to my principal permitting me to run my very own after college basketball program for lots cheaper than she was paying this group. Fortunately, she granted my want, and the next 12 months, I arrange an after-school basketball program for third to fifth graders. I partnered with one other instructor and a faculty aide. We had about 40 youngsters.
Whereas operating this program, I started to achieve out to different faculties to arrange exhibition video games. We’d take our 10 finest gamers to journey to completely different faculties to play towards completely different competitions. I noticed how these video games would entice the encompassing neighborhood. My new objective grew to become partnering with completely different faculties to kind our personal basketball league.
With the assist of my principal, I used to be in a position to companion with a number of different faculties in my district to create a District 8 elementary basketball program. We’re coming into our seventh 12 months as a league.
What’s the most effective recommendation you’ve ever obtained, and the way have you ever put it into observe?
A superb piece of recommendation got here from my boss once I labored in a dry cleaners whereas in school.
I used to be 19 years previous and really brief tempered. My boss observed my mood and anger on a few events. This one explicit evening, after we closed, he referred to as me into his workplace. I assumed he was going to terminate me. The very first thing he requested me to do was take one hand and ball it right into a fist. He then requested me to make use of the pointer finger on my different hand and journey alongside my knuckles of the hand that was balled right into a fist. He requested me what did I really feel. I replied, “ups and downs.” He replied, “That’s life!”
He defined that once I’m feeling down, I ought to preserve my head up as a result of I’m absolutely sure to return up once more.
I’ve used this analogy yearly with my college students. My hope is that they notice regardless of how exhausting life will get, and it doesn’t matter what particular person adversities they could encounter, there are brighter, higher days forward.
Amy Zimmer is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat New York. Contact Amy at azimmer@chalkbeat.org.
