Dominic Belmonte served the Golden Apple Foundation for Excellence in Teaching as its Director of Teacher Preparation from 1996-2006 and its President and Chief Executive Officer from 2006-2017. He was named a Golden Apple Award recipient in 1987. At York Community High School in Elmhurst, Illinois, where he taught for twenty years prior, Dom was an English teacher and Chairman of the Department.
In 1989 Dom co-created the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois, a pre-induction advanced teacher preparation and mentoring program which during his tenure brought almost 2000 people to teaching career in Illinois. In 1996 he also co-created the GATE (Golden Apple Teacher Education) program, Illinois’ first alternative pathway to teacher certification which brought over 400 mid-career adults to Chicago classrooms teaching secondary math or science or elementary school children.
Dom most recently served as Distinguished Professor of Practice at National Louis University, Chicago.
He is the author of three books: Teaching from the Deep End (2nd ed.), Teaching on Solid Ground, both published by Corwin Press in California, and The Age of Accountability, published by Myers Education Press in Maine.
Dom earned his B.A. and M.A. in English at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was conferred Honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters from St. Xavier University in 2011 and from National Louis University in 2017.
In 1989 Dom co-created the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois, a pre-induction advanced teacher preparation and mentoring program which during his tenure brought almost 2000 people to teaching career in Illinois. In 1996 he also co-created the GATE (Golden Apple Teacher Education) program, Illinois’ first alternative pathway to teacher certification which brought over 400 mid-career adults to Chicago classrooms teaching secondary math or science or elementary school children.
Dom most recently served as Distinguished Professor of Practice at National Louis University, Chicago.
He is the author of three books: Teaching from the Deep End (2nd ed.), Teaching on Solid Ground, both published by Corwin Press in California, and The Age of Accountability, published by Myers Education Press in Maine.
Dom earned his B.A. and M.A. in English at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was conferred Honorary Doctorates in Humane Letters from St. Xavier University in 2011 and from National Louis University in 2017.
Interview with Dominic Belmonte
about his story "Teacher's Two Rooms"
Honorable Mention for The Scribes Prize
|
What inspired this piece?
Every teacher who cares about the work has burned in their memory the times they have fallen short. Teaching is such a human enterprise that errors must occur. If you’re in garage door maintenance or plumbing, the errors are usually correctable, and set in the moment. But in teaching, the errors reverberate, can effect in bulk.
Who are some authors that inspire you?
I have always been inspired by the short stories of John Cheever and the poetry of Howard Nemerov.
If you could continue writing your story after these 100 words, what would happen next?
If I was brave enough, the story would extend to the particulars: the student, the time and place and nature of the error. I have written about some of them in my memoir, and I have talked about some of them in working with prospective teachers. All of them? Am not so brave, but have striven to improve from them.
Every teacher who cares about the work has burned in their memory the times they have fallen short. Teaching is such a human enterprise that errors must occur. If you’re in garage door maintenance or plumbing, the errors are usually correctable, and set in the moment. But in teaching, the errors reverberate, can effect in bulk.
Who are some authors that inspire you?
I have always been inspired by the short stories of John Cheever and the poetry of Howard Nemerov.
If you could continue writing your story after these 100 words, what would happen next?
If I was brave enough, the story would extend to the particulars: the student, the time and place and nature of the error. I have written about some of them in my memoir, and I have talked about some of them in working with prospective teachers. All of them? Am not so brave, but have striven to improve from them.