1999 Annie Sullivan Award Winner: Anne Peters
This teacher has a significant history of working with children and especially children with disabilities. She worked at Hope Home for the Handicapped in Johannesburg, South Africa from 1969-1970. She provided recreational activities to youth with cerebral palsy. In June 1971, she graduated from Hong Kong International School, Hong Kong. She entered California State College in the fall of 1971. From 1971-1974, while in undergraduate school, she did volunteer work at Western State School and Hospital. Also while attending college and for several years after, she worked as a cashier, clerk, typist, bookkeeper, and receptionist for her family's business. During the summer of 1974, she took part in a program at California State College which required her to live with a 15 year old resident from Western State School and Hospital for two weeks in the campus dorm. Her student teaching assignments occurred in Westmoreland County. She received her B.S. in Education in December 1974. In 1974-75 she worked as an Assistant Physical Therapist at Seoul Children's Hospital in Seoul, Korea. From the years 1975-1979, she was an Elementary LD/EMR Resource room teacher in Garrett County, Maryland. From 1979-1980, she taught Kindergarten through 8th grade LD/EMR students in Preston County, West Virginia. She did individual tutoring from 1980-1982. She continued her education at California State College and earned dual Master degrees in May 1985. She holds a M.Ed in Mentally and/or Physically Handicapped and is a Reading Specialist. She taught Physical Education and Music on a part time basis at Brownsville Catholic School from 1988-1990. She taught catechism to 4th and 5th graders from 1980-1982 and again from 1985-1990.
She began substituting for Intermediate Unit I in April 1990. She was employed as a teacher of the preschool program for handicapped students at Cardale Elementary from August 23, 1990 through June 1993. She became a full time teacher at the beginning of the 1993-94 school year. She was assigned to one of the most difficult exceptionalities at Redstone Middle School.
When she assumed this permanent full time teaching assignment, it was a new position and new classroom and she put in many hours to develop it into the program it is today. She attended a variety of training sessions, did research and relied upon common sense to help her develop and refine her teaching techniques, classroom management skills, communication skills, and knowledge of a functional curriculum. She always had the best interest of her students at heart and made decisions based on their needs.
She is currently starting her 7th year of full time employment with Intermediate Unit I all of which have been with these same type of children. She has the ability to enlist her parents as advocates for their child and has established a daily communication system with them. They have the highest respect for this teacher and don't hesitate to make their feelings known. She is a very organized teacher and fills each day with a variety of learning activities. Several of her past and present students came to her with severe behavior problems but through hard work, patience and diligence, she has taught them appropriate classroom and community skills and have started then on their way to becoming mature, young adults.
She provides many community based experiences for her students as part of their transition activities. On any given day, you may find her at the stables helping her students as they participate in therapeutic horseback riding, at Goodwill Industries working with her students to develop job skills, or at the YMCA swimming with her students and teaching self help and grooming skills. She has very high expectations for all of her students and this year was able to get two of her students involved in the shop of their choice at the Mon Valley Career and Technology Center. One student is in Computer Aided Drafting while the other is in Food Service. She has also advocated for her students to be part of the high school classes and environment. This past school year, several students were included in classes such as: physical education, choir, and driver's education. In previous years. she has included students in Art, Math, History and other subjects that meet their needs and interests. She has arranged for her students to be involved in the Boy Scouts once every three weeks and they participate in the Learning for Life program in May of each school year. Once a month she takes the class into the community to practice skills taught in her classroom. Some of the places they visit to use these skills include the laundromat and the grocery store. She also teaches her students to prepare and cook a variety of food items. She often uses the home ec room but at times prepares a particular item within her classroom.
Many of her student receive speech services, occupational therapy and physical therapy. She works cooperatively with these support personnel and reinforces the skills they are teaching throughout the entire day during all activities.
Born in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. She has one brother and 3 sisters.
Her brother, Joseph Llenik lives in Wisconsin. A sister Kathy Henry lives in Ohio, a sister Judy Southworth lives in Utah, and a sister Susan Gresham in Virginia.
Ann's mother resides in Vienna, Virginia, and her father is deceased.
Ann is the mother of four children. Holly 14 years old, Casey 15 years old, and Rachall 17 years old. All attend Brownsville High School. John is 18 years old and will attend Indiana University of Pennsylvania as a freshman majoring in Biology and Education.
