Donna Mecca's favorite thing about teaching is reading to children. Since hardly a day's gone by that Mecca hasn’t read to students in the past 20 years, it’s that much harder for Mecca — a reading teacher at Armstrong Elementary — to pick a favorite day. But Nov. 10 may be a candidate.
Two weeks ago on that Thursday, Mecca received an award for Reading Teacher of the Year from the Greater Washington Reading Council.
“I was thrilled,” said Mecca. “I was so honored by this because I really feel like I can share this with my colleagues who I work alongside with everyday.”
Mecca was selected from nominees from nine school districts in the area. As recipient of the award, Mecca will compete with other regional winners for a state award announced in March and given out by the Virginia State Reading Association.
Mecca of Herndon began teaching students how to read in 1983. She’s worked at schools in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin and Virginia. She came to Armstrong in 1999.
“I usually work with small groups of students,” said Mecca, “but I also go into classrooms.”
In the course of her 22-year career, Mecca has worked hard to hone effective reading strategies and best practices.
“The other thing that makes this job really fun is working with teachers,” said Mecca, with whom she works closely to ensure that all students make strides in reading.
She said her days teaching are randomly sprinkled with rewarding anecdotes. About a month ago, she encountered a sixth-grader who rarely got excited about reading. She went to the class and read aloud from an adventure book series. “Just yesterday he came up and said, ‘I just want you to know I’m on the third book,’” said Mecca. “That just made my day because he’s hooked [on reading].”