Finley Teacher has Students
on the Go
Esmeralda Tello has students at J. Taylor Finley Middle School on the go. The social studies teacher was selected to participate in a unique multi-media project involving Thirteen/WNET. The initiative encourages students to engage in a “choose your own adventure” simulation centered on the events of the American Revolution.
“For Crown or Colony” is a project that “contains a flexible array of background information on the historical time period . . . and detailed information on the characters and events . . .” during a significant period of American History. Huntington and many of its residents played a key role in the battle for independence.
As Finley students participated in the program last week, student observers from a local college were on the scene evaluating its effectiveness along with Ms. Tello.
Ms. Tello earned two degrees at SUNY Stony Brook, graduating with a BA in History cum laude and a MA in Liberal Studies. She was an assistant curator at The Long Island Museums in Stony Brook and spent one summer at the Archaeological Field School of Southern Utah University where she participated in an excavation of an ancient Native American site. She completed her student-teaching requirements in the Patchogue-Medford school district.
Joseph Leavy, the district’s director of humanities, said Ms. Tello is helping to spearhead several innovative programs at Finley. One such program saw Ms. Tello and English teacher Charles Williams participating in an inter-disciplinary unit involving a courtroom simulation of the Salem witchcraft trials.
Ms. Tello is also the advisor for the Yorker club, Finley’s National History Day related student group. “She’s done a great job reviving the program at Finley,” Mr. Leavy said about Ms. Tello’s work on behalf of NHD.
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