Carmela Morelli

Carmela Morelli, an educator with over 20 years of experience, strongly believes that collaboration is a critical component to academic success. During her 10-year tenure as the Assistant Principal of Lynnwood High School in Bothell, Washington, Carmela Morelli initiated the creation of faculty groups to identify problems and determine appropriate solutions to foster student achievement. Ms. Morelli’s willingness to be part of a team and serve as an advocate for students and staff allowed the faculty to show take initiative and implement new teaching strategies and methods. Carmela Morelli’s conviction that a professional learning community can overcome any challenge led to her active involvement in revising existing materials and creating new curriculum to meet state and national standards. As a science teacher with 13 years of experience, she worked primarily with the science and math department to accomplish these goals. She also served as the Chair of the Professional Development Committee and the Curriculum Committee for several years. Ms. Morelli knows that teachers need time and resources for collaboration, and she supported professional and pedagogical development in her role. Carmela Morelli helped procure funding that allowed a science teacher and an ELL (English Language Learner) teacher to train in the Sheltered or Shared Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) model of instruction, which allowed the two professionals to research, design, and implement an instructional co-teaching model. As a result, ELL students made significant improvements on state assessments. Carmela Morelli encouraged Lynnwood math teachers to collaborate with World Language teachers to create a multicultural after school club that was initiated by the students’ desire for peer math support in their native languages. Pairs of peers were created between honor ELL students and new ELL students benefit both parties; the honor students received credit for their efforts and the new students were given the support they needed to make a successful transition. In addition to the ELL mentorship program, Carmela Morelli helped design and implement a peer mediation program at Lynnwood in order to deescalate conflicts between students and to negate the potential detrimental impact on academic achievement. Ms. Morelli found that the overall impact on the school climate was positive, and she observed that many students who may not have gotten involved in school activities formed a conn