Teachers

14th March, 2021 by Aaron S. (G11)

In January 2021, Jeff Cordeiro, Grade 11 US history teacher at KISJ, received a certificate of recognition as an educator from University of Chicago (UChicago) due to his proficient teaching skills and leadership.

In recent years, two KISJ alumnus went to UChicago, one of the most prestigious universities in the US. Then, UChicago student Jason Moon, class of 2020 student graduated from KISJ, recommended Mr. Cordeiro to UChicago for an outstanding educator. Followed by Jason Moon’s recommendation, UChicago awarded Mr. Cordeiro for his excellence in teaching and mentorship. Then, he received a paper certificate and a crystal trophy with a UChicago logo on it.

Then, what makes Mr. Cordeiro an outstanding educator? With 30 years of teaching career, Mr. Cordeiro pursues another way of teaching. “Students have different dreams, different interests, different strengths and weaknesses and most importantly, different ways that they learn best”, Mr. Cordeiro said. This means that Mr. Cordeiro does not pursue a “one size fits all” approach, which is uniquely different from other teachers at KISJ. While a typical educator usually leads the class by teaching materials, he gives students ownership and voice, so that students can lead the class. For example, in semester 2, Grade 11 students are doing an independent presentation project where they teach other students about an antebellum era, civil war era, and slavery. Basically, students are receiving one full class period to teach other students. They are making presentations and classroom activities that can improve the historical knowledge. Overall, grade 11 students are satisfied with the project. Grade 11 Robin L. said, “Not only independent presentation project helped me to learn deeply about history of slavery in America, but also it helped me to improve my communication skills since I have to teach other students in the classroom.” In Cordeiro's classroom, he does more than teaching; he emphasizes collaboration, work ethic, and leadership, which are DRAGONS categories.

Furthermore, in his AP United States History (APUSH) class, he adopted the “flipped classroom” format, where students are learning the content outside of class, and they are working on skills in the class. “Basically, I prepare APUSH students for the AP exam in May. In order to make my students successful on the AP exam, I teach historical skills such as document analysis and synthesis”, Mr. Cordeiro said. On average, every Junior who took Mr. Cordiero’s APUSH showed a 100% passing rate (score of 3 or higher) on the AP Exam. Indeed, APUSH students are satisfied with Mr. Cordeiro’s flipped classroom. Brian K., G11 student, said his favorite subject is APUSH, because he not only learns historical skills such as critical thinking and analysis, but also he is getting prepared for the college-level courses.

However, Mr. Cordeiro is experiencing the most difficult year in his career of teaching. Due to the pandemic, KISJ is adopting strong social-distancing policies. Even more, from December 2020 to February 2021, KISJ adopted reduced capacity where students are going to school or having virtual classes based on their grade levels. Furthermore, there were many half-days compared to other years, due to unexpected covid cases and reduced capacity. This led faculties to experience hardship in making progress. For example, APUSH students are behind in terms of content compared to past APUSH students. “Compared to past APUSH students, we are about 2 chapters behind. This led me to push students forward to ensure time for mock test”, Mr. Cordeiro said.

Despite these hardships, Mr. Cordeiro is still satisfied with the class of 2022 students. “I’m glad to see young men are working hard to prepare for college and beyond”, Mr. Cordeiro said. Unfortunately, after this year, Mr. Cordeiro is retiring from teaching. He had been teaching US History for almost 30 years with extraordinary passion and leadership. KISJ students are saddened to know that he is leaving. Grade 12 Daniel L. said, “He had been the best teacher and mentor in my life. I’m expected to see his commencement speech.” As an award tells us, Mr. Cordeiro will be remembered as an outstanding educator who showed extraordinary passion and leadership.