Charlotte Cosoff
Indooroopilly State High School
For Indooroopilly State High School teacher Charlotte Cosoff, connecting with her students is crucial.
When she discovered she had deaf students in her homeroom class, and that she couldn’t have the same conversations with them as she could with their peers, she made the decision to begin learning the sign language AUSLAN.
“I wanted to ask them how their weekend was and have those basic conversations with them that I did with all the other students in my home room without going through a third party translator,” the English and Business teacher says.
“Even though they can’t hear, that doesn’t mean that they are any different to any of my other students.”
Her extraordinary determination to provide the best learning opportunities for ISHS students and her commitment to help drive improvement at the school are two of the reasons she has been nominated for a Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Beginning to Teach Award.
After just one year of teaching, Charlotte has been selected to teach a NAPLAN preparation program, she has coached students in, and been the assistant-coordinator for, debating and guided the Year 10 Debating team to the QDU Grand Finals.
She also provides barista training for students and teachers as part of Year 10 Business unit which focuses on marketing.
Charlotte says that it felt exceptionally rewarding to know that all of the hard work she had been involved in was noticed.
“I work at a fantastic school where the students are completely engaged and they love learning. It makes my job so worthwhile and makes me happy to come to work to see students excited about what they can achieve in one class,” she says.
Charlotte says that her students were impressed with her efforts to learn AUSLAN and she wants to continue to take courses at the different levels.
“It really allowed me to facilitate the acceptance and recognition of people from all walks of life so I think the school has really helped me achieve my goals,” she says in regards to learning AUSLAN.
Finalists for the QCT Excellence in Teaching Awards will be announced on October 5, with the winners revealed on October 27 – the night before World Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Queensland.
Story by Joshua Pickstone
When she discovered she had deaf students in her homeroom class, and that she couldn’t have the same conversations with them as she could with their peers, she made the decision to begin learning the sign language AUSLAN.
“I wanted to ask them how their weekend was and have those basic conversations with them that I did with all the other students in my home room without going through a third party translator,” the English and Business teacher says.
“Even though they can’t hear, that doesn’t mean that they are any different to any of my other students.”
Her extraordinary determination to provide the best learning opportunities for ISHS students and her commitment to help drive improvement at the school are two of the reasons she has been nominated for a Queensland College of Teachers Excellence in Beginning to Teach Award.
After just one year of teaching, Charlotte has been selected to teach a NAPLAN preparation program, she has coached students in, and been the assistant-coordinator for, debating and guided the Year 10 Debating team to the QDU Grand Finals.
She also provides barista training for students and teachers as part of Year 10 Business unit which focuses on marketing.
Charlotte says that it felt exceptionally rewarding to know that all of the hard work she had been involved in was noticed.
“I work at a fantastic school where the students are completely engaged and they love learning. It makes my job so worthwhile and makes me happy to come to work to see students excited about what they can achieve in one class,” she says.
Charlotte says that her students were impressed with her efforts to learn AUSLAN and she wants to continue to take courses at the different levels.
“It really allowed me to facilitate the acceptance and recognition of people from all walks of life so I think the school has really helped me achieve my goals,” she says in regards to learning AUSLAN.
Finalists for the QCT Excellence in Teaching Awards will be announced on October 5, with the winners revealed on October 27 – the night before World Teachers’ Day is celebrated in Queensland.
Story by Joshua Pickstone