SWAMPSCOTT — Two Swampscott teachers have been recognized as the district’s educators of the year.
Mike Citino, a teacher at Hadley Elementary School, and Catie Porter, an elementary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) coordinator, were recently named the Swampscott Education Association (SEA) Educators of the Year.
The SEA is the teachers’ union and educators given the annual award are nominated and chosen by their peers.
“Mr. Citino and Ms. Porter are excellent choices as SEA Educators of the Year,” said Superintendent Pamela Angelakis in an email. “Mr. Citino has been a stalwart at the elementary level and Ms. Porter has played a leading role in enhancing STEM education in the district. We congratulate them on this well-deserved honor.”
Citino, 56, has been teaching for 35 years. He has spent 32 years in Swampscott Public Schools, with 27 of those at Hadley School. He is retiring in November. He has an undergraduate degree from Suffolk University and a master’s degree from Salem State University.
“I was really surprised,” Citino said. “I felt honored that my colleagues thought I was worthy of that kind of award.”
Citino said he came to Swampscott as a sixth grade teacher. He said he worked his way down to first and second grade, the two grades he loves the most.
He said he would group his first and second grade classes. He would teach first grade and then teach second grade the next year, following his students. He would then go back to teaching first grade again and repeat the process.
Citino said that is a great way to gain more teaching time, as he and the kids already know each other the second year and the students don’t have to be taught classroom rules or routines again. That way, he said, they are able to start working right away and the beginning of the second year feels more like the kids have just been off for a long weekend, rather than a whole summer.
Citino said the two grades are his favorite because he laughs every day at school, and he sees the growth in little kids each day.
“You could be having the worst day ever and you come to school and kids make you laugh, and it turns your day around,” Citino said. “It’s just amazing for that to happen. Kids do that for you. They make everything OK.”
But Citino said he knew it was time for him to retire — he is ready to move on and do other things, and wanted to leave when he’s still doing a great job.
Porter, 36, started teaching seventh grade science at Swampscott Middle School in 2003, after graduating from Gordon College, with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and chemistry. She taught at the middle school until November 2015 and then switched into the elementary STEM consulting position. She also works a stipend position as a middle school curriculum coordinator.
Porter said her two roles allow her to get a K-8 perspective of the science curriculum. She said the district is currently writing and implementing science units for the new Massachusetts science standards across all grades, referring to the 2016 MA Science and Technology/Engineering standards, and that she is focusing on K-4.
She said teachers are currently getting together and writing lesson plans to bring these new standards into the district, and as STEM coordinator, she is providing teachers with guidance, which includes coaching and instruction. She said she took on her new position because she knew these new standards were coming out and that elementary teachers would need help to implement.
Porter said she was shocked to be named Educator of the Year. She said she views the award as a tribute to the elementary teachers because without their acceptance and hard work, she would not have been successful in her current role.
“I was so incredibly honored by it because I think teachers are the hardest working people that exist,” Porter said. “For them to select me as a representative of a hard worker is a real honor.”
