You Are Special: Rebecca Center

Rebecca Center was one of 23 Framingham School employees honored at the 23rd Annual Salute to Framingham.

The annual Salute program recognizes Framingham teachers and staff who go the extra mile to make each day “special” in our public schools. These teachers and staff are given a “You Are Special” designation and are publicly recognized as part of the Salute to Framingham.

Editor’s note: Framingham Patch is publishing all 23 honorees profiles between now and the end of the school year, so the community can recognize the employee. Below is the profile of Center as it was read to the sold-out crowd of more than 500 people on Thursday, March 26.

Click here to view all the profiles published on Framingham Patch in 2015.

***

The name Rebecca Center is synonymous with literacy at Barbieri School. She has worked at Barbieri for almost 20 years. Rebecca began as a kindergarten teacher in the Two-Way program.

She was one of the first people to learn of the Lesley College initiative then known as ELLI, later named the Literacy Collaborative. She persuaded then Barbieri Principal, Peter Dittami, to fund her training as the first literacy coach in the district.

Since then, Rebecca has become the personification of early literacy expertise in both English and Spanish. She has provided training and graduate course instruction for countless teachers both at Barbieri and in the district. While serving as a part-time coach, she has always maintained classroom teaching responsibilities in kindergarten, grade 1, grade 3 and now as a K/1 English language development teacher.

Never one to be content with the status quo, Rebecca brings passion, intelligence, curiosity and love to her teaching and coaching. She is fully committed to the ideals of dual language education and to the benefits of teaching children in a diverse learning environment. Rebecca has established a private non-profit organization, Under the Same Moon, which provides materials and teacher training to an elementary school in Guatemala. She travels there each summer to train and coach and collects shoes, clothes and sports equipment to send to the students there.

She does a significant part of the fund-raising herself by selling jewelry and other items made by indigenous people from the towns near the school. Funds also go to buy stoves to replace the open wood cooking fires used in many local homes.

Despite her knowledge, experience, expertise and accomplishments, Rebecca remains humble, pushing her own practice and respecting the practice of those with whom she works.

She is the epitome of a life-long learner.

Rebecca Center - You Are Special!