Mission Bay High teacher Dr. Ron Lancia has been named San Diego Unified School District’s 2015 High School Teacher of the Year.
Lancia said he was “thrilled and honored” by the award but added he considers it to be more of a school and community achievement than something personal.
“This honor is the sum total of the hard work of different people: students, teachers, parents and administrators,” Lancia said. “There is absolutely no way this happens without an incredible amount of effort from the entire Mission Bay community.”
Lancia teaches English, AVID, yearbook, and IB film, and was instrumental in the creation of the ACES after-school tutoring program.
ACES (after-school center for excellence and support) provides consistent academic support Mondays through Thursdays in Mission Bay High’s library from 2:15 to 4:15 p.m. The program provides assistance in English, history, math, science and special populations, including English language learners, special education, IB and art, and access to technology resources. ACES furnishes an array of holistic services, including social-emotional support, college readiness and self-advocacy through leadership-building seminars, workshops on health-related topics and access to school counselors.
Lancia received kudos from Mission Bay High principal Ernest Remillard.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Ron and the fact he is being honored for all the work he does throughout the Mission Bay campus,” said Remillard.
Earlier this school year, Lancia was selected by his peers as the Mission Bay High School teacher of the year. He will be recognized later this spring at a districtwide event, and will then compete for the San Diego County Teacher of the Year.
Lancia attribute much of his success to his “malleable” instructional approach.
“We have a180-day calendar year and day one is always the same, but the other 179 days are always different,” he said, adding, he “treats everyone as an individual” and is “very accepting of diversity” while “teaching every class differently.”
The Mission Bay High instructor noted technology is allowing modern students to excel and go beyond just being literate.
“Modern students have all these different kinds of intelligences that teachers can tap into to find some great results,” he said offering a “metaphor” describing student potential.
“I have 36 students in my classroom, 36 jewels, and I ask that all of them contribute in any given day,” Lancia said. “My challenge is to see that every one of those voices is heard.”
A Philadelphia native, Lancia, who has taught at Mission Bay high since 2004, noted the ACES program he fostered just passed another milestone.
“We just reached 13,000 students tutored in less than two years,” he said.