Mrs. Sellitti Nomination Letter for 2018 Maryland GT Award

Mrs. Sellitti is the 5 th grade English and social science teacher in MCPS Cold Spring ES Center for Enriched Study, used to be called Highly Gifted Center.

In the last ~30 years, her extraordinary experience, knowledge, and passion has shaped more than a generation of gifted students from the local community.

This nomination has been urged by many parents of her students.

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It is a human nature that we admire a wonder when it first appears in front of us and when it is there for years, we would probably ignore it. Mrs. Sellitti is such a wonder, an undoubted leader in GT education. 

In this decade, it is quite unpopular to advocate for GT education. Instead, one-size-fits- all and watering down are the main theme for various curricula in order to artificially close the achievement gap. Such a practice does have negative consequences on GT education. One of these negative consequences is that within MCPS, majority of gifted students entering the gifted program have not been properly trained in writing  even though their math and reading are advanced.

Mrs. Sellitti understands the great importance of addressing the writing deficiency and has taken initiatives in the center. One initiative is to graded students’ writing based on individual’s writing level. The goal is to get a student to see his/her own progress early and then, they can be motivated to make further progress. To me, it is clear that her initiatives are effective. One of the students benefit greatly from Mrs. Sellitti’s initiatives is my daughter who proudly earned her first “A+” in writing last month. Hopefully, some of Mrs. Sellitti’s initiatives can be formally taken into MCPS curriculum.

There is no doubt that the climax of Mrs. Sellitti’s leadership in GT education / community outreach is her infamous annual 5 th grade Shakespeare play, which is slightly abridged / adapted version of the original Shakespeare play.

Each year, the preparation of the play is a month long excitement among students. Parents are extremely supportive. Mrs. Sellitti is the conductor of this big orchestra, ~60 5 th grade center students and parent volunteers. She has been overseeing great number of matters from play script, costume, to many details in multiple rehearsals.

The play is only ~2 hour long. But, it lasts much longer in the memory of students and parents.

In the last decade, the play has been a feast for the community and a great show case of GT education.