By:Elizabeth Sagarin
Krizel, veteran social studies educator, gets Islandwide recognition
After he didn't receive the Outstanding High School Social Studies Teacher award last May from the Long Island Council for the Social Studies, John Krizel went back to what he always does: teach.
The 30-year member of Oceanside's social studies department returned to what prompted Kevin Sheehan, chair of the high school's social studies department, to nominate him in the first place. All the while adding to the list of reasons why Sheehan believed Krizel should be nominated again.
"He had done even more extraordinary stuff," said Sheehan, who, unbeknownst to his colleague, this year submitted an updated version of the previous year's nomination. Then a few weeks ago, Krizel received a phone call from Stuart Rubin, president of the social studies council, informing him that he was this year's outstanding high school social studies teacher on Long Island.
"It was really a shock," Krizel said. "I didn't even realize I was nominated." The previous year he had known about his nomination and was happy just with that honor. To win this year came as a shock.
"He was so happy, so honored to be recognized by his peers," Rubin recalled of the phone conversation.
The Long Island council, which is the largest and most active local council affiliated with the National Council for the Social Studies and the New York State Council, consists of 1,355 professional social studies educators at elementary, secondary, college and university levels. Every year, its board of directors invites the organization's members to submit any documentation regarding a colleague they feel is deserving of recognition as an elementary, middle or high school social studies teacher.
Rubin said somewhere from five to 10 nominations were submitted for consideration in the high-school category this year.
"John was clearly head and shoulders above. The evidence was overwhelming," Rubin said.
Krizel has been a staple of the Oceanside social studies department for 30 years, teaching at every grade level as well as summer and night school. He began at the junior high school -- before the district reconfigured to have a middle school -- and taught there for 11 years, until a dip in the student population prompted the district to lay off a number of teachers.
"I was the low man on the totem pole," he said. Krizel took the layoff in stride and began training in computer programing.
Bob Sullivan, former social studies chair, called Krizel a year later, said the district needed a teacher and asked him to come back to work. It was the day after Thanksgiving, Krizel remembered, and he couldn't have been more thankful.
"I was like 'here I am, let's go,'" he said. "You don't know what you have till it's gone. When I got it back, I realized how much I like doing this."
Krizel returned to the middle school, and after four years there, he was ready for a new challenge.
"If you want to remain a teacher for 30 years, you have to challenge yourself every year," he said. He went on to write award-winning economics curricula and pioneer new courses of study within the high school.
This year, Krizel piloted a new advanced-placement global studies course with Oceanside's ninth-graders. The curriculum, which he co-wrote, has received positive nods from prominent social studies educators and gone on to be a model for schools across the nation. Next year, 150 Oceanside students are expected to take the new course, more than at any other school in New York State.
Having started as a student-teacher at a troubled school in Brooklyn, where the faculty wasn't interested in helping him become a teacher, Krizel has made it a personal mission to assure that student-teachers coming into Oceanside High School aren't neglected.
"I don't want what happened to me to happen to anyone else," he said.
Under his tutelage this year are three student-teachers from Molloy College. But, according to Sheehan, chair of the social studies department, Krizel also acts as a mentor to other teachers. He cites Krizel's meticulous and thorough notes as a valuable source of reference for teachers looking for guidance. "If you're a young teacher, John's the guy you latch onto," Sheehan said.
That's why, according to Sheehan, Krizel has been invited to a national conference on new, effective and original ways to train teachers. "I think it is our responsibility to train these people. If we don't, it's unconscionable," Krizel said.
With three of his children in the district, it's hard for Krizel to think otherwise. But he scoffs at the notion that his commitment to training capable teachers is motivated by his children. "It shouldn't matter, if you're a professional," he said.
