Ms. Capuano is honored
04/02/2025Ms. Dana Capuano was honored at Xavier High School’s “Xavier Educator Awards” on Tuesday, April 1, 2025. These awards recognize, thank, and honor teachers who played an influential role in the personal and intellectual development of a Xavier student.
Petro Novosad, The Epiphany School Class of 2024, wrote the following essay about his middle school ELA teacher Ms. Dana Capuano.
Here is Petro’s essay, enjoy!
MEMOIRS FROM MS. CAPUANO’S CLASS
by Petro Novosad
My unique and most favorite teacher is Ms. Capuano, who taught me English in fifth and sixth grade at The Epiphany School, which I attended from fourth grade to eighth grade. She was a strict teacher who made you choose whether you would try to be on her good side, which I guess I was, or on her bad side. Ms. Capuano would still occasionally encourage fun in between her strictness. Ms. Capuano brought her own ideas and views and shared them with us when we learned about new topics or read books which expanded our views as well as our understanding of the world around us. She would use her own teaching methods such as using songs and tiny repetitive worksheets and quizzes. Ms. Capuano even made us practice cursive to help us write and take notes quicker which isn’t required in the New York State school curriculum.
The books that Ms. Capuano used as part of her syllabus were ones carefully chosen that allowed us to really understand the world around us. We read books like Esperanza Rising, Bud Not Buddy, and Number the Stars where Ms. Capuano would bring history, her Christian morals, and ELA together. We would have deep and thoughtful discussions about the books along with her unique point of view. These weren’t just some random middle school level books just to give us work; they contained the thoughts and points of view of people in different periods in time as well as in different social classes from those in poverty to those in wealth. The assignments that we were given to us as we were reading the books weren’t just tests and worksheets. We would also complete projects and make creative videos which we really had to use our creativity along with an in-depth understanding of the book to complete them; this was unique compared to any other teacher that I ever had.
Some of my life lessons I have learned weren’t occasionally directly through Ms. Capuano but her choice of books and her interpretations of lessons in them changed my perspective of the world. Ms. Capuano also appreciated when you put in the extra effort in an assignment or project. This aided me in learning the value of putting work and effort into something. Ms. Capuano was strict and paid attention to details, like making sure students sat up straight. During the COVID-19 time period, Ms. Capuano strictly made sure that everyone followed the guidelines correctly for everyone to be safe. She would make sure that masks were covering noses and mouths and that students were social distancing as well as maintaining good hygiene habits.
Ms. Capuano was mostly serious, but she also encouraged fun. Ms. Capuano used songs to help us remember grammar rules as well as consistent small quizzes that we took to remember vocabulary words. We also listened to songs that were connected to the books we read to understand more of the themes and lessons expressed through other ways. We sometimes listened to them on Friday as a nice start to the weekend. This was also to make sure that we remembered the fundamentals of what we were learning.
The lesson that Ms. Capuano left, which impacted me, was that you must first focus your complete energy on your work, your etiquette, your posture, and your mindset. After you have completed everythingthat is required of you, you may relax and enjoy yourself. The smaller lesson connected to the previous one that I have learned is to put as much effort as possible into the work in front of you. By doing so, you display the best of yourself, and you will be much more appreciated and respected. Lastly, life lessons thatI have learned through Ms. Capuano’s reading book choices allowed me to change my perspective on the world around me and be more open minded.
