An beginner magician-turned-Lengthy Island instructor who has been pulling each trick out of the hat to encourage college students simply scored the “Oscar of Educating.’’
John Melandro, a third- and fifth-grade instructor at Tangier Smith Elementary College in Mastic, informed The Submit on Tuesday he had no thought he was even nominated for the celebrated Milken Educator Award and its $25,000 money prize till an bizarre college meeting final week “took a dramatic, wild, fantastic left flip.
“That day was an enormous shock to me strolling into that meeting,” mentioned Melandro, 29.
“And I feel that solely now just a few days out from it, it’s simply began to sink in about how prestigious this award is, and simply being the one one acknowledged from New York state. It’s extraordinarily humbling, and I simply couldn’t be happier about it,” he mentioned.
Melandro is the primary recipient of the award — lauded by presenters because the “Oscars of Educating” — in Suffolk’s William Floyd College District because the honor’s 1987 inception. The award was began by businessman philanthropist Lowell Milken.
Melandro can be the one educator from the Empire State to be honored this yr. The nationwide award is doled out to as many as 45 lecturers throughout the nation and restricted to only one New Yorker per tutorial yr.
Melandro has training in his blood.
The schoolteacher hails from a household of educators, together with his mom sitting because the chairperson of social research at Sachem East Excessive College, and his father, a worldwide historical past instructor, being awarded the Trainer of the Yr in Middle Moriches simply 4 months in the past.
Melandro’s dad and mom — who he credit with inspiring his love for instructing — cried upon studying that he was chosen for the 2024-25 Milken Educator Award.
“I had a front-row seat to look at a few of the finest educators rising up, and the bar was extraordinarily excessive,” Melandro mentioned. “On the finish of today, [teaching] is extra to them than only a job.”
With New York lately being lauded as the perfect state for lecturers, Melandro actually had loads of competitors to battle for the title — although his college students would beg to vary.
The little Lengthy Islanders name their instructor the “Magic Man” for capturing their consideration and fostering their love of studying by utilizing magic methods.
“I like him as a result of he’s very good, and he has a special type of instructing. He’s very distinctive the way in which he teaches,” Malaki Gillard-Burris, 10, informed The Submit.
Magic methods are a frequent incidence in Melandro’s classroom, the coed mentioned.
“Yesterday he did a magic trick the place he minimize off anyone’s finger however he didn’t really minimize it off. It was for a child’s birthday … He’s very slick — I imply his hair. His hair is slick,” Malaki mentioned.
Emma O’Neill, additionally 10, credited Melandro’s distinctive type of instructing for uplifting her to someday change into a fifth-grade instructor.
He has used magic methods to assist her and her classmates construct a stronger grasp on their math work, she defined.
“I really like how he teaches us in a enjoyable and form of straightforward method to study,” Emma mentioned.
“He does magic. As soon as he guessed what you have been pondering. You thought it in your head, and he guessed it. He did that to me. I used to be pondering a reputation — I assumed Jeremiah, and he guessed it.”
Melandro, who beloved magic when he was an elementary-school pupil himself, mentioned he resurrected the eagerness to assist inspire his college students.
He began by utilizing three easy methods: making a ball reappear out of a vase and into his pocket; guessing the cardboard his college students had picked, and making milk vanish after pouring it by means of a newspaper funnel.
However the instructor shortly realized that the three methods wouldn’t be sufficient for his youngsters, so he added extra to his repertoire — and taught them the secrets and techniques.
“I feel that it’s all the time been an awesome motivator for my college students. I do methods for them. I train the magic methods that they’ll take residence to their households. It’s nice for public talking, it’s nice to construct confidence, and it’s an awesome interest that you are able to do your complete life,” he mentioned. “So it’s actually introduced lots of these hard-to-reach youngsters into the academic course of and getting them to change into part of it. In order that’s my first draw to get you in.
“I feel that in the event you can draw them in with that, then you will get them into the true magic — the magic of studying.”
The educator’s want to assist his college students extends effectively out of the classroom, in accordance with teenager Bryan Puma.
Melandro was working as an alternative instructor three years in the past when the 9-year-old boy’s cousin was on residence instruction. The instructor went to the house to help the kid — and ended up serving to Bryan recover from his concern of the chickens within the again yard and likewise develop extra snug within the household’s 3-foot-deep pool.
“He taught me tips on how to learn — and tips on how to face my concern. My concern was rooster. He helped me carry the chickens,” Bryan defined.
“He helped me face my concern within the pool as effectively. No instructor has ever executed that for me.”
Melandro mentioned he seems to be ahead to an extended profession of inspiring future generations of scholars.
And with the $25,000 award in his pocket, the educator says he’s additionally trying ahead to splurging on his honeymoon — the accelerated instructor is getting married July 16.
Melandro mentioned he plans on squirreling some away for his Tangier Smith Elementary College college students, too — proving he was the precise decide for thus yr’s Milken Educator Award.
“I feel a few of it I’d like to offer again in a roundabout way, which I’m making an attempt to work out precisely how I’d do this,” Melandro mentioned.
“Clearly, the glory of getting this award above anything is what has meant most to me.”
