By Khalida Sarwari
For Josh Pizzica, most days start off with a 15-mile bike ride–and that’s before his real job begins. Once he’s done teaching eighth-graders at Monroe Middle School, he gets back on his bike and takes an even longer route home. To save time, he gets dressed at school.
Pizzica’s matchless energy seems to be paying off. The Santa Clara County Office of Education this month named him one of its teachers of the year.
“I was really surprised my school selected me,” said Pizzica, 37. “I kind of had in mind the kind of person who wins this award, and I don’t really see myself fitting that profile.”
Pizzica and the other teachers of the year were selected by their school districts based on their “dedication to students, classroom skill and commitment to lifelong learning.”
“He has high expectations for student behavior and academics, and he creates a classroom environment in which students are supported to meet these expectations. He values the relationships with students, and he works to connect science instruction to real life situations,” reads a statement about Pizzica on the Monroe Middle School website.
Pizzica was initially nominated for the award by Monroe principal Dawnel Sonntag and assistant principal Ted Cribari. Several factors contributed to their decision.
After learning about Carol Dweck’s research on growth mindset theory, Pizzica was inspired to integrate what he had learned in his lesson plans. Pizzica said he spends much of his time reading and researching articles on different subjects and then applying his knowledge in the classroom and sharing with other teachers. Just a few weeks after the last day of school, he had already come up with plans for the upcoming school year.
“I’ve been reading about behavior analysis and getting kids more motivated and focused, so that’s what I’m going to work on,” he said.
Pizzica is also on a couple of committees at school, including the Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID, for which he is an on-site coordinator, and the Positive Behavior Intervention Support, a program that acknowledges students for positive behavior in the classroom.
This summer, Pizzica is teaching a math class at Monroe offered through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation that is designed to prepare students for eighth-grade algebra. Outside of summer school, he teaches eighth-grade science and an AVID class that helps kids that are underrepresented in colleges, either for racial or economic reasons, prepare for and succeed in college.
“It’s always challenging and never boring,” he said of his job. “I’ve been doing this for 12, 13 years, and every year I get excited about something I could do better.”
Before coming to Monroe in 2006, Pizzica taught at middle schools in the Monterey area. He received his teaching credential from Humboldt State University.
Pizzica and his wife, a school psychologist and behavior analyst, live in the Santa Cruz Mountains with their two children–5-year-old son Hayes and 3-year-old daughter Gianna. He dedicates his weekends to his family and his other love, competitive bike racing.
Pizzica will be recognized at the 43rd annual Teacher Recognition Celebration on Sept. 27.
