Educators Recognized for Their Devotion

The ensemble is made up of third-, fourth- and fifth-graders, some identified as musically gifted and others with emotional, behavioral or psychological difficulties, McCune said.

"My favorite students are those who . . . don't like music, and they don't want to do this. To me that's why I come to school every day, is to get to that child," McCune said. "It's wonderful to have extremely talented kids come in, but you think even if I left this child alone, they will probably figure this out and know what to do. The biggest reward for me is the other end of the spectrum."

He remembered how one boy could only get through the front door of the school before breaking down, unable to make it to his classroom. Officials eventually put him in McCune's class.

"He would come and have music for the hour, then he would let me walk him to his class," McCune said, adding that gradually the student stayed longer and longer in class. "Then eventually as his confidence gained, he was able to stay the whole day."

In recommendation letters, teachers, parents and administrators spoke glowingly about the effort McCune put into developing relationships with his students. One described his willingness to try new ways of reaching out, "even if it requires lying under a piano with a student."

"Mr. McCune isn't just any ordinary teacher," a former student wrote. "In my class and almost in the whole school, we have soft voices and shy expressions, but Mr. McCune teaches us to project our voices and to be more outgoing so that we can sing well."

Drawing students together to build a sense of community in the classroom was a topic both McCune and Merritt spoke about passionately.

"I'm not here for kids who are smart or kids who need extra help; it's all of them," Merritt said. "They know they are important to me."

Merritt, a grandson, son and brother of educators, did not leap directly into teaching. It took stepping into his sister's first-grade class in Prince George's County to propel the magazine editor and writer toward education as a career, he said.

"There was just a joy in her classroom," he said.

In Merritt's classroom, an oversized plush bear lounges on a wood-framed sofa, and paint-chipped bookshelves line the wall. An oriental rug covering the school's carpet has been rubbed to a fade. Merritt said he thinks that the classroom should be an extension of the home, that it should send the message that learning should be done everywhere.

On a recent Friday, his students sat at their desks, charged with the task of coloring flags. They were told to color each segment of the flag a different color and then determine how much of the whole that color occupies. In other words, do fractions.