Casey Cuny

“To be a student in my classroom is to feel seen, safe, challenged, and empowered to learn.” This is the way that Honors English teacher, Casey Cuny, describes his teaching environment. His students describe it as, “fun, educational, and challenging.”

Students in Mr. Cuny’s class have power, and his class is alive with discussion, shared thinking, and multiple opportunities to show mastery. “Probing questions” on the white board allow students to elaborate their answers with a partner before writing their responses, and Socratic seminars give them an opportunity to support their thinking in small group discussions with one another, while using evidence from their texts. All the while, Mr. Cuny circulates as he prods, questions, summarizes, and encourages conversation. The way he puts it, “I don’t teach English – I teach kids to master English.”

Mr. Cuny strives to build a positive and healthy culture on his campus where teachers feel supported and kids feel safe, seen, and empowered to grow. Noting that school culture is complex, he works every day to make an impact, by saying good morning to every student he passes, creating an inclusive classroom, attending events like theater or basketball games, supporting the Wellness center, and sponsoring numerous clubs in his room at lunch.

As a 13-year-old cancer survivor, Casey remembers reluctantly returning to school in a wheelchair. When he entered his classroom, everyone was wearing a hat with “CUNY” in neon lettering on it, as they cheered and embraced him. He believes that moment may have saved his life. From then on, he felt a need to do something to give back and help others. This life changing experience ignited a desire in him to become a teacher. He explains, “I encounter so many kids every year who are experiencing their own trauma, and I endeavor to help them—to be their champion.” Casey is now on the registry at UCLA Medical to meet with teenage cancer patients, and in the common threads of these transformative experiences he sees that teaching goes well beyond the classroom.

While many of his students say that Mr. Cuny has had a great impact on their lives, “What they don’t realize,” he says, “is the profound impact they have had on mine.”