Star of the Sea Teacher Up for History Teacher of the Year

For the second year in a row Paul Ignagni is up for an award related to his teaching. He is a history teacher at .

Ignagni often dresses the part for his classroom, sporting an outfit that would have been worn by whomever he is teaching about in their respective time period.

Not only does he talk about the tradtional textbook issues, but he also shares with students the behind-the-scenes day-to-day life. He might explain and demonstrate how a soldier set up his bed to sleep or how meals were prepared, he said.

"It really adds to the class," Ignagni said. "These are things they can identify with. It sort of hooks them because they can identify with it."

Ignagni's former student teacher, Rachel Schreiber, nominated Ignagni for the History Teacher of the Year award with the Guilder Lehrman Institute for American History. The institute has individual state winners each year as well as one national winner.

The results are yet to come but Ignagni is humbled and honored to be considered, he said. His goal is simply to engage his seventh and eighth grade students and impart his passion of history onto them.

Most of his students appreciate the slightly off-the-beaten path focus, he said, but he does encounter students who care only about the details offered by the textbook and what topics will be on a test.

Last year, Ignagni was also honored by the Michigan Daughters of American Revolution as the Michigan Outstanding Teacher of the Year. Both nominations have been a pleasant surprise, he said, especially to get them two years in a row.

The 44-year-old Grosse Pointe Farms resident has always had a passion for history. He actively participated in historical reinactments, including a large event in Algonac involving the French and Native Americans, an annual event at Stony Creek Metropark and more.

His own experiences are what brought him to teaching history in a classroom using non-traditional methods, he said, explaining the first example that caught his attention was a class in the U.S. Marine Corps about its history. The teacher dressed in a uniform that was time-appropriate to the period he was teaching about for the day, Ignagni said.

Then the idea surfaced again while he was working in Greenfield Village performing historical reinactments as part of the organization's educational outreach. He recalls being able to see how young people would engage more when witnessing a historically accurate portrayal of an every day event, he said.

Ignagni earned his degree in history from Wayne State University and then his teaching certificate from University of Detroit Mercy. In addition to teaching history, he teaches geography and a section of religion.

He will find out in May about whether he earned the award.