Joan Gillman is a devoted science teacher at The Browning School. With over 43 years in education, she has spent her life helping students grow through hands-on lessons, environmental projects, and kindness. She has also been honored as the “Most Inspiring Science Educator of the Year 2025” by CToday Awards. Joan believes every child deserves a chance to shine and has built her teaching career on compassion, inclusion, and helping students understand and improve the world around them.

Early Inspiration and Teaching Values & Learning Through Experience and Rising to Challenges

Joan’s love for teaching started in high school. As part of a community service program, she volunteered to teach younger students. She taught music, helped with math, and created playground games that included everyone. She also taught swimming to special needs children and led dance classes. These early experiences taught her how important it is to support every child and make learning joyful and fair.

While earning her Master’s degree, Joan worked with deaf students and discovered how powerful hands-on learning could be. She carried that experience into her classrooms, making science interactive and meaningful. Early in her career, while teaching in the South Bronx, she faced the challenge of students reading at very different levels. To support them, she created separate reading groups to meet each child’s needs. Later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she turned her kitchen into a science lab and shared supply lists with families so students could keep learning from home. No matter the challenge, Joan always found creative ways to make learning possible for every student.

Embracing Innovation and Earning Recognition

Joan’s teaching journey began with chalkboards, but today she uses SmartBoards, Chromebooks, and learning platforms such as  Seesaw, Google Classroom, and Canvas. Though technology was new to her at first, she embraced it fully and now plays a key role in helping her school apply the NGSS science standards. She believes that tools like AI should support learning, not replace it. Her dedication to growth and innovation hasn’t gone unnoticed. Joan has received many honors, including “Top Educator of the Year 2025” from the International Association of Top Professionals. Her work has been featured in top publications such as Forbes and National Digest,  and she has contributed to several books and journals focused on science education.

Planting Seeds of Change: Joan’s Lasting Impact Through Environmental Action and Compassionate Teaching

At The Browning School, Joan leads the Green Team, encouraging students to care for the environment and take action in their community. Her students clean up Central Park, raise funds for causes like water access, and organize events like Biodiversity Week. One of their projects raised over $1,000 for Water.org. She also teaches about climate change and justice, helping students understand real-world problems and inspiring them to find solutions. For Joan, the greatest reward isn’t the recognition, it’s watching her students grow into thoughtful, confident learners. Her work shows that with care, creativity, and heart, teachers can truly change lives and shape a better future one student at a time.