Each month, iParenting.com spotlights a teacher who inspires and moves us, who embodies the qualities that we all admire in a person, a man or woman and a teacher. Above all, the Teacher of the Month is dedicated to his or her students. Rich or poor, famous or not, he or she shines as an example of what teaching is all about.

Our choice for April is Frank Zissis, a teacher at Chartiers Valley Intermediate School in Pittsburg, Pa.!

If you were a fourth grade student – or any grade student for that matter – you would want Frank Zissis as your teacher. Trust me on this one.

Lucky students at Chartiers Valley Intermediate School (for grades 3 through 5) in Pittsburg, Pa., know this all too well. For the last seven years, Zissis has taught fourth grade students (he teaches all subjects) and has made a lasting impression on them. How could he not? Not only is he creative, fun and cool, he is romantic (read on!) and genuinely cares about his students.

Love Letters
Zissis proposed to his wife, Ellen, a first grade teacher in the same school district, over the P.A. system at the school and held a special "kids" wedding where 65 of their students attended. The couple then held a reception for the kids at Chuck E. Cheese, where the newlyweds came dressed in their wedding attire and had cupcakes and game tokens for the kids.

This was a special way to include the kids in their wedding (they also had an "adult" wedding). After all, Zissis and Ellen began dating after they decided their classes would become pen pals. After weekly letters and a couple of class outings together – to ride amusement rides and attend a baseball game – they got to know each other.

"Each time our classes did something together, we became better friends," says Zissis. "Meanwhile, my mentor had decided from the first time she saw Ellen and me together that we should be married, and she wasn't shy about telling us we should be dating. She is known as a very persuasive person! Ellen and I were dating by the end of the school year and got married the next year."

The two teachers now have two sons, ages 2 and 5 months, and regularly attend school functions together with their boys.

Supporting Students and Troops
Ian and Caitlin Griffen, ages 11 and 13, both had Mr. and Mrs. Zissis for teachers. Their parents work for an airline, and on September 11, their dad was stranded in Frankfort and their mom, who held a position in safety, was tracking airplanes. "Everyone else was picking up their kids and I didn't know where my parents were," says Ian Griffen. "I was really scared. Mr. and Mrs. Z made sure my sister and I were OK. My dad was stranded for a week, and I felt better knowing Mr. Z was there for me if I needed anything."

Later, Griffen's mom asked Mr. Z if he would let the students make posters to put on the CRAF (Civil Reserve Air Fleet) flights that were bringing soldiers back home from Iraq. "We made 25 posters in two days thanking the soldiers," says Griffen. "My mom wrote an article about the kids and the posters that were used on the aircraft. The soldiers really appreciated the welcome home posters."

When Zissis is asked for other examples when he's really felt like he helped a student, he recounts the year when he had a child who moved into his classroom after being taken away from his family. Later in the year, the boy moved on to another foster family and was upset to leave his new friends at the school. "Since the boy was a big Pittsburg Steelers fan, I arranged to have a friend, Craig Wolfley, who is a former Steeler, visit the classroom as a special guest at the boy's 'going away party,'" says Zissis. "Craig signed autographs for the entire class and brought the boy a football signed by many pro athletes."

Several weeks later, Zissis got a letter from the boy saying it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for him. "I was happy that I could make a hard situation a little less frightening for him," says Zissis.

Class Wizard
Though he is humble when asked of his strengths, one thing Zissis is proud of is when he was at one of his student's soccer games and a mother came up and thanked him. "She told me that her son had always hated reading and was not very good at it as a result," he says. "For Christmas, her son asked for all of the Harry Potter books. She and her husband were shocked and thrilled. It was the first time their son had taken any interest in reading at all."

Griffen says Zissis is a great teacher because he loves computers and science, and he makes reading fun and interesting – by reading Harry Potter in class. "He is a bigger kid than we are!" says Griffen.

Zissis agrees that his favorite part of the day is science, because he enjoys the experiments as much as the kids do, though he jokes that he also loves lunch. He and his class built a computer and they made a project out of Jell-O, jellybeans and Whoppers.

According to Griffen, Zissis motivates students to read by using the computer as a reward. Students take a quiz to show they read and understood a book. If they get 30 points and their work done, then they are able to sign up to use the computer at the end of the day. "We also played door trivia," says Griffen. "We would get Z-bucks to use as points to buy pencils, erasers, lunch and more. Mr. Z is a great teacher, very caring and patient. We also had a gecko in our class."

Two other students, Evan and Jake, agree that Zissis is cool because he makes school fun. They get to do lots of fun stuff from having popcorn parties to making egg-breaking machines.

Zissis says teaching can be tough today and kids come to school with more problems than ever. "A good teacher has to be able to help the child through hard times outside of the classroom so he or she can focus on learning while in school," he says.

Apparently, Zissis is doing just that.

"The best thing about Mr. Z is that you can tell him if something is bothering you and he'll make it right," says Evan. "That's the best way a teacher can be."

Want to see more?

• Know someone who deserves recognition for being a great teacher? Nominate him or her!
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• The Anxious Child: Raising a Healthy Child in a Frightening World
• On the Move: Helping Children Adjust to Moving and Relocating
• Keepi ng Science Fair Projects Fair: How to Help Your Child Without Exhausting Yourself
• Talk about it!