No wonder she's been chosen for the Santa Clara County Teacher of the Year Award.

Heading up the resource team at Lakeside School in Los Gatos, Greenstein is also the special services coordinator, which provides her the opportunity to teach, mentor and test children with special needs.

Greenstein is modest about the award, which will be given to her during a ceremony on Sept. 23 at Santa Clara University. Only a select few at the school know of her nomination, which was issued last year by the school's superintendent, who has since retired.

"I'm shocked to win the award," says Greenstein. "I am excited, because I know it's an honor, but I also don't want to tell anybody. I guess I'm humble about it."

Instead of talking about her award, Greenstein would much rather talk about her school and its programs for children.

"I am very busy creating new programs and writing grants," says Greenstein, who last year wrote a grant to provide an entire class with handheld word processors. "That's what I do. I get an idea and then bring in the resources."

A teacher for 23 years, Greenstein is going on her sixth year at Lakeside. Although her duties are more diverse now, she has always taught within resource education. Originally from Massachusetts, Greenstein attended Leslie University to begin work on a psychology degree, which quickly changed into an education degree with special needs as a focus.

After graduation, Greenstein taught in Michigan for several years, then moved to England. While in the U.K., she learned a valuable lesson about special needs children—that they fare far better when included in, not isolated from, mainstream schools.

This knowledge would eventually set the course for the rest of her teaching career, with its focus on inclusion, positive discipline and awareness of emotional intelligence.

Moving back to the states to live in California, Greenstein quickly enrolled in St. Mary's College in Moraga to attain her teaching credential, then taught for a now-defunct district in the East Bay before coming to Lakeside School.

Since her tenure began at Lakeside, Greenstein has been trying to change the face of resource education. By going into "regular" classrooms to teach subjects and support children, she has transcended her role as a resource teacher and decreased the sense of exclusion often experienced by teachers and students in resource programs. She also does extensive mentoring work with teachers, helping instill a "positive discipline" program as well as doing intervention work.

Greenstein cites intervention, in conjunction with associated tutoring and homework clubs, as the reason the school does not have a large amount of resource children. "We fully support the kids from early on, so not as many need the resource program," she says. "I want the kids to be involved and feel part of the school. It is very important and beneficial for the children to feel like part of the community and to do well."

Even beyond her methods and materials, Greenstein believes that being supportive of both children and teachers is of utmost importance. "You need to be flexible, because in teaching you are constantly going to be changing and learning."