Christmas came about a month early for Connie Joseph, who teaches fifth grade at Cornell Elementary School.

	Tony Tye, Post-Gazette Connie Joseph, a teacher at Cornell Elementary School, was among 300 teachers honored during an Oprah Winfrey show just before Thanksgiving. Click photo for larger image.

And instead of Santa delivering her presents, it was another very famous person with a five-letter first name -- Oprah.

Joseph, of Scott, traveled to Chicago last month with her sister-in-law, Lori Joseph, of Mt. Lebanon, also a teacher. They joined nearly 300 of their colleagues on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," as part of a program saluting what Oprah called "the most honorable profession."

The show was taped Nov. 20 and broadcast two days later. It was rebroadcast again last week.

"All we knew ahead of time was that she was doing a show about education," Joseph said. "We were talking in line among ourselves before the show that we [teachers] have a lot to talk about with our profession, but we could not imagine Oprah devoting an entire program about it."

Oprah opened her show with a very bland studio set, which was the first clue for the teachers that something special was about to happen. She showed video clips about her support for education and then announced that it was one of her "Favorite Things" shows, where prizes are awarded to the audience.

To the screaming delight of Joseph and her sister-in-law, Oprah began showering everyone with presents.

Winfrey said on the show that she'd be teaching if she had not become involved in television and gave presents to each teacher. "These are things a teacher's salary can't afford," Winfrey said.

The gifts Joseph received included a Burberry jacket worth $335; a matching cashmere scarf worth $225; a 30-inch Dell television set, a Maytag Neptune washer and dryer; a designer sweat suit valued at $40; jeans; a laptop computer; a duffel bag; bubble bath; champagne glasses and a round trip for two to a Tucson, Ariz, spa.

Neither Winfrey nor the producers of the show paid for the gifts. Carly Ubersox, show spokeswoman said, "Oprah selects these gifts as her favorites, then the individual companies are invited to provide them as gifts for the audience.''

Joseph said she saw herself briefly when the show as broadcast Nov. 22.

But she was not the only family member to be featured on television that day.

Her daughter, Lauren, 9, was featured as a dancer on "Pittsburgh Today," which was broadcast live at 9 o'clock that morning.

"I had taken the day off school so I could go with my daughter to the KDKA studios, where she was one of several dancers to perform," Joseph said. "I called the school and told all of my children and co-workers to watch me on the Oprah show."

Joseph said it was an exciting event but a busy weekend. She arrived in Chicago on Friday night and returned Sunday.

The audience had to sign a confidentiality agreement so no one would divulge what happened on the Oprah show until it was broadcast at 4 o'clock that Monday afternoon.

"It was very hard not saying anything, because we carried many of our gifts home on the plane," Joseph said.

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