John Mason Clarke: Geologist, Palentologist, and Chalkboard Champion

Many chalkboard champions have distinguished themselves in fields other than education. Such is the case with John Mason Clarke, a secondary school teacher who also distinguished himself as a geologist and paleontologist.

John Mason Clarke was born on April 15, 1857, in Canandaigua, New York, the fifth of six children in the family of Noah Turner Clarke and Laura Mason Merrill. As a young boy, he attended Canandaigua Academy where his father was a teacher and principal. After his graduation in 1873, John enrolled in Amherst College where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1877. Following his college graduation, he returned to Canandaigua Academy to serve as an instructor. In 1879–1880, John worked as an assistant to Benjamin K. Emerson at Amherst, then he taught at the Utica Free Academy during the 1880–1881 school year. This was followed by work as an instructor at Smith College from 1881–1882, where he had been offered the position of professor. During his second year at Smith, John published his first three scientific papers, all treating the subject of arthropods.

In 1883, John traveled to Gottingen University for a brief period, and when he returned to the United States he resumed his teaching career at Massachusetts Agricultural College. Meanwhile, he continued his study of the Upper Devonian,  which he hoped to use for his dissertation. In January, 1886 he became an assistant to James Hall at the New York State Museum of Natural History in Albany, New York. He maintained an association with the museum for the remainder of his career.

In 1894 John was named a professor of geology and mineralogy at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Following the death of James Hall in 1898, this talented educator was named New York state paleontologist and was put in charge of a geological survey of New York. In 1904 he became the state geologist and paleontologist, the director of the state museum, and director of the science division of the education department. He was named the first president of the Paleontological Society in 1908, served as vice president of the Geological Society of America in 1909, and was elected president of that organization in 1916.

John M. Clarke passed away on May 29, 1925, in Albany at the age of 68. During his lengthy career he published 452 titles, of which approximately 300 treatedsubjects relted to geology or paleontology. Three genera and 42 species were named after him. He was awarded six honorary degrees and received offers from four universities to chair their departments of geology.

Chalkboard Champion and Revolutionary War Hero Timothy Bloodworth

Chalkboard champions have been as much a part of American life as any other hero since the very beginnings of our country's history. One such historical figure was North Carolina educator, patriot, and statesman Timothy Bloodworth.

Timothy was born in New Hanover County, North Carolina, in 1736. He was named after his father, who had migrated to North Carolina from Virginia in the early 1700's. As a young man, Timothy had little formal education, but he pursued a variety of careers.  Although  he spent most of his adulthood before the Revolutionary War as a teacher, he also farmed, kept a tavern, operated a ferry, practiced medicine, and preached occasionally. He also worked as a wheelwright and watchmaker, but he was probably best known as a blacksmith.

The talented educator eventually emerged as a leader in the movement for independence from Great Britain. When war broke out in 1776, Timothy began making weapons such as muskets and bayonets for the Continental Army. According to legend, he even saw combat as a sniper in fighting around Wilmington, North Carolina. In 1778 and 1779, he served as a member of the state legislature for North Carolina.

After the war ended, he held a number of political posts until serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1786. Timothy was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the First United States Congress, a position he held from 1790 to 1791. After his tenure in the House ended, he returned to the North Carolina State Legislature. In 1794, Timothy was elected to the United States Senate, where he served from 1795 to 1801. From then until 1807, this chalkboard champion served as collector of customs in Wilmington.

Timothy Bloodworth passed away on August 24, 1814. During World War II, the liberty ship SS Timothy Bloodworth was named in his honor.

Chalkboard Champion Edward Diller

Many chalkboard champions have achieved accomplishments that have earned them international attention. One such educator was Edward Diller, an author and  professor of Germanic languages and literature at the University of Oregon.

Edward was born on December 15, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the youngest of the six children of Isaac and Frieda Diller. The Dillers had immigrated to the United States in 1910 from Austria Hungary. Isaac worked in a hat factory, as did his two oldest children, Louis and Max.

During World War II, Edward served his country in the Marine Corps. When the war was over, he earned his bachelor's degree in 1953 from UCLA, his master's degree in 1954 from Cal State Los Angeles, and his doctorate in 1961 from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Edward began his teaching career when he accepted a position to teach German at Beverly Hills High School during the 1950's. During the 1960's he served as the foreign language coordinator of the Beverly Hills Unified School District. He joined the faculty of Colorado College before transferring to the University of Oregon in 1965. There he served as the director of the University of Oregon's Robert D. Clark Honors College from 1972 to 1977 and the assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts from 1974 to 1977. While a professor at Oregon, Edward won grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation for projects in film studies and for attempts to open lines of communication, especially about the humanities, between Oregon Indian tribes and white residents. Shortly before his death, he and an Oregon colleague were awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to fund summer seminars for high school teachers at the Eugene campus.

Edward was also distinguised as a resident director of the Oregon Study Center in Stuttgart, West Germany, for the 1980-1981 academic year, was elected president of the American Association of Teachers of German from 1978–1980, served on the Executive Board of the Joint National Committee for Languages from 1979–1980, and became the chairman of the Selection Committee of the Federal Republic of Germany and the US Office of Education Grants in 1979. Edward also served on the board of Trustees for the American Council on German Studies in 1977.

Furthermore, Edward was a visiting Fulbright Program Lecturer to Germany in 1967 and received a Fulbright research grant in 1977 for work in Freiburg, Germany. He was awarded a Fulbright Research Professorships in Braunschweig and Regensburg and was named Carl Schurz Visiting Professor at the University of Dortmund in 1970. An active scholar, he wrote several books, articles and book reviews, and contributed to Spanish, French, and German textbooks.

This chalkboard champion passed away in Eugene, Oregon, on March 30, 1985, at the young age of 59.

Hollywood Actress Dee Green Takes Center Stage as Beloved Music and Choir Teacher

Often times talented educators achieve success in fields other than education. One such educator was Delores Mae Green, who is better known as Dee Green. Dee was a beloved music and choir teacher who was also an acclaimed actress. In Hollywood, her claim to fame is that she worked with the Three Stooges, and she is well-known for playing the part of one of Shemp's potential brides. She was the plain, tall, and fawning Miss Fanny Dinkelmeyer in the comedy short Brideless Groom. She also portrayed the homely and unattractive fiance in I'm a Monkey's Uncle and the daughter of King Rootintootin' in Mummy's Dummies.

Dee was born on November 16, 1916, in Peoria, Illinois. After her career in show business, she earned her master's degree in music. She taught music and choir classes at Peoria Heights Grade School in Peoria Heights, Illinois, in the 1960's. Throughout the late 1970's and early 1980's she taught Language Arts and Drama at Roosevelt Junior High, which is now known as Rockford Alternative Middle School, in Rockford, Illinois. She produced annual events, including a production of Babes in Toyland and numerous elaborate Christmas pageants that included every student in the school. Dee inspired more than one student to pursue a career in theater, some of whom eventually earned success on Broadway in New York. She was often described by her students as kind and generous, and a woman of great courage, talent, and vision.

This amazing chalkboard champion passed away on April 24, 1985.

Kindergarten Teacher Sara Ware Bassett Was Also a Prolific Writer of Novels for Young Adults

Talented teachers often earn acclaim in fields other than education. One such chalkboard champion was Sara Ware Bassett, a kindergarten teacher who worked in the public schools of Newton, Massachusetts. Her career as a teacher spanned twenty years, but during these years, she was also a prolific author of books for young adults.

Sarah was born in 1872 and educated in Newton. Her family spent their summer vacations on Cape Cod. After her high school graduation, she attended the Lowell Institute of Design at MIT where she majored in textile design. She then studied writing at Radcliffe and Boston University. In her later years, she divided her time between homes in Princeton and Cape Cod.

She began her career as an author writing a series of non-fiction books for young adults. The series was entitled The Story of Lumber, The Story of Wool, etc., but it was through fiction that her talent was really evident.  Many of her novels focus on love stories and humorously eccentric characters. She wrote over forty novels for young people, most with Cape Cod as the setting. Some of these titles were Within the Harbor, Hidden Shoals, and Flood Tides. The novels usually took place in the town of Belleport, a locale which she created that seemed so real to her hundreds of readers that they could not believe it did not really exist. Many readers made pilgrimages up and down the Cape looking for it! Two of her novels were even made into movies. Her very first novel, The Taming of Zenah Henry, became the movie Captain Hurricane when it was released by RKO. The Harbor Road filmed by Universal became Danger Ahead.

During her lifetime, Sarah cut an unusual figure around town, resembling a character in an English detective novel. She dressed as one would expect Agatha Christie's character Miss Marple would have dressed, sporting tweed skirts, a man's shirt, and sensible walking shoes. She was often seen around Princeton as she conducted her daily errands at the post office or the general store.

When she passed away in 1968 at the age of 95, she left a legacy of over 500 books of her own writings and those of her contemporaries to the Boston Public Library. The collection is now part of their Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection.

Chalkboard Champion and Veteran Bob Dettmer Also Serves in Minnesota House of Representatives

Many a chalkboard champion has distinguished himself in fields other than education. One such educator is Robert P. Dettmer, a retired teacher who is a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Bob was born in 1951 on a dairy farm in Faribault, Minnesota. He attended Bemidji State University, where he graduated in 1973 with his bachelor's degree in health and physical education. He earned his master's degree in education curriculum and instruction from the University of St. Thomas.

Following his college graduation, he accepted his first position as a teacher at Forest Lake High School in Minnesota, where he taught physical education and coached wrestling. He worked there until 2007, when he retired after thirty-four years in the profession.

During Bob's tenure as Head Wrestling Coach, he accumulated a record of 399-144-2. This record ranks Bob 25th out of 321 high school wrestling coaches in the state of Minnesota. Bob also has received numerous awards as an athlete and as a coach. He was named the  NAIA National Wrestling Champion. He has also been inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame, the Bemidji State Hall of Fame, the National Wrestling Hall of Fame,and   the David Bartelma Wrestling Hall of Fame. He has also earned both High School and College Athlete of the Year awards. During his career as a wrestling coach, Bob has coached 15 individual state champions, 64 individual state place winners, 115 individual state participants, one state team champion, one fourth place, and one fifth place finish. He currently officiates high school wrestling matches for the Minnesota State High School League.

Bob is also a veteran, serving in the United States Army Reserve as a Chief Warrant Officer in the military intelligence branch. In November, 2001, he began a two-year tour of active duty supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. He also served during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was also an Army master fitness trainer for soldiers and taught many military courses for the Army. He was honored with his highest military award, The Legion of Merit, upon retirement from his twenty-five-year Army career. This award was given for exceptionally meritorious service to the United States while serving as Senior Intelligence Technician within the Military Intelligence Readiness Command.

In the Minnesota House of Representatives, Bob represents District 39A, located in the northeastern part of the Twin Cities Metro area. He was elected in 2006 to fill the open seat vacated by Representative Ray Vandeveer, who had made a bid for higher office that year. Bob was re-elected in 2008, 2010, and 2012. In the Minnesota House, this chalkboard champion focuses on the issues of education, health care reform, economic growth, transportation, veterans' issues, and public safety.

 

Chalkboard Hero Michael Landsberry of Sparks, Nevada

Yesterday the entire educational community was saddened to learn of yet another school shooting. This one occurred when a twelve-year-old junior high school student opened fire on his classmates on a playground at Sparks Middle School in Sparks, Nevada. As a result of the shooting, our profession lost a highly respected and beloved chalkboard champion, math teacher Michael Landsberry. The teacher was shot in the chest at point blank range while attempting to persuade the student to lay down his weapon. He had stepped between the shooter and a student at which the gunman was taking aim. Two other students were hit before the shooter turned the gun on himself. Because the teacher distracted the gunman enabling many students on the playground to flee to safety, he is credited with saving as many as thirty students' lives.

 

Michael Landsberry earned his bachelor's degree in education from Nevada State University, Reno, in 2001. The forty-five-year-old had been a member of the Nevada Air National Guard and a former corporal in the Marines who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan. He leaves behind a wife and two stepdaughters.

Olive Mann Isbell: The Chalkboard Champion of the Mexican-American War

A little-known figure in California history is educator Olive Mann Isbell, who is credited as being the first teacher in a school conducted in English in California. In 1846, when Olive was only 22 years old, she and her husband, Dr. Isaac Isbell, traveled west by wagon train. The territory had recently been severed from Mexico, and the Isbells arrived just as the Mexican army was poised to attack in an attempt to reclaim the land.

Olive and over two hundred American women and children were barricaded inside Mission Santa Clara de Asis, while the men were quickly drafted to defend the dilapidated fort. Inside the shelter, Olive, sensing the anxiety of the children, decided to organize a school to occupy their attention. The newly-arrived pioneer was well-suited to this work, being the niece of the famous educator Horace Mann and an experienced teacher from her home state of Ohio. When  Mexico finally laid down their arms and signed a truce with the United States on January 3, 1847, Olive's Santa Clara Mission School became recognized as the first American school on California soil. This mission school property now belongs to the University of Santa Clara.

You can read more about this amazing educator in Women Trailblazers of California: Pioneers to the Present, available on amazon. I have also included a chapter about this remarkable teacher in my book, Chalkboard Champions, available from amazon.com.

Turn-of-the-Century Chalkboard Champions Found Homes for New York City Orphans

Have you ever heard of the Orphan Trains? During the early years of the 20th century, there were literally thousands of homeless children living aimlessly on the streets of New York City. The Children's Aid Society (CAS), an organization which still exists to benefit children today, developed a method for finding loving and wholesome homes for many of these children. The CAS organized small groups of children to be transported west and placed them in foster homes on farms and in rural communities. To care for these children, the CAS recruited teachers to escort them, conduct background checks on the prospective foster parents, and make periodic checks on the children's progress. One such teacher was Clara Comstock, born in 1879 in Hartsville, New York.

Andrea Warren has documented the phenomena of the Orphan Trains very diligently in her book, We Rode the Orphan Trains, available through amazon.com. You can also read a chapter about teacher Clara Comstock in Chalkboard Champions.

First Lady of Idaho Lori Easley Otter: Chalkboard Champion, Author, and Beauty Pageant Queen

Many chalkboard champions have earned recognition for successes outside of the field of education. One such amazing educator is Lori Easley Otter, the First lady of Idaho. This former teacher and administrator is married to current Governor C. L. "Butch" Otter.

Lori was born in Pensacola, Florida, in 1967, the youngest of four children in a military family. In the 1970's, her family moved to Idaho when her father retired from the U.S. Navy. Lori graduated from Kimberly High School, and then enrolled in Boise State University, where she earned her teaching degree in education and physical education, with minors in health and English. She earned her master's degree in curriculum and instruction, and educational administration from Northwest Nazarene University in 2004. She spent two years as an administrator.

Lori taught physical education, health, and English at both the elementary and secondary levels for the Meridian School District in Meridian, Idaho. She also coached girls basketball and volleyball at the junior high and high school levels for thirteen years. This athletic educator also runs marathons, plays tennis, and is an accomplished equestrienne.

In 1991, Lori entered the Miss Idaho USA Pageant, winning the title and representing Idaho in the Miss USA 1991 pageant the same year. During her reign as Miss Idaho USA, Lori was introduced to Butch Otter, who was then serving as lieutenant governor of Idaho. After some time teaching and coaching in Arizona, Lori returned to Idaho in 1995. In 2006, Lori and Butch were married, and later that year, Butch was elected governor of Idaho.

Combining her love of Idaho and her passion for education and literacy, this gifted educator has written three children's books. She penned "Little Clyde – Horsing Around in Sun Valley," and two history books, "Ida Visits the Capitol" and "Ida Tours the 44: A Book of Idaho Counties." Lori's character Ida Jones is a young barnstorming pilot who seeks adventure and teaches Idaho history to fourth graders as she flies her airplane through the state.

Barbara Ann Goleman: Educational Innovator and Chalkboard Champion of the 1960's

The 1960's were a politically turbulent time in American history, a time when many chalkboard champions made significant contributions toward our social evolution. One such amazing educator was Barbara Ann Goleman.

Barbara was born and raised in Florida. She attended Florida State University, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1952 and her master's degree in 1954.
She began her teaching career as an English literature instructor at Miami Jackson High school in 1954.

At the beginning of her career, the school's student body was 90% white middle-class students. In 1963, in response to the 1954 Supreme Court ruling Brown vs. Board of Education which prohibited segregation in schools, Florida began to admit black students to white schools. By 1966, the student body at Miami Jackson High was 85% African American, predominantly from impoverished families. To respond to the needs of this new student population, Barbara helped develop innovative instructional programs and demonstrated a nurturing attitude toward students. For her efforts, she was recognized with the National Teacher of the Year Award in 1969. She was the first Southerner in eighteen years to be so honored. President Richard Nixon presented the award to Barbara in a White House ceremony.

In 1975, Barbara transferred to North Miami Beach Senior High School as a teacher and staff development specialist for internship programs. Ten years later, she became an administrator for Language Arts at the District Office.

This remarkable educator retired in 1990. Barbara Goleman High School, opened in 1995, was named in her honor. It was the first school in Miami-Dade County to be named after one of its teachers.

 

Chalkboard Champion LouAnne Johnson: She Wrote the Story Dangerous Minds

Sometimes we teachers feel like running our classroom is a lot like being in the military. We have to organize our time like clockwork, plan our lessons in meticulous detail, and often instill some regimental discipline on highly-energized recruits. One chalkboard champion who has done all this very successfully is LouAnne Johnson, an educator, author, journalist, and former servicewoman in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marines.

LouAnne is best known for her book My Posse Don't Do Homework, which was adapted as the film Dangerous Minds  starring Michelle Pfeiffer in 1995, and a television series starring Annie Potts in 1996.

LouAnne was raised in Youngsville, Pennsylvania. After her graduation from high school, she enrolled at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but dropped out after a few weeks and enlisted in the Navy in 1971, serving at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. She served nine years on active duty, achieving the rank of Petty Officer First Class. She wrote about her experiences during these years in her 1986 book Making Waves: A Woman in This Man's Navy. She later transferred to the U.S. Marine Corps, where she rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant. Throughout her military service, LouAnne earned the Navy Commendation Medal and the Air Force Achievement Award for her work as a journalist and ​radio-television broadcaster.
When her stint in the Marine Corps was completed, LouAnne earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of LaVerne in LaVerne, California, and her master's degree in teaching English from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California, and her doctorate in educational leadership from Sage Colleges in Albany, New York.

In 1989 she garnered her first position as an educator at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, where she began teaching reading and writing to non-English speakers as an intern. Two years later, she was appointed department chair of a special program for at-risk teens. During the government evaluation of ten similar pilot programs, LouAnne's group was rated first in academic achievement, increased self-esteem, and student retention. Since then, LouAnne has taught English, adult basic education, developmental reading, and writing at high schools and colleges.

Veteran and Chalkboard Champion Wendell Earl Dunn

America cherishes its veterans, many of whom are also champions in the classroom. One such veteran was Wendell Earl Dunn, a distinguished educator, principal, and college president.

Wendell was born near Summit, South Dakota, in 1894. His father was a farmer, optometrist, and inventor. Wendell spent his boyhood on a prairie homestead. He earned a degree in transportation from the University of Wisconsin in 1916. During his college years, he played professional baseball in the Three-I League in order to help pay his way through college. He was also a gifted musician, playing the cornet and the violin in various musical ensembles. During World War I, Wendell served in the U.S. Army, during which time he attended officer candidate school.

Wendell began his career as an educator when he accepted his first job as a high school science teacher in Pierre in South Dakota. There he taught from 1918 to 1919. During that time he supplemented his income by writing speeches for state legislators. He also served as the school superintendent for Blunt, South Dakota, a position he occupied for four years. Next, Wendell became the principal of Aberdeen Senior High School in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he served for seven years. From 1924 to 1930 he was a professor of economics and American history at the Black Hills Teachers College in Spearfish, South Dakota.

In 1927, Wendell earned his master's degree in education from the University of Wisconsin, and then he moved to Baltimore in 1931. Wendell then served a long tenure in Baltimore city schools. He worked as the vice principal of Baltimore City College, the principal of Patterson Senior High, and the principal of Forest Park High School, while also serving as the president of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

This chalkboard champion passed away in 1965 after a long illness. He was 70 years old. He is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.

Janie Porter Barrett: The Chalkboard Champion of Wayward Girls

Throughout the history of our country, many gifted educators have worked tirelessly on behalf of disenfranchised populations. One such educator was Janie Porter Barrett, who worked as a teacher, welfare worker, and social reformer in Virginia during the first half of the twentieth century.

Janie Porter was born in 1865 in Athens, Georgia. Her mother, Julia, was a former slave, and her father is unknown. Julia supported herself as a live-in housekeeper and seamstress. Her employers, a progressive white family, educated little Janie along with their own children, providing her with excellent basic education.

When she came of age, Janie enrolled in courses at the Hampton Institute, a private black college in Virginia, to train as an elementary school teacher. While at Hampton, the young student became involved in volunteer work, completing many community service projects. Janie graduated from the Hampton Institute in 1885.

Following her college graduation, Janie accepted her first teaching assignment in a rural school in Dawson, Georgia, and then transferred to Lucy Craft Laney's Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in Augusta,  Georgia. In addition, she taught night school classes in the Hampton Institute from 1896 to 1899.

In 1899, the young teacher married Harris Barrett, the bookkeeper and cashier employed by the Hampton Institute, and together they had four children. Soon after she married, Janie began holding a informal  day care and sewing classes in her home. Attendance at her classes grew rapidly. Eventually these classes transformed into a club that worked to improve both home and community life for its members. This club, known as the Locust Street Social Settlement, was the first settlement house established specifically for African Americans in the country.

In 1908, Janie expanded her efforts in service to her community. She was instrumental in the organization of the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. She also served as the organization's first president. The Federation launched itself into a wide range of social services, including providing children alternatives to placements in orphanages, poorhouses, or jails. The Federation raised money to establish a residential industrial school for the large number of young African American girls that were being sent to jail. They also founded a rehabilitation center, the Industrial Home for Wayward Girls, for African American female juvenile delinquents. Under Janie's direction, the school offered academic and vocational instruction, and developed a program that emphasized self-reliance and self-discipline. Also notable was the school's visible rewards, counseling services, close attention to individual needs, and follow-up ministerial guidance. In the 1920s, the school was rated as one of the five best schools of its kind in the country, becoming a model for its type. For this remarkable work, Janie received the William E. Harmon Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes in 1929.

This amazing chalkboard champion retired from public service in 1940. She died in Hampton, Virginia, in 1948. In 1950, Janie's training school was renamed the Janie Porter Barrett School for Girls, which today is known as the Barrett Learning Center.

What We Can Learn From Successful Teachers

One of the most recent blog posts I shared talked about the characteristics of great teachers. This post generated a great deal of interest. Many teachers enjoy reading stories about remarkable teachers, but more than anything they are looking for ways to improve their own practice. For this reason, I thought I would share another article that I came across on the internet which talks about the characteristics of great teachers. This one was written by Beth Lewis, a graduate of UCLA, and fellow educator. I hope you find the thoughts she expresses in this essay valuable.

 

What We Can Learn From Successful Teachers

by Beth Lewis

The teachers I admire most are those who remain intellectually curious and professionally vital both inside and outside the classroom for decades. They avoid stagnation at all costs and maintain an enviable passion for children and the learning process. They remain vivid in the students' memories forever because of their creativity, sense of fun, and compassion.Here are the qualities I feel contribute most to a successful, durable, and happy teaching career:

1. Successful teachers hold high expectations:

The most effective teachers expect great accomplishments from their students, and they don't accept anything less. In education, expectations form a self-fulfilling prophecy. When teachers believe each and every student can soar beyond any imagined limits, the children will sense that confidence and work with the teacher to make it happen.
 

2. They think creatively:

The best teachers think outside the box, outside the classroom, and outside the norm. They leap outside of the classroom walls and take their students with them! As much as possible, top teachers try to make classroom experiences exciting and memorable for the students. They seek ways to give their students a real world application for knowledge, taking learning to the next action-packed level. Think tactile, unexpected, movement-oriented, and a little bit crazy... then you'll be on the right track.
 

3. Top teachers are versatile and sensitive:

The best teachers live outside of their own needs and remain sensitive to the needs of others, including students, parents, colleagues, and the community. It's challenging because each individual needs something different, but the most successful teachers are a special breed who play a multitude of different roles in a given day with fluidity and grace, while remaining true to themselves.
 

4. They are curious, confident, and evolving:

We're all familiar with the stagnant, cynical, low-energy teachers who seem to be biding their time until retirement and watching the clock even more intently than their students. That's what NOT to do. In contrast, the teachers I most admire renew their energy by learning new ideas from younger teachers, and they aren't threatened by new ways of doing things on campus. They have strong core principles, but somehow still evolve with changing times. They embrace new technologies and confidently move forward into the future.
 

5. They are imperfectly human:

The most effective educators bring their entire selves to the job. They celebrate student successes, show compassion for struggling parents, tell stories from their own lives, laugh at their mistakes, share their unique quirks, and aren't afraid to be imperfectly human in front of their students. They understand that teachers don't just deliver curriculum, but rather the best teachers are inspiring leaders that show students how should behave in all areas of life and in all types of situations. Top teachers admit it when they don't know the answer. They apologize when necessary and treat students with respect.
 

6. Successful teachers emphasize the fun in learning and in life:

The teachers I admire most create lighthearted fun out of serious learning. They aren't afraid to be silly because they can snap the students back into attention at will - with just a stern look or a change in tone of voice. I often think of Disney Teacher of the Year Ron Clark who made one of his Essential 55 rules be "Do not bring Doritos into the school building" simply because he hated Doritos himself! This irreverent rule (sneaked in amongst the more important class rules) shows a silly, human side of the teacher while modeling for the students that we can have fun while we get work done.
 

Next Steps:

For those of us aiming to increase these qualities in our professional lives, it can be intimidating to think that we have to do everything all at once. Instead, I recommend choosing one of these qualities to focus on each school year and expand your repertoire slowly but surely. Even the most successful teachers have to start somewhere!

Chalkboard Champion Gwynneth Hardesty Coogan Is Also An Olympic Competitor

Many talented educators distinguish themselves in fields other than education, and a perfect example of this is Gwynneth Hardesty Coogan, a talented educator who also happens to be an Olympic athlete.

Gwynneth was born on August 21, 1965, in Trenton, New Jersey. As a youngster, Gwynneth attended Phillips Exeter Academy for two years, where she graduated in 1983. There she played both field hockey and squash. After her graduation from high school, she enrolled in Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, earning her bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1987, and her doctorate in math from the University of Colorado in 1999, working primarily in number theory. She did post-doctorate work with at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Gwynneth's first teaching experience was at Hood College, but she  currently teaches math at Phillips Exeter Academy. At Phillips Exeter, Gwynneth is the director of the Exeter Mathematics Institute, and serves as the head coach of the girls varsity cross country team, in addition to her roles as dormitory adviser and mathematics instructor. She was the first Smith Family Instructor of Mathematics from 2007 to 2013, and she received a Brown Award for her teaching in 2011.

During her years at Smith, Gwynneth took up running, and won the NCAA Division III title in the 3,000 meters two times. She qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain, where she competed in the 10,000 meter race.Four years later, she was an alternate for the women's marathon for the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia.

Drag-Racing Champion Al Young and Chalkboard Champion Al Young: They Are One and the Same

So many chalkboard champions have earned recognition in fields other than education, and Al Young is a great example of this. Al taught high school in Seattle, Washington, for thirty-seven years, but he is also famous as a former world champion drag racer.

Alfred John Young, a Chinese American, was born in 1946 in Whittier, California. His father was a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, and later a businessman; his mother was an artist and art collector. Al and his two siblings were raised in San Francisco, where Al graduated from George Washington High School. After his high school graduation, he enrolled at the University of Washington where he majored in English literature. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1968 and his master's degree in 1972.

After his college graduation, Al served for many years as a teacher, tutor, counselor, and advocate for the Upward Bound program. He also founded one of Seattle's first alternative schools, the Summit K-12 School, in 1972. In the thirty-seven years that this gifted teacher worked in Seattle public schools, Al instructed vocational courses such auto shop and physical education, electives such as film study and Chinese cooking, and rigorous academic courses such as history, AP American government, and AP comparative government and politics. He has also served as the adviser to school teams that participated in the Chrysler Trouble Shooting contests, YMCA Mock trial competitions, Junior State of America conventions, and he has led high school groups to the South Pacific and Washington D. C. for close-up learning. During his teaching career, this remarkable educator also coached volleyball, softball, and basketball.

In the world of drag racing, Al competed in Pro Bracket racing. He has won the American Hot Rod Association World Championship, and between the years of 1976 and 1996, he twice won major drag racing events, and three times was declared the winner of Bremerton Raceway's Day Fire Nationals. In 1988, Al was inducted into the Firebird Raceway Bracketeer All-Stars in Boise, Idaho. Al has also been involved with the preparation of classic high performance race cars.

Al Young has been honored as one of Seattle Public Schools' "Heroes in the Classroom" by such entities as Vulcan, Inc., Russell Investments, and the Seattle Seahawks organization.  In 2008, this accomplished chalkboard champion retired from the teaching profession. His wife, Vicki Johnson Young, is also a retired school teacher, having taught in the Seattle public school system for twenty-eight years. As retirees, Al and Vicki have driven throughout the United States and Canada in their 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner Muscle car. Al has also practiced martial arts and actively served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle and worked for the Chinese Historical Society of America.

Physical Education Teacher Wesley Darcel Walker Played NFL Football

Many times talented teachers earn recognition for themselves in fields other than education. This is certainly the case for elementary school physical education teacher Wesley Darcel Walker. This chalkboard champion was once a player for the in the National Football League.

 

Wesley was born in 1955 in San Bernardino, California. He graduated from Carson High School in Carson, California, where he played football for his high school, setting many school records for receiving and returns. Following his high school graduation, Wesley attended the University of California, where he also distinguished himself as a gifted football player, having been named as an All-American.

After his college years, Wesley became a player for the New York Jets. As an NFL wide receiver, Wesley was known for his great speed, averaging over twenty yards per reception over the many seasons he played. He led the league in receiving yards in 1978, and that year was named his team's Most Valuable Player. He was elected to the Pro Bowl twice: in 19878 and 1982. At the time of his retirement from the game, Wesley held the all-time record of second in receiving yards for the Jets. And he did all this despite a handicap: he's legally blind in one eye.

Wesley is now employed as a physical education teacher at Park View Elementary School in Kings Park, Long Island, New York, and occasionally works on the side as a sports radio show commentator.

George Rajna: The Chalkboard Champion Who Promotes Multi-Cultural Awareness

Many hardworking educators give unselfishly to causes near and dear to their hearts, and chalkboard champion George Kenneth Rajna is a fine example of this. George is an elementary school teacher, bilingual speech and language pathologist, Peace Corps volunteer, musician, and travel writer who has traveled to over one hundred countries across six continents around the world. He has worked tireless throughout his professional career to promote multi-cultural awareness.

George was born in Santa Monica, California. He graduated from the American University in Washington, DC, with an MBA in International Marketing. He has also attended California State University, Northridge, where he earned his master's degree in science with an emphasis in communicative disorders.

From 1995 to 1999, George was employed as an elementary schoolteacher in both the Inglewood and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. George has also donated his teaching talents as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Paraguay, where he supported a government educational reform program used by teachers to engage students with didactic materials, hands-on activities, and multi-modal instruction. During his Peace Corps experience, George promoted programs improving dental hygiene in the local community, and he also facilitated workshops for teachers to assist them in creating and utilizing instructional materials for their classrooms.

After his return from Paraguay, George accepted a position as a speech and language pathologist in the Lennox School District in Lennox, California. He was employed there for six years, working with students who suffered from varying degrees of autism and children who exhibited articulation, language, and fluency delays. During his tenure in Lennox, George also mentored new clinicians on how to effectively treat children with speech and language disorders.

George met his future wife, science teacher Lisa Niver, online in 2007, and the following year the couple went on sabbatical together, travelling all over Southeast Asia. Their 2013 book Traveling in Sin describes their unique experiences on this trip, and how their sabbatical fostered the growth of their relationship. Together, George and Lisa founded an award-winning web site, We Said Go Travel, a global community of over one hundred writers who have publicly shared meaningful stories related to travel and world culture. George has also published travel articles in the Huffington Post, Jewish Journal, the Himalayan Times, Technorati, and The Clymb. In addition, George and Lisa are sought-after public speakers.

Here is a link to George and Lisa Rajna's web site: We Said Go Travel.

Here is a link to George and Lisa Rajna's book: Traveling in Sin.

 

Creating a Memory Book for Your Class

At my school, every teacher on staff has a Homeroom class. Our school is built for 4,000 students, and the concern is that with a student population that large, a kid could get lost in the shuffle. In Homeroom, the teacher strives to connect with each individual student, fosters team-building among the students in the group, and nurtures those relationships from the first day of their freshman year until the day they graduate. Today, I am going to share with you a strategy I use with my own Homeroom class. It’s a scrapbooking idea, and if you like it, you can adapt it to fit your own class needs, whatever they may be.

 

For this memory book, you will need a photo album or a large three-ring binder, 8 1/2″ by 11″ scrapbook pages, some page protectors, and some colored papers. I recommend you use acid-free pages and papers available at your local Michael’s or scrapbooking store. You could also invest in at least one acid-free journaling pen. If you’re into decorating stickers and such, you can buy some ready-made, but personally I prefer a rather simpler-looking page.

At the beginning of each year I ask a colleague to take a photograph of me and my class, and then I print a copy of the roster from the attendance program. These items go into the class memory book. Throughout the year, I add photos of students engaged in our weekly Homeroom activities. If the lesson calls for a written response, I collect a few representative examples and place them in the scrapbook, too. Also, if attend their extra-curricular activities, I take pictures and include those, too. I try to make sure that there is a visual record of some kind of each and every student in the group. At least once a year, I invite the students to create their own personal page to add to the scrapbook.

Since we have the same Homeroom group for all four years they attend high school, I am able to add to the scrapbook every year until their graduation. The memory book becomes a sort of yearbook of just this one class, and it shows how they have physically and socially grown over their high school years. At the end of their senior year, I offer to make color photocopies of the pages in the book and then I have the pages spiral bound. I only ask that they pay for the printing and binding costs, which is approximately $10 per copy. After the copies are made, I place the names of every student in the class in a bowl, draw out one name, and give the original scrapbook to the winner. Or you could keep the original as a memento for yourself, if you would like. By the time they graduate, you’ve probably bonded pretty closely with the kids and would like to keep the memory book to remember them by. Or you can use it as an example for the next group.

I like to put the memory book on display during Open House and Back-to-School Night. Parents love to thumb through the pages and look at the photos and writings of their own kids. Additionally, this scrapbook was very useful when we were going through the accreditation process. It was a visual record of the kinds of things we are doing in Homeroom, and it substantiated our claims that in Homeroom we are forming important relationships with our students.

I have gotten a lot of positive feedback to the scrapbook idea throughout the years. Feel free to create a scrapbook for your own class. Your students will love it!

Author Ann Clark: The Chalkboard Champion of Native American Students

 

Many distinguished educators have dedicated their professional lives to working with underprivileged student populations. One such teacher was Ann Nolan Clark.

Ann Clark was born on December 5, 1896, in Las Vegas, New Mexico. When Ann was 21, she graduated from New Mexico Normal School, now known as New Mexico Highlands University, in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Ann inaugurated her teaching career as a professor of English at Highlands University, but in 1923, she accepted a position teaching reading to Native American children in a one-room schoolhouse at the Black Rock School in Zuni, and then at Tesuque. Little did she know that this position would last twenty-five years. While teaching in the Indian schools, Ann observed that the Native American children learned more easily when their primers were geared towards their life experiences. She began writing primers with characters and situations that honored the the Pueblo way of life. Many of these primers were then published by mainstream publishing companies. She eventually broadened her scope and wrote children's books with Navajo, Sioux, Finnish, and Hispanic characters. She also published a number of professional articles under the pseudonym Marie Dunne.

Between 1940 and 1951, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs published fifteen of Ann's books. Her book In My Mother's House, illustrated by Pueblo artist Velino Herrera, earned a Caldecott Honor Book Award in 1942. During the 1940s, Ann also wrote multi-cultural books for the Haskell Foundation and the Haskell Indian Nations University at Lawrence, Kansas. One of them was The Slim Butte Raccoon, illustrated by Andrew Standing Soldier.

In 1945, the Institute for Inter-American Affairs funded an educational trip for Ann to travel to Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. Her experiences on this trip led her to write such books as Magic Money, Looking-for-Something, and Secret of the Andes, which garnered her the 1953 Newberry Medal. Ann was also given the Distinguished Service Award by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1962 and the Regina Medial by the Catholic Library Association in 1963.

This remarkable educator passed away on December 13, 1995. During her lifetime, she published over forty books, thirty-one of them about Native American culture.

Nathan Daboll: A Chalkboard Champion of the Revolutionary War

Nathan Daboll was colonial school teacher who authored the mathematics textbook used most often in American schools during the first half of the 19th century. In addition, Nathan published almanacs, which were important sources of information in his day, and he established a famous navigation school in New London, Connecticut.

Nathan was born in Groton, Connecticut, on April 24, 1750. As a child, the young Nathan received little formal education, studying for short time at the local school and then with an area tutor. Despite his lack of formal education, Nathan was born with a natural aptitude for mathematics. As a very young man, Nathan earned his living as a barrel-maker.

Because of his remarkable ability with math, an early colonial publisher of almanacs asked Nathan to calculate almanac entries for his books. Daboll accepted this position, and in 1771 began submitting almanac entries under the alias Edmund Freebetter. Before long, the gifted educator began to publish almanacs and registers under his own name. Almanacs were sometimes used as instruments of propaganda during the years of the American Revolution. Some of Daboll's almanacs contained satirical or factual political commentary.

Thriving in an academic atmosphere, Nathan accepted a position as a teacher of mathematics at the Academic School in Plainfield, Connecticut. He taught there from 1783 to 1788. This remarkable educator is probably best known for writing a comprehensive math textbook, The Complete Schoolmaster's Assistant: Being a Plain, Practical System of Arithmetic, which was published in 1799 and used extensively in American schools for nearly fifty years thereafter.

Nathan, who taught navigation to members of the merchant marine and the navy during the Revolutionary War, was also quite notable for the post-war maritime navigation school he founded in New London, Connecticut. There he taught navigation and nautical astronomy to as many as 1,500 sailors. In 1811, Nathan became an instructor of midshipmen on the frigate President.

This amazing chalkboard champion passed away in Groton, Connecticut, in 1818, at the age of 67.

Chalkboard Champion Ricky Arnold: The Astronaut and Aquanaut

 

A very unique group of American educators are teachers who have also become astronauts. One such teacher is Ricky Arnold, a science teacher from Maryland.

Richard Robert "Ricky" Arnold II was born November 26, 1963 in Cheverly, Maryland. He was raised in Bowie, Maryland. In 1985, Ricky earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Frostburg State University in Maryland. He completed the requirements for his teaching certification from Frostburg in 1988, and earned his master's degree in marine, estuarine, and environmental sciences from the University of Maryland in 1992.

In 1987, Ricky began working at the United States Naval Academy as an oceanographic technician. After earning his teaching credential, he accepted a position as a science teacher at John Hanson Middle School in Waldorf, Mayland. In 1993, Ricky joined the faculty at the Casablanca American School in Casablanca, Morocco, where he instructed courses in college preparatory biology and marine environmental science. While there, the gifted educator began presenting workshops at various international education conferences focusing on science teaching methodologies. In 1996, Ricky and his family moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he was employed as a middle and high school science teacher at the American International School. Before long, Ricky was hired by International Schools Services to teach middle school mathematics and science at the International Schools in Kuala Kencana, in West Papua, Indonesia, and in Bucharest, Romania.

Ricky was selected as a Mission Specialist Educator by NASA in May, 2004. After becoming an astronaut, he flew on space shuttle mission STS-119, which was launched on March 15, 2009. On this fourteen-day mission, this remarkable educator-astronaut delivered the final set of solar arrays to the International Space Station. He completed two space walks. Not content to end his career in space, in August, 2007, Ricky served as an aquanaut during the NEEMO 13 project, an exploration research missino held in Aquarius, the world's ponly existing undersea research laboratory.