NEA Offers Free Downloadable Toolkit About Common Core Standards

The National Education Association (NEA) has prepared a handy online toolkit providing materials related to the upcoming implementation of the Common Core Standards, all available free. The toolkit provides a multitude of resources, links, reproducible handouts, short videos, webinars, and powerpoints to assist teachers in readying themselves for the Common Core. These resources, provided in a 53-page downloadable pdf file, are a collection of materials provided by a variety of sources.

As expected, information for Language Arts and mathematics are provided, but there are also plenty of resources for other content areas, including the social sciences, physical education, and the arts. An additional bonus is the section of information for special education students and English-language learners.

Some of the links will lead you to sample lessons, mathematics modules, and Smarter Balanced resources. Also provided is an extensive discussion of the type of text-dependent questions for close analytic reading that will be found on the revised standardized tests.

To access all of this great information, simply click on the following link:

NEA Common Core Standards Toolkit

Louisiana's Chalkboard Champion Joanne Lyles White: An Indefatigable Advocate for the Needy

Very often chalkboard champions are well-known for their achievements outside of the classroom, and this is certainly true about Joanne Lyles White of Alexandria, Louisiana.

Lillian Joanne Lyles White was born in Lecompte, Louisiana, on September 12, 1929, the eighth of twelve children born to Samuel and Marie Lyles. She and her siblings were raised on Compromise Plantation in Lloyd’s Bridge, Louisiana. Her parents were sharecroppers for many years, but eventually they leased and operated a farm of over 800 acres. Although the Lyles family operated one of the most productive cotton farms in the South, they never owned their own home or land. Joanne's parents believed the most important inheritance they could leave their children was the opportunity for a college education.

As a youngster, Joanne was actively involved in the local 4-H club, serving as its president when she was in high school. In an era of Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan, many of her closest friends and playmates were the sons and daughters of African-American sharecroppers. At a very early age, Joanne became a champion for civil rights, a cause she publicly and vigorously supported throughout her entire life.

Joanne graduated from Lecompte High School at the age of sixteen. In 1950, she graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelor's degree in speech and social studies. After graduating from college, the young teacher accepted her first job at Bolton High School in Alexandria, Louisiana. She held this position from 1950 to 1963. She taught World History, American History, government, economics, and speech. She also served as the coach of Bolton High School’s speech and debate team. The indefatigable teacher was instrumental in creating a statewide forensics circuit; she founded and became the first president of the Louisiana High School Speech League and Tournament of Champions.

On April 30, 1951, Joanne married Paul Donald White, Sr. Together, they had six children.

All her life, Joanne was a tenacious and passionate advocate for the poverty-stricken, the dispossessed, single mothers, orphaned children, and the disabled. In 1989, she was one of the founding members of Hope House, a homeless shelter for women, mothers, and their children. The former teacher arranged for the donation of an expansive historic home on Bolton Avenue, and she raised both private and public funds to renovate and operate the facility. Since its creation, Hope House has provided thousands of women and children a new beginning. The dedicated teacher was especially honored when Hope House was selected by President George H.W. Bush to receive the 1,000 Points of Light Award.

After her second grandchild, Lamar Jr., was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, Joanne created Angel Care, an early childhood development center that provided networking opportunities and resources for families with mentally or physically challenged children. She was also the co-designer of the Aiken Optional School, an alternative school program to help students at risk of dropping out of school or who had already dropped out. In addition, she helped create the Kuumba Center, an inner-city educational and recreational institution.

In 1983, Joanne became one of the founding members the Shepherd Center, an ecumenical ministry comprised of 29 church congregations that worked together to assist the poor and the dispossessed.  As a part of her work with the Shepherd Center, Joanne created the Christmas Cheer for Children program, which provided computerized cooperative aid to over 4,000 children annually. She was also a founding member of the Rapides Parish Chapter of Habitat for Humanity, an executive committeewoman for the Job Training Partnership Act State Council, the chairperson of the State Committee on Illiteracy and Education, the chairperson of the Rapides Parish Workforce Investment Board, and a founding member of the Central Louisiana Food Bank. This tireless educator also worked with the governor’s office and the Department of Corrections to spearhead and chair a task force that investigated the treatment of incarcerated women and juveniles.

Among her many honors and awards, Joanne was named the recipient of the National Association of Social Worker’s Public Citizen of the Year Award, the Lions Club’s Outstanding Citizen Award, the Louisiana Methodist Church’s Children and Families Service Award, the Young Women’s Christian Association’s Outstanding Community Leader Award, the Zeta Phi Beta’s Outstanding Community Leadership Award, the Sojourner Truth Award, the Central Louisiana Professional Women’s Network’s Visionary Award, and Cenla Focus’s Cenla-ian of the Year. Joanne's work was also commended by the Louisiana Department of Safety and Corrections, the Louisiana Department of Education, the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Rapides Parish Police Jury, and the Alexandria Human Relations Commission.

This very amazing chalkboard champion passed away in Alexandria, Louisiana, on March 9, 2011, at the age of 81.

A True Chalkboard Champion: Retired Math Teacher Kay Tipton

Kay Tipton is an award-winning mathematics teacher who taught at Vestavia Hills High School, a public high school in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. She had been at the school since its establishment in 1970, and her career there spanned thirty years, until her retirement in 2007.

At Vestavia  Hills, Kay taught algebra, trigonometry, her notoriously difficult Advanced Placement-level calculus, and other math courses. She also served as Math Department Chair. In addition to all this, the remarkable educator founded the Vestavia Hills High School Math Team in 1975.  Her math teams consistently ranked among the best in the United States in national competitions such as Mu Alpha Theta. Many of her students qualified for the prestigious United States of America Mathematical Olympiad. The math team's entire senior class of 2005 also qualified for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination, and nearly all of them became National Merit finalists.

Kay's approach to helping her students understand the sometimes overwhelming subject matter in their math courses was to encourage them to simply focus on the learning. Former student Mingham Ji recalled that Kay was supremely confident of their abilities. He once expressed, "As Mrs. Tipton often reminded us, 'Just worry about the material, and the grades will take care of themselves.' Needless to say, she was right. By believing in the best her students had to offer, Mrs. Tipton taught us to expect more from ourselves."

This amazing educator also demonstrated a high level of commitment to her students outside of the classroom. She would stop and talk with students in the hallway, take them to breakfast before math tournaments, and once she even counseled them after the sudden death of a classmate. "It's hard for me to believe how much she gave herself to us," expressed Ji, "but she dedicated herself to teaching solely because of her students and the belief that a solid education would help their talents shine."

In both 1991 and 1992, Kay was named the winner of the Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching Edyth May Sliffe Award by the Mathematical Association of America.  She is a three-time winner of the White House Commission of Presidential Scholars Distinguished Teacher Award, and a recipient of both the Golden Apple Teacher of the Year Award and Cornell University's Outstanding High School Educator Award.

Francis Wayland Parker: A Champion of the Progressive Movement in Education

One of the most famous pioneers of the progressive movement in education was Francis Wayland Parker. In a time when modern ideas were not popular, this innovative educator promoted a philosophy that education should not emphasize standardization, rote memorization, and isolated drill. Rather, he advocated a curriculum that addressed the development of the whole student, including the child's intellectual,  physical, and moral growth. He created a model program that was strong on language development and geared towards teaching students to think and make decisions independently. Today we would recognize his strategies as teaching critical thinking skills and creative problem-solving.

Francis Parker was born on October 9, 1837, in Bedford, New Hampshire. At the tender age of 16 he became the village teacher, and when the Civil War broke out seven years later, this young educator enlisted as a private in the 4th New Hampshire Volunteer Army. It wasn't long before he was promoted to lieutenant, then to lieutenant colonel, and then to commander. In May, 1865, Colonel Parker was captured by Confederate forces and held as a prisoner of war in North Carolina. When the war was over, this Civil War veteran resumed his teaching career, first as a teacher, and then as a principal. In 1872, the continuously evolving educator travelled to Germany to study pedagogy at the Humboldt University of Berlin. When he returned, he became the coordinator of a highly-acclaimed teacher-training institution In Chicago, Illinois.

Colonel Parker is an American hero in so many ways, and is undoubtedly a chalkboard champion in the truest sense of the word. You can read more about this remarkable historical figure in my upcoming book, tentatively entitled Chalkboard Heroes.

Former Public School Teacher Charmaine Tavares: Also a Former Mayor of Maui

Many talented educators earn recognition in fields other than education, and Hawaiian politician Charmaine Tavares is a perfect example of this. For fifteen years Charmaine was employed as a teacher, coach, counselor, and athletic director in public schools on Maui. She also served as the mayor of Maui from 2007 to 2011.

Charmaine was born in 1943 in the town of Hana, on the island of Maui. She is one of three children born to Hannibal and Harriet Tavares, and is descended from Japanese and Portuguese immigrants who settled in the islands. As a youngster, Charmaine attended Kaunoa Elementary School and Maul High School, but she graduated from St. Anthony High School. After she finished high school, she enrolled at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the flagship campus of the University of Hawaii system.  The campus is located in Manoa, an affluent neighborhood of Honolulu. There Charmaine earned her bachelor's degree in education in 1967 and completed the requirements for her teaching credential in 1970.

Charmaine's career in education spanned from 1967 to 1982, when she accepted a position as the program director of the Upward Bound program for Maui Community College. She worked in this capacity from 1983 to 1989. The hardworking teacher served as the director of the Department of Parks and Recreation for Maui County from 1989 to 1995. While there, she was instrumental in initiating the Pals program, an educational and recreational program for local children of working families.

The former educator was elected to the Maui County Council in 1996, and served on the Council until 2006. She was elected Mayor of Maui in 2006, and served in this capacity from 2007 to 2011, becoming well-known for her collaborative leadership style. While in office, Charmaine became an advocate for programs that supported economic growth, transportation, agriculture, and the elderly.

Charmaine Tavares, a true chalkboard champion.

Distinguished Teachers Roland and Almita Vamos: The Power Couple of Music

Roland and Almita Vamos are a talented husband and wife team who are considered among the most prominent violin and viola  instructors in the entire world. Their students have become accomplished soloists, members of world-renowned chamber groups and orchestras, and laureates of many prestigious international competitions. The musical couple has been recognized at the White House seven times. Both husband and wife have been named Distinguished Teachers by the National Endowment of the Arts. They have also been honored by the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) with the Distinguished Service Award, and showcased on CBS television show Sunday Morning News.

Both Roland and Almita attended the prestigious Julliard School of Music in New York City. There Roland studied with Oscar Shumsky and William Lincer, and Almita studied with Mischa Mischakoff and Louis Persinger.

Roland and Almita are members of the faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago and at Northwestern University. Prior to teaching at Northwestern, they were on faculty at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. The talented teachers are also the co-founders of the Weathersfield Summer Music Festival in Weathersfield, Vermont. The festival, inaugurated in 1993, offers an opportunity for serious students of all ages to study intensively for six weeks in an enthusiastic and supportive atmosphere through private lessons, master classes, and performance opportunities.

Joyce Kulhawik: The Former English Teacher Who Became a TV Entertainment Anchor

Many talented educators can boast of achievements in fields other than education. Such is certainly the case for Joyce Kulhawik, a Boston high school English teacher who was once the arts and entertainment anchor for WBZ-TV News in Boston, Massachusetts.

Joyce was born in 1952 in Connecticut. In 1974, she earned her bachelor's degree in English and Secondary Education from Simmons College, a private undergraduate college for women located in Boston. One of the top two graduating seniors at Simmons, Joyce was recognized with the Crown Zellerbach Award and a full fellowship to the University of Vermont, where she completed the requirements for a double master's degree in English and Education in 1977.

After her college graduation, Joyce taught English at Brookline High School in Brookline, Massachusetts. She was employed there from 1976 to 1978. The school itself is remarkable, having received the Gold Medal for Best High Schools from US News and World Report. Joyce also was a member of the faculty at the Boston Architectural College from 1977 to 1979. Also known a the BAC, the school is New England's largest private college of spatial design, offering bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and design studies. The college offers continuing education credits and certificates, and also hosts the BAC Summer Academy for high school students.

Joyce began working for WBZ-TV in 1978 as an associate producer and reporter for Evening Magazine. In 1981, she became the station's arts and entertainment reporter, and played a key role in the public service campaign, “You Gotta Have Arts!” As part of the campaign, the former teacher hosted the station's Emmy Award-winning You Gotta Have Arts! program, as well as three specials, the first of which received an Emmy Award in 1982. She also presented Arts Breaks, 60-second spots featuring local artists, museums, and cultural events. From 1982 to 1985, Joyce served as co-anchor of the station's Live on 4 newscast. She also performed as a guest narrator in orchestral works, and has performed with the Boston Pops, the New England Philharmonic, the Boston Musica Viva, the Boston Civic Symphony, and the Concord Orchestra. In addition, Joyce was the co-host of the weekly nationally syndicated movie review program Hot Ticket. During the 1999–2000 television season, Joyce was a co-host on Roger Ebert & The Movies. Joyce concluded her career with the television station in 2008.

A three-time cancer survivor, Joyce testified before Congress on the 20th anniversary of the National Cancer Act. Since 1983 she has served as the Honorary Chairperson for the American Cancer Society's Daffodil Days, the largest state-wide annual spring fundraising event. The American Cancer Society honored Joyce with its National Bronze Medal Award, and she also earned the 1994 Gilda Radner Award from the Wellness Community in Greater Boston "for engendering inspiration in cancer patients via her own valiant fight with the disease."

In 1990, Joyce was the recipient of The Boston Theater District Award, which is presented annually to a Bostonian who has made a significant contribution to the stage, screen, or television. She also received Boston New England Emmy Award for WBZ-TV's Outstanding Team Coverage of Ground Zero in 2001. In May, 2002, she received an Honorary Doctorate in Communications from her alma mater, Simmons College. In May, 2007, she was named one of the first inductees to the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame. In May 2010, she received the Governor's Award, and the next year the former educator received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the14th annual Exceptional Woman Awards presented by radio station 106.7FM WMJX Boston.

Acclaimed Scupltor Grant Speed Was Once an Elementary School Teacher

Often times talented educators earn recognition in fields other than education, and such is the case with (Ulysses) Grant Speed, an elementary school teacher who also happens to be an acclaimed artist of western sculptures.

Grant was born January 6, 1930, in San Angelo, Texas. He spent his youth riding and roping, and as a teenager worked as a cowboy on his uncle's ranch. He eventually became adept at breaking horses, and also became a rodeo contestant, competing in the bareback and bull-riding events, until a leg injury brought this activity to a halt.

In 1948, while the Korean War was in full swing, eighteen-year-old Grant enlisted in the US Air Force, serving for two years and working as an airplane mechanic. Once he was discharged, he completed a three-year mission for the Mormon church. He also married and started a family.

In 1959, Grant earned his bachelor's degree at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. His major was animal science, but he also completed art courses and began sculpting. "Having come from conservative West Texas, I really wanted to be the world's best cowboy," Grant once revealed. "Yet every time I got a chance to be around any kind of western art, I couldn't stop reading about it, looking at it, and studying it."

Once Grant graduated from college, he accepted his first position as a teacher at an elementary school in Salt Lake City. His career as an educator spanned eight years, until he he decided to leave the profession to devote himself full-time to his art. During that period of his life, "I didn't hardly get any sleep because I taught school all day and worked on art all night," Grant once confessed. "I'm not talking about 'till just 12 o/clock; I'm talking about until two or three in the morning. And then I got up at 6:30 and went to teach school."

The former educator has exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Whitney Gallery of Art in Cody, Wyoming. His bronze equestrian sculpture Night Ridin' is displayed in the permanent art collection in the historic district of St. George, Utah, while his sculpture of the legendary Texas cattleman Charles Goodnight can be found in the Square House Museum in Panhandle, Texas. The Springville Museum of Art has Grant's equestrian sculpture Ropin' Out the Best Ones. He also created a large-scale statue of Texas rock 'n' roll legend Buddy Holly for Holly's hometown of Lubbock, Texas, a life-size horse-and-rider piece for Texas Tech University depicting the school's mascot, the Red Raider.

Grant's sculptures have earned him high praise. Among his awards is the Gold Medal for Sculpture from Cowboy Artists of America and the Prix de West Award from the National Academy of Western Art, which is affiliated with the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Grant Speed passed away on October 1, 2011, at the age of 81. He is interred at Lindon City Cemetery in Lindon, Utah.

Author and Screenwriter David Benioff: A Former High School English Teacher

Many avid readers may be familiar with the blockbuster book City of Thieves by David Benioff. But did you know the author was a former English teacher? This talented educator has made his mark as a consummate novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. He is perhaps best known as the co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones.

David was born on September 25, 1970, in New York City. He is the youngest of three children of Barbara (Benioff) and Stephen Friedman, who was the senior partner and chairman of Goldman Sachs investment firm, an advisor to President George W. Bush, and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As a young boy, David gravitated to all things literary, fancying comic books and classic far-flung fantasy such as Homer's Iliad and J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. His imagination was supplemented by an affinity for playing the video game Dungeons & Dragons.

David, who changed his surname to his mother's maiden name of Benioff while in his teens, graduated from the exclusive New York City secondary school called The Collegiate School. He then enrolled at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1992. David earned his a master's degree at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, writing his thesis on Samual Beckett.

After he graduated form college, David worked at various jobs, including a stint as a club bouncer, a radio disc jockey, and a high school English teacher at Poly Prep in Brooklyn, New York, where he also served as the school's wrestling coach.  In 1999, David returned to school, completing the requirements for a second master's degree in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine, in 1999.

While working as a high school English teacher, David wrote his first book called The 25th Hour, which earned him many accolades. He later adapted the book into a screenplay, which was made into a film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton. In 2004, David then wrote a collection of short stories titled When the Nines Roll Over (And Other Stories) and a screenplay about the Greek myth Troy which earned him $2.5 million from Warner Brothers pictures. That same year, he was hired to write the screenplay for the X-Men spin-off   X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The following year, David wrote the script for the psychological thriller Stay, which was adapted into a film directed by Marc Forster and starred Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. His 2007 screenplay for The Kite Runner, adapted from the novel of the same name, marked his second collaboration with director Marc Forster. In 2008, David's second novel, City of Thieves, was published. He is currently working on an adapted screenplay of the Charles R. Cross biography of Kurt Cobain. He is also working with D.B. Weiss as the executive producer of Game of Thrones, HBO's adaptation of George R.R. Martine's A Song of Ice and Fire novels, which David read and enjoyed as a teen.

David's work in Hollywood has earned several awards. He has won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

Carol Comeau: The Noon Duty Supervisor Who Became a Teacher, Then a District Superintendent

Ever since Alaska became part of the United States, so many outstanding teachers have gravitated to the vast territory. One of these amazing educators is Carol Comeau, who once worked as a noon duty supervisor in an Anchorage school, became a teacher there, and eventually retired as the district superintendent 38 years later.

Carol was born in Berkeley, California, in 1941, although she was raised in Iowa. When she was young, she wanted to be an investigative reporter, so after her high school graduation she enrolled at the University of Oregon to persue a bachelor's degree in journalism. In her sophomore year, however, she discovered her passion for teaching and changed her major to elementary education.

In 1960, Carol met her future husband, Denny Comeau. The pair married in 1962. His father owned a grocery store in Anchorage, so the couple decided to spend the summer following their marriage in Alaska. Although they returned to Oregon in the fall so her husband could complete his degree, a love for the state sprang from her summer experience there. For the first year the couple spent in Oregon, Carol taught elementray school in Spokane. In 1974, the Comeaus returned to Alaska permanently. By then, Carol and Denny had three children, and Carol had been a stay-at-home-mom for ten years. Once her children were all of school age, and enrolled at Ocean View Elementary School in Anchorage, Carol took a job at their school as a part-time noon duty supervisor.

Carol earned her master's degree in public administration and education from the University of Alaska, Anchorage. She resumed her teaching career in 1975 when she was hired to teach second grade at the Ocean View School. In 1984, she was named president of the Anchorage Education Association, and by 1993, she was promoted to superintendent for the Anchorage School District. She became Head Superintendent in 2000. “I laugh because I think if my sixth grade teacher could know that I was a superintendent, she would turn over in her grave,” Carol once said of her favorite teacher. She recalled the sixth-grade teacher was always telling her to work harder and stop being so chatty.

As an administrator, Carol worked to get Jewish and Islamic holidays added to the school calendar, and to include sexual orientation as part of her district's anti-harassment policy. At 48,200 students, Anchorage is the state’s largest and most diverse district.

Carol was named Alaska Superintendent of the Year in 2004. In 2007, she was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. In 2012, she was named an Alumnus of Distinction and given the Alumni of Achievement Award by the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Also, an endowment specifially for education at the Alaska Community Foundation is named after this remarkable educator. Carol was inaugurated to the Alaska Women's Hall of Fame in 2009. She retired on June 30, 2012, and today makes her home in Bellingham, Washington.

Helena Devereux: The Chalkboard Champion of Special Needs Children

Special education teachers are no doubt aware of a very remarkable teacher who has contributed much to their field of endeavor. That teacher is Helena Devereux.

Helena was born on February 2, 1885, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Like many young American women of her generation, she became a schoolteacher. She graduated first from Philadelphia High School for Girls in 1904, and then from the Philadelphia Normal School in 1906.

After her college graduation, Helena accepted her first position as a teacher at George Washington Elementary School in the Philadelphia public school system. As a novice elementary teacher working in an underprivileged area of the city, Helena immediately became interested in the children who experienced difficulty in learning through traditional methods. The public school system of her day had no means of providing individualized programs for children with special needs. Rather than helping these students, such children were repeatedly held back, ostracized by their peers, and written off as hopeless. Some were actually sent to mental institutions. Helena showed unique patience and attention to these special needs children. Several such children who had been held back and failed in other classes began to thrive under Helena's expert care and innovative teaching methods.

Helena began using an individualized approach to the teaching of the developmentally delayed. She believed that each child in her care came complete with his or her own set of innate abilities, distinctive potential, and unique needs. She made it her purpose to aid them in the discovery that each one could be a contributing and valued member of their community and of a larger society. Her methods were groundbreaking, and they pre-dated many of the practices in the field of special education that are typically in use today.
In 1911, the Philadelphia Board of Education offered this remarkable teacher the job of Director of Special Education, a new position designed to supervise the creation of a special education department for the city's schools. Despite being offered a handsome salary for the time, she turned it down, believing that she could have a greater impact on her own. That same year, Helena received national attention following a visit to her classroom from a reporter who published an article detailing her innovative instructional methods. Following the publication of this article, Helena was contacted by a parent in South Carolina who was interested in entrusting her challenged son to Helena’s care. Helena agreed to assume responsibility for the boy during the summer, and that child became Helena’s first private school student. When Helena received offers from other parents of children with special needs, she responded to these requests by renting a six-bedroom home in Avalon, New Jersey, which she converted to a private school designed to teach and care for the eight children.

In 1924, the gifted teacher Helena married James Fentress, the widower of one of her friends. The couple were married for 21 years, but during all that time, Helena remained dedicated to the students she served. This chalkboard champion passed away on November 17, 1975, at her home in Devon, Pennsylvania, at the age of 90.

Chalkboard Champion Kimberly Ann Henry: The Former First Lady of Oklahoma

 

Many educators are easily recognizable for their efforts in the political arena. One such chalkboard champion is Kimberly Ann Henry, a high school history teacher who also just happens to be the former First Lady of Oklahoma. Kimberly was born in Norman, Oklahoma, attended Shawnee High School in Shawnee, Oklahoma. After her high school graduation, she attended the University of Oklahoma, where she earned her bachelor of science degree in secondary education in 1986.

Kimberly began her ten-year career as a classroom teacher by joining the staff of her alma mater, Shawnee High School, in 1993. There she taught economics, US government, advanced placement American history, and Oklahoma history. Her talents as an outstanding educator were rewarded when, in 1999-2000, she was one of only five educators across America to receive the Close-Up Foundation’s Linda Myers Chozen Award for Teaching Excellence in Civic Education. In addition to her work as a classroom teacher, Kimberly has been a strong advocate on behalf of troubled youth through her support of the Thunderbird Youth Academy. 

When her husband, Brad Henry, was elected governor of Oklahoma in 2003,  Kimberly became the First Lady of Oklahoma. She served in this capacity from 2003 to 2011. While First Lady, Kimberly fought to make education a priority in Oklahoma, and has been particularly instrumental in pushing for increased early childhood educational opportunities in the state. More recently, Kimberly has launched the MyTakeOnHealth Video Challenge which gives young people and students an opportunity to make video spots about health topics. She has also been actively involved with the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Kimberly is currently serving on board of directors for the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum.  She also previously served on the board of directors for Science Museum Oklahoma, Leadership Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence. Also, Kimberly is currently serving as the Executive Director of the Sarkeys Foundation, a private, charitable foundation dedicated to providing support through gifts and grants to Oklahoma's non-profit organizations.

Kimberly Henry was honored with the Bill Lowry Library Champion Award for her work in literacy in 2004. The same year by she was named one of the The Journal Record’s 50 Most Distinguished Women. For her tireless efforts on behalf of the people of her state, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 2009.

Ninive Calegari: The Teacher that Works to Improve Teacher Salaries

A most remarkable chalkboard champion is San Francisco teacher Ninive Calegari, who has for many years dedicated her extraordinary talents as an educator to creating supportive and innovative learning environments for both teachers and students.

 

Ninive attended Santa Catalina High School in Monterey, California, where she graduated in 1989. After high school, she enrolled at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1993. She completed the requirements for her master's degree in Teaching and Curriculum from the Harvard School of Education in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1995.

 

Ninive inaugurated her career as an education at Drake High School in San Anselmo, and also taught at San Francisco's first charter school, Leadership High School. Her career in the classroom spanned ten years. In addition, Ninive founded 826 Valencia, a writing program for students from six to eighteen years of age. The project has generated 826 national and numerous local 826 chapters. This project earned the Jim Henson Community Honor in 2010.

 

Ninive says her goal is to raise awareness of the unheralded struggles that many teachers face in simply doing their job. To better the working lives of her colleagues, she serves as the president of the Teacher Salary Project, a nonprofit organization designed to build the political will necessary to transform how American society values effective teachers. The organization publicizes her belief that increasing teachers' salaries is essential to meaningful school reform and critical to ensuring that American schools can acquire quality teachers. To meet this goal, Ninive has co-authored the book Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers, published in 2005 by The New Press. Ninive has also lent her expertise as the co-producer of the organization's film, American Teacher, a documentary by Oscar-winning director Vanessa Roth, with narration by Matt Damon.

 

For her professional achievements, Ninive received Edutopia's 2007 Daring Dozen award. She also served on the board of Learning Points Associates, and as an advisor to the George Lucas Education Foundation. She has been the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, the William Coe Award for study at Stanford University, and the Andrew Mellon Fellowship.

 

Ninive currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and two young children.

    

NBA Star Pete Chilcutt: Also a Middle School Math and Science Teacher

Many admirable educators were once professional athletes. This is true of former NBA basketball player Pete Chilcutt, who later became a sixth-grade math and science teacher at Folsom Middle School in Folsom, California.

Peter Shawn Chilcutt was born on September 14, 1968, in Sumter, South Carolina. His stepfather was a professor at the University of Alabama, and his mother was a school teacher, too. Pete was raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he attended Tuscaloosa Academy. He was actively recruited by a number of schools, ultimately deciding on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he had won a scholarship. After he graduated, he was selected by the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the NBA Draft in 1991.

At 6'10" and 245 pounds, Pete played the position of forward for seven different teams over a professional career that spanned from 1991 to 2000. He won an NBA Championship in the 1994-1995 season with the Houston Rockets, where he played from 1994-1996. He also played for the Detroit Pistons, the Vancouver Grizzlies, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Utah Jazz. His achievements are particularly amazing when one considers this amazing athlete was born with only one kidney.

Isabelle Salmon Ross: Pioneer Of Utah, and of Physical Education Courses for Women and Special Education Students

Many wonderful teachers were also pioneers in their time. Such is the case of Isabelle Salmon Ross, who was not only a pioneer settler in the Utah Territory in the 1800s, but was also a pioneer of physical education courses for women and special education students during her lifetime.

Isabelle Salmon was born on November 1, 1867, in Perry, Utah Territory. Her parents, William Weir Salmon and Margaret Hay Hunter Salmon, had immigrated from Scotland. Isabelle earned her degree in education at the University of Utah and also attended Harvard University. She became a physical education teacher in the public school system in Salt Lake City, at Brigham Young College, and at the Utah State School for the Deaf and the Blind in Ogden, Utah.

Isabelle was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She served her church in the general presidency of the Primary organization. While working in that capacity, Isabelle met and fell in love with fellow Mormon Charles James Ross. On September 29, 1897, the pair married in the Salt Lake Temple. Her husband was from Ogden and was a member of the general board of the Deseret Sunday School Union. He also served for a time as the manager of Ogden Tabernacle Choir.

In her later life, Isabelle suffered from coronary heart disease, and passed away at the age of eighty on December 28, 1947, in Salt Lake City. She is interred at the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

The Academic Community Mourns the Loss of Chemistry Teacher Ronald Smith, Murdered in Libya

It's always distressing to the academic community when we receive news of the senseless and tragic murder of an American overseas, and especially so when the victim is a distinguished educator. Such was the case yesterday when we learned of the death of Ronald Thomas Smith, II, an American chemistry teacher who has spent more than a year teaching at an international school in Libya. The thirty-three-year-old teacher was shot and killed by Islamic militants Thursday in Benghazi, Libya, as he was taking a morning jog.

Ronald was a member of the faculty of the International School Benghazi. Mr. Peter Hodge, the school's principal, has described the slain educator as "very much loved" at the school.  On the school's Facebook page, officials posted, "He was a much-loved teacher who supported students in their learning and always had time to help when asked. Ronnie was a professional who gave his time freely and without question."

An un-named eighteen-year-old student at the school recalled, "He was the most amazing person, more like a best friend or a family member." The student added that for teenagers who were trying to cope with the turmoil that has troubled the politically unstable country, the teacher was a motivator, telling them that they would be fine if they focused on their studies. "He wasn't just a teacher to all the students, though---he was a brother," recalled Abdulrahman Bader, a sixteen-year-old student, in an email to The Associated Press. "He was the heart of the school."
Originally from Warren, Michigan, Ronald graduated in 1997 from Woods Tower High School. He attended Wayne State University in Detroit before heading to Texas. He graduated in 2006 from the University of Texas, Austin, with a master's degree in chemistry. During his years in Texas, he was active in the Austin Stone Community Church. Approximately a year and a half ago, Ronald began teaching at the International School, a Libyan-owned institution that offers a British curriculum.

He leaves behind a wife and a young son, who had come home to the United States ahead of him to celebrate the holidays. We'll all miss this chalkboard champion.

Our Champion: Nelson Mandela

Tributes are pouring in from all over the globe to praise former South African prisoner and president Nelson Mandela, who passed away yesterday at the age of 95. "We have lost one of the most influential, courageous, and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth," said President Barack Obama in a nationally televised address shortly after the news of Nelson’s death was announced. Former President Bill Clinton agreed. "History will remember Nelson Mandela as a champion for human dignity and freedom, for peace and reconciliation," he declared. "We will remember him as a man of uncommon grace and compassion, for whom abandoning bitterness and embracing adversaries was not just a political strategy, but a way of life."

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in the village of Mvezo in Umtatu, which at that time was a part of South Africa's Cape Province. A member of the Xhosa group, he was born into the Thembu royal family. At birth he was given the name Rolihlahla, which translated means "troublemaker." On his first day of school, Nelson once recalled, his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each student an English name. "This was the custom among Africans in those days, and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education," Nelson explained. "That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why this particular name, I have no idea." Today, the elder statesman is often referred to by his clan name, Madiba.

A big believer in the value of education, Nelson was himself an educated man. As a young child, his mother entrusted Nelson into the care of royal relatives, and while with his Thembu guardians, Nelson was enrolled in a Methodist mission school located next to the palace. At this school he studied the English and Xhosa languages, history, and geography. During this time, Nelson developed a deep appreciation for African culture and history. Later, he attended Clarkebury Boarding Institute in Engcobo, the largest school for black Africans in Thembuland, and then he transferred to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by most Thembu royalty. Next, Nelson attended the University of Fort Hare, a prestigious public university located in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. At the time of Nelson's enrollment, the University of Fort Hare was a prominent institution of higher education for black Africans. The facility offered a Western-style, academically rigorous education to elite students from across sub-Saharan Africa. Fort Hare alumni were integrally involved in many of the independence movements and governments of newly independent African countries. After Fort Hare, Nelson attended the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he studied law. Commonly referred to as Wits University, this institution is the third oldest university in continuous operation in South Africa.

All his life, Nelson was an unwavering supporter and advocate for education. He used his extensive educational background and his personal life experiences to achieve sweeping political changes in South Africa, including the elimination of apartheid. Nelson once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Although he was not a teacher in the "certificated" sense, Nelson Mandela taught each one of us how to be a better person, how to treat each other with respect and dignity, and how to make our world a better place. For these amazing accomplishments, he is a truly our champion.

Walter K. Wesbrook: This Chalkboard Champion Was Also A Tennis Great and Track Star

Very often talented athletes go on to become gifted educators and coaches. Such is the case with Walter Kenneth Wesbrook, a champion tennis player from the University of Michigan who became an exceptional coach at Polytechnic High School in Pasadena, California.

Walter was born in 1898 in Detroit, Michigan. After his high school graduation, he attended the University of Michigan, where it quickly became obvious he was a stellar athlete in tennis. The left-hander won the Big Ten doubles title with tennis partner Nicholas Bartz in 1919, and he garnered the singles titles in 1919 and 1920. In 1921, a ruptured appendix kept him from winning the singles title a third time. In addition, in 1920, Walter reached the singles and doubles finals at the Cincinnati Masters Tournament, but he was eliminated in the singles competition in four tough sets to Hennessey. With partner Kenneth Simmons, he lost the doubles final to the team of Hennessey and Fritz Bastian in five sets. By 1921, Walter was named a coach at Michigan, and the one season he was there went 8–3. In 1923, Walter reached the doubles final at the US Clay Court Championship with his tennis partner, John Hennesey. The pair were defeated by brothers  Howard and Robert Kinsey of San Francisco. Later that year, Walter won the Western Lawn Tennis Association championship over George Lott.

In addition to tennis, Walter also competed in the pole vault and long jump for the Michigan Wolverines track team. He could pole vault 12 feet and long jump 23 feet.

After his playing career, Wesbrook became a teacher and tennis coach at the Polytechnic School in Pasadena. He also competed many times in the Senior Olympics, and he still holds numerous national track and field records for the 75-79 and 80-84 age groups.

This chalkboard champion passed away in Los Angeles in January, 1991, at the age of 92.

Loren Spears: Native American Teacher and Cultural Educator

Many talented and dedicated educators work diligently to foster an appreciation for the cultures of under-represented ethnic groups. One such educator is Loren Spears, a teacher, essayist, artist, and tribal council woman of the Narragansett Tribe in Rhode Island.

As a youngster, Loren attended Chariho Regional High School in her home town of Charleston, a rural village in southern Rhode Island. After her high school graduation, she earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education and teaching at the University of Rhode Island, graduating in 1988. She earned her master's degree in education at the University of New England in 2002.

Loren's teaching career spanned two decades and included twelve years as a first grade and fourth grade teacher in the Newport Public School system working with at-risk children. Throughout her professional career, Loren has always been a strong advocate for integrating more Native American history and experiential learning into school curriculum. Loren says she remembers, "being in a history class during my elementary days and actually reading that I supposedly didn't exist, that my family didn't exist, that my people didn't exist." She has spent much of her adult life correcting that misimpression.

In addition to her professional accomplishments as a teacher, Loren works as the executive director and curator of the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum in Exeter, Rhode Island. The museum was the site of a private, state-certified school, the Nuweetooun School, which this talented educator directed from 2003 to 2010. Nuweetooun, which translates as "Our Home" in the Narragansett language, was founded by Loren with the help of the Narragansett community and generous donations, including monies from a local charity, the Narragansett Tribe, and the Rhode Island Foundation. Though Loren is Narragansett, the school is not connected to any specific tribe. As the school's director, Loren made sure that the Nuweetooun School provided Native American children from kindergarten through the eighth grade an experiential, collaborative curriculum based on Native American traditions and culture, as well as standard academic subjects including mathematics, language arts, social studies, science, and health.

In June, 2005, Loren received the Feinstein Salute to Teachers, Teacher of the Month. In 2006, she earned the Native Heritage Gathering Award, and in 2010, Loren was chosen as one of eleven Extraordinary Women honorees for Rhode Island in the area of education. Today, this chalkboard champion lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and uses her vast energy to focus on educating the public on indigenous issues, arts, culture, and history through cultural arts programming, lectures, art classes, inter-generational programming, grant writing, exhibit development and design, curriculum development, school design, Native American education, and educational consulting.

Leonard Skinner: The Physical Education Teacher That Inspired the Band Lynyrd Skynyrd

Many talented and dedicated educators earn recognition in fields outside of education, but occasionally a great teacher becomes known for the accomplishments of his students. Such was the case of Florida physical education teacher Leonard Skinner, who inspired his former students to name their band after him. The band's name? Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Forby Leonard Skinner was born January 11, 1933, in Jacksonville, Florida. As a youngster he attended Robert E. Lee High School, where he graduated in 1951. Leonard enrolled in Jacksonville Junior College on a basketball scholarship, but his education was cut short when he was drafted into the US Army. After he was discharged, Leonard enrolled at Florida State University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in physical education in 1957.

Leonard first taught at Glynn Academy in Glynn County, Georgia, but for most of his career, he was a physical education at his alma mater, Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, Florida. Among his former students were several members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, including Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington, and Bob Burns, who were students at Robert E. Lee in the 1960s.
According to legend, Leonard's strict enforcement of a policy against long hair inspired the members to name their band after him. The gym teacher, a stickler for by-the-book procedures, sent Rossington and others to the principal's office for violating a school policy prohibiting long hair. Over time, Burns, Rossington, and other band members developed a series of running jokes about their teacher, until ultimately they decided to pay tongue-in-cheek homage to their flat-topped coach by renaming their group Lynyrd Skynyrd. When interviewed in January, 2009, Leonard abashedly told reporters he was just following the district policy. "It was against the school rules," he said. "I don't particularly like long hair on men, but again, it wasn't my rule." Of his former students, Leonard remembered, "They were good, talented, hard-working boys. They worked hard, lived hard and boozed hard."

Towards the end of his career, Leonard taught at Jacksonville Technical High School, where he retired in 1970. During his retirement, he became a real estate broker and tavern owner, but he maintained contact with his former students. In 1975, he even allowed the band to use a photograph of his "Leonard Skinner Realty" sign for the inside of their third album, Nuthin' Fancy. The band also performed at his tavern called The Still.
In January 2009, Leonard's home town of Jacksonville hosted an event called "A Tribute to Coach Leonard Skinner & Southern Rock" at the National Guard Armory. At the time, the Jacksonville newspaper wrote, "He was just a regular Westside guy, a coach and businessman with a strong code of honor, a disciplinarian at home and at school."
On September 20, 2010, Leonard passed away at a nursing home in Riverside, Florida. He was 77, and had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years. In his obituary, The Florida Times-Union called him "the no-nonsense, flat-topped basketball coach and gym teacher whose name is forever linked with Jacksonville's legendary Lynyrd Skynyrd." The New York Times described him as "arguably the most influential high school gym teacher in American popular culture."

Math Teacher Kay Toliver: A True Chalkboard Champion

Many chalkboard champions have been recognized nationally for creating innovative and dynamic programs in their subject area. One such educator in Kay Toliver of New York City.

Kay was born and raised in East Harlem and the South Bronx. As a youngster, she attended Harriet Beecher Stowe Junior High, Walton High School, and Hunter College, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1967 and her master's degree in 1971. Additionally, Kay completed graduate work in mathematics at the City College of New York.

For more than 30 years, Kay taught mathematics and communication arts at P.S. 72/East Harlem Tech in Community School District 4. Prior to instructing seventh and eighth grade students, she taught grades one through six for 15 years. "Becoming a teacher was the fulfillment of a childhood dream," she once said. "My parents always stressed that education was the key to a better life. By becoming a teacher, I hoped to inspire African-American and Hispanic youths to realize their own dreams. I wanted to give something back to the communities I grew up in."

At East Harlem Tech, with the support of her principal, Kay established the "Challenger" program for grades 4-8. The program presents the basics of geometry and algebra within an integrated curriculum. The program was designed for gifted students; however, because of her strong belief that all students can learn, she accepted pupils from all ability levels.

The program offers events that are similar to science fairs but involve students in creating and displaying projects related to mathematics. Participants had to be able to explain thoroughly the mathematical theories and concepts behind their projects, which were placed on display at the school so that students from the lower grades could examine the older students' research. Students have created mathematic games such as Dunking for Prime Numbers, Fishing for Palindromes, and Black Jack Geometry.

Kay also developed a lesson called the Math Trail to give students an appreciation for the community as well as an opportunity to see mathematics at work. To create a Math Trail, the class must first do some research on the history of the community. Then, they are instructed to plot a course, starting from the school building, that leads the class through the community and back to school, with stops along the way to visit several sites and create math problems about various real-life situations.

To show teachers throughout the country how she creates enthusiasm for mathematics among her students, Kay has worked with the Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education (FASE) to create a number of educational video products. Most recently, she has worked with The Futures Channel to present staff development institutes and parent engagement events at schools and districts throughout the country.

For her efforts, Kay has earned many awards, including the Reliance Award for Excellence in Education, Middle School; Outstanding Teacher for Mathematics Instruction, Disney American Teacher Awards; the Kilby Award; and the Essence Award.

Kay Toliver: a true chalkboard champion.

Former First Lady of Iowa Christie Vilsack: A Champion for Literacy

Many educators find success in fields other than education, and many become accomplished in the political arena. One such teacher is Christie Vilsack, who is probably best known for being the former First lady of Iowa (1999-2007). This tireless educator is also an advocate for literacy and a politician in her own right.

Christie was born on July 9, 1950, in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. After she graduated from high school, she attended Kirkland College in Clinton, New York. It was there she met her future husband, Tom Vilsack, a promising law student. After her college graduation in 1972,the couple married and added two sons to their family.

Tom and Christie moved to Mount Pleasant in 1975. She began her career there as a teacher and a librarian. She taught language arts and journalism at the junior high school level for eighteen years, and then transferred to the high school level. She also taught English and journalism at Iowa Wesleyan College for six years. She earned a master's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa in 1992. With this degree, Christie worked as a reporter and columnist for her local newspaper, the Mount Pleasant News.

Christie became First Lady of Iowa when her husband was sworn in as the state's governor in 1999. During his first term, this enterprising former teacher created a statewide literacy program and raised money to provide a book to every kindergarten child in Iowa. In 2000, she inaugurated Iowa Stories 2000, an effort to promote reading and storytelling for Iowans of all ages. The $50,000 program was paid for by contributions from businesses and nonprofit organizations. As founder and president of the Vilsack Foundation, she partnered with the National Center for Family Literacy to promote media literacy with parents and their children.

After her husband left the governor's office, he was appointed Secretary of Agriculture in the Obama Administration. In April, 2013, Christie joined the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as the Senior Advisor for International Education. In this position, Christie will focus on children’s reading skills, work force development, and equitable access to education in crisis and conflict settings. USAID launched an agency-wide policy on education last year. The agency has helped a quarter million students with reading in Kenya, nearly a million in Mali, and 1.5 million in Egypt. Worldwide, the agency has provided tens of millions of textbooks and other teaching and learning materials to students in third-world countries.

Christie Vilsack.: a true chalkboard champion.