Instructional Resources for Teaching About Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The celebration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on Monday, January 20, offers educators a really great opportunity to share the story of this great historical figure. Dr. King was much more than a civil rights leader. Among his many interests, he was also a passionate advocate of education and life-long learning, and an avid student of history who urged his fellow citizens to appreciate and gain a thorough understanding of history to avoid repeating it. He once said, "We are not makers of history. We are made by history."

To aid classroom teachers with their MLK Day presentations, here are some instructional resources to consider for your use:

Scholastic. Biographical information, plays, memorable quotes, interactive timeline, book lists, lesson plans, reproducibles. Grade levels K-12. www.scholastic.com 

Teacher Vision. Biographical information, educational videos, printables, lesson plans, activities, art projects, quizzes, references. Also, many resources for African American history and Black History Month. Grade levels K-12. www.teachervision.com

PBS. Resources to teach the life and impact of Martin Luther King. Videos, lesson plans, Civil Rights glossary, interactive timeline, personal narratives. Grades 7-12. www.pbs.org


NEA. Background resources, videos, printables, lesson plans, activities, crossword puzzles, quizzes. Grades K-12. www.nea.org

Susan Dryden Whitson: The Former High School English Teacher Who Became the Press Secretary to First Lady Laura Bush

Many talented educators pursue successful careers outside the profession of teaching. One example of this is Susan Dryden Whitson, a high school English teacher from Birmingham, Alabama, who also served as the press secretary to First Lady Laura Bush. “Mrs. Bush and I are both educators, so we share the common belief that education and literacy are the foundation of opportunity,” Susan once said. “Working for Mrs. Bush has afforded me the chance to talk about the issues important to her, but which are also important to me.”


Susan earned her bachelor’s degree in secondary education language arts from Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, in 1991. As a young co-ed, she was a member of the War Eagle Girls and Plainsmen and the Student Government Association. After graduating from Auburn, Susan accepted a position in her native Birmingham to teach ninth and tenth grade English at Hoover High School. She was employed there for six years. While there, Susan was the ninth-grade English teacher to 2006 American Idol winner Taylor Hicks.


In 1997, at the end of a temporary summer appointment with then Representative Bob Riley, she was offered a position as his press secretary. She considered the offer ”an opportunity too good to pass up.” In the eight years that followed, she served as a press secretary on Capitol Hill for numerous government officials, including two US representatives, a deputy director of the Office of Public Affairs at the US Department of Justice, a chief of the FBI’s National Press Office, and a deputy communications director for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign.  She was appointed by Mrs. Bush as the First Lady’s press secretary in 2005, and worked in that capacity until 2007.


The former English teacher currently serves on the Auburn Campaign Committee for the Washington metro area. Susan and her husband, Keir Whitson, live in Rappahannock County, Virginia.


“I’ve held a lot of titles over the years,” Susan once declared, ”but the one I am most proud of is teacher.”

Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger: The Science Teacher Who Became an Astronaut and Aquanaut

When Christa McAuliffe was selected to be the first Teacher in Space, the educational community was very excited and immensely proud. It was truly a sad day on January 28, 1986, when this gifted and talented educator perished, along with six other astronauts, in the Challenger disaster. But the Teacher in Space program lives on, and other remarkable teachers have been fortunate enough to be a part of it. One such teacher is Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger.

Dorothy, who prefers to be called Dottie, was born May 2, 1975, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the daughter of two teachers. She graduated from Fort Collins High School in Fort Collins, Colorado. After her high school graduation, she earned her bachelor's degree in geology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, in 1997, and her teaching certificate from Central Washington University at Ellensburg, Washington, in 1999. That year, she was named the Outstanding Teacher Preparation Candidate at the university.

Dottie was employed for five years as a science teacher at Hudson's Bay High School in Vancouver, Washington, where she instructed courses in earth science and astronomy, and also coached the Science Olympiad. An accomplished athlete, Dottie also coached cross country for three years.

It was through her teaching that Dottie became involved in the NASA astronaut program. One day, while educating her students about the Hubble Space Telescope, one of her students asked her how astronauts go to the bathroom in space. To find the answer, Dottie consulted the NASA website, where she found not only the answer, but also an application to become an educator astronaut. Just over a year later, in May, 2004, the gifted educator was selected to be an Astronaut Candidate. To complete the program, Dottie underwent rigorous training that included orientations, briefings, tours, scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in space shuttle and international space station systems, physiological training, flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Successful completion of this training in February, 2006, qualified her as a NASA astronaut. Dottie then served as a Mission Specialist in April, 2010, on STS-131, a space shuttle mission to the international space station.

In addition to her other skills, Dottie is a talented singer as well. She has been a long-time lead singer with the all-astronaut rock band, "Max Q," and she sang the National Anthem at the Houston Astros game against the St. Louis Cardinals on July 20, 2009, in celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

On April 16, 2012, NASA announced that Dottie would command the NEEMO 16 undersea exploration mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, scheduled to begin on June 11, 2012, and last twelve days. The NEEMO 16 crew successfully "splashed down" at 11:05 am on June 11. On the morning of June 12, Dottie and her crewmates officially became aquanauts, having spent over 24 hours underwater. The crew safely returned to the surface on June 22.

Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger. The Teacher in Space program lives on in her.

Erwin Clagget: Former Pro Basketball Player Now High School Teacher and Coach

Many talented educators and coaches were once professional athletes. This is the case with Erwin Clagget, a high school social studies teacher and basketball coach who happens to be a former professional basketball player.  

 

Erwin, born in 1973, graduated high school in Venice, Illinois, where he earned the nickname the "Venice Menace." But he is probably most famous for his college basketball career at St. Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. There he played combo guard for the St. Louis Billikens between 1991 and 1995. At 6 feet, 1 inch, and 185 pounds, Erwin  played a total of four seasons for the Billikens, where he scored a total of 1,910 points. He was named the all-time leading scorer of the Great Midwest Conference, and because the conference disbanded in 1995, he will always hold that record. He led the squad to a berth in the 1994 NCAA Tournament, where they lost in the opening round to Maryland. During his senior year, the Billikens earned another berth into the tournament, this time losing to Wake Forest. Despite these losses, in 1995, Erwin was honored by the Associated Press as an All-American, and in 2001 he was inducted into the Saint Louis University Athletic Hall of Fame. After college,  Erwin played professional basketball in Europe.

 

Erwin earned his bachelor's degree from St. Louis in 1995 and his master's from Lindenwood University in 2003. He began his career as a professional educator and coach at   Venice High School in Missouri, where he worked for two years. He then transferred to McCluer High School in Florissant, Missouri, where he spent nine years as a social studies teacher and the Head Basketball Coach. While there, the McCluer High Comets consistently ranked as one of the area’s top teams, often battling for the championship of the Suburban North Conference, which is one of the toughest basketball leagues in the state. In his nine years there, Erwin’s teams posted a record of 169-60, including three Suburban North Conference titles. During his tenure, the Comets produced many talented players, including NCAA Division I players Lonnie and Shaquille Boga. Three times Coach Claggett was named the league’s Coach of the Year: in 2004, 2006, and again in 2010. In 2012, Erwin was named the Head Basketball Coach at St. Louis University High School, where he also teaches social studies.

Well done, Erwin!

Educator Carl Van Dyke of Minnesota: Also a Talented Politician

Talented teachers often possess the personality traits that make them successful in the political arena. Such is certainly the case for Carl Chester Van Dyke, an elementary school teacher who went on to become a lawyer and then a United States Congressman.


Carl was born on February 18, 1881, in Alexandria, Douglas County, Minnesota. He attended local schools, and when he came of age, taught elementary schools in Douglas County from 1899 to 1901. It was in that year that he enlisted in the Minnesota Volunteer Infantry branch of the US Army, where he served as a private in Company B in the Fifteenth Regiment. He saw action in the Spanish American War. Carl was highly respected by his fellow veterans. In fact, in 1918, the former teacher was elected Commander in Chief of the US Spanish War Veterans.

Once he returned from military service, Carl attended St. Paul College of Law, which later came to be known as William Mitchell College of Law. Following his graduation, Carl was admitted to the bar in St. Paul. His leadership abilities evident, the former educator was elected to the US House of Representatives, where he served from 1915 until his death on May 20, 1919, in Washington, DC. He was only 38 years old. After his passing, this gifted teacher, lawyer, and public servant was cremated and his ashes interred in a mausoleum in Forest Cemetery, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Terry Marzell, Sharon Edwards, and Other Writers Appear at Local Authors Fair in Eastvale, California

On Saturday, January 11, I had the opportunity to participate in the Local Authors Fair held at the Eastvale Community Library in Eastvale, California. Eleven published authors, including myself, were on hand to discuss our recently-published works and to sign copies that were available for purchase. This is the third such fair that I have been involved in, and I have to say, I find these opportunities exhilarating!

One of the best aspects of participating in a local authors fair is meeting and networking with other authors. On Saturday, I met an absolutely fascinating author by the name of Sharon Edwards, author of the fiction work Pioneer Boulevard. Her book, a collection of short stories set in the Indian community of Los Angeles, was named for Artesia Blvd. in California, a street that is known as Little India. Most of the protagonists are, like the author, women who have migrated to Los Angeles from their native India, but the book is also populated with characters from other countries, including Mexico, El Salvador, Vietnam, Pakistan, and England. In this way, the novel reflects the multi-cultural and poly-lingual flavor of metropolitan Los Angeles.

Set in the context of the recent economic crisis, the sense of an overstretched, underfinanced world pervades the narratives of Edwards' book. One woman must clinch the job that is required for renewal of her work permit; another has to sell her wedding necklace to pay her bills. A third learns about an unplanned pregnancy days after her husband received a layoff notice. "Farcical and somber, wry and tender, these stories draw us into the chaotic, comic world of the pioneer, where habits of consumption and ways of relating—and even of speaking—are constantly in flux," explains Sharon. I personally bought this book, and I can wait to read it! You can find Sharon's book at this link on amazon: Pioneer Boulevard.

Philadelphia Teacher Anna Willess Williams: She Became the Face of "Lady Liberty"

On many occasions a talented educator will gain notoriety for reasons that have nothing to do with the field of education. Such was certainly the case with Anna Willess Williams, a Philadelphia schoolteacher, who is best known for being the model for the image of  Lady Liberty on the Morgan silver dollar coin.


Anna was born in Philadelphia in 1857. In 1876, when she was just an eighteen-year-old art student, she was asked to pose for engraver George T. Morgan, an acquaintance of a friend of her father, who had been commissioned to produce a new series of coin designs for the U.S. Mint. For his design, Morgan wanted to use the image of an American girl. After rejecting several candidates, Morgan selected Anna as his model because was so impressed with her profile, commenting that it was the most perfect he had seen in the country. He described her as being fair in complexion, “with blue eyes and a Grecian nose,” with hair that was "almost her crowning glory… golden color, abundant, and light of texture," worn in an attractive classical style.


After being promised that her identity would always be kept confidential, the young art student sat for five sessions in November, 1876. By the time the silver dollar bearing her likeness was first struck on March 11, 1878, Anna had begun her career as a teacher. To Anna’s dismay, her identity as the image’s model was revealed shortly after the coin was released, resulting in instant fame. Anna received thousands of letters and visits at both her home and work place, and she was very disturbed by the attention. In her later years, she preferred not to discuss her modelling work with Morgan, dismissing the experience as an "incident of my youth."


Anna refused offers for acting and stage work, and chose to continue in her position as a teacher at the House of Refuge. In 1891, she left her job as the principal at that school to become a teacher of kindergarten philosophy at Girls’ Normal School in Philadelphia. Though she was once engaged to an unknown suitor, Anna never married. She retired from the teaching profession in 1924. She passed away from complications suffered from a bad fall on April 17, 1926, at the age of sixty-eight.