Maya Soetoro-Ng: Teacher, Author, and Presidential Sister

Maya Soetoro-Ng is a former high school history teacher, current university professor, and expert in comparative international education. She also happens to be the half-sister of President Barack Obama. Born in 1970 in Jakarta, Indonesia, she is the daughter of Anne Durham, Barack Obama's mother, and Anne's second husband, Indonesian businessman Lolo Soetoro. An accomplished educator in her own right, Maya's work as a promoter of international relations would be amazing, even if she did not enjoy her presidential connections.

Early in her career, Maya taught history at La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls and at the Education Laboratory School, both located in Honolulu, Hawaii. She has also taught courses as an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii, College of Education, and between 1996 and 2000, she developed and taught curriculum at The Learning Project, an alternative public middle school located in New York City. She has also served as an Education Specialist at the East-West Center, an organization that promotes understanding between the United States, Asia, and the nations of the Pacific.

Maya published a children's book entitled Ladder to the Moon in 2011. The book is a fantasy story about the president's mother, cultural anthropologist Ann Dunham, and her adventures with Maya’s daughter, Suhaila. In the book, the pair help orphaned tsunami victims and, as the title suggests, climb a ladder to the moon. Maya said she first got the idea for the book when her daughter said she wanted to know about her grandmother--who she never had a chance to meet. Dunham passed away from ovarian cancer in 1995.

Maya is currently working on a book about peaceful conflict resolution aimed at high school students. She also oversaw the 2009 publication of her mother's dissertation, entitled Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia, authoring the foreword to the book and presenting it at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association.

Harlan Kredit: Remarkable Science Teacher and Conservation Ecologist

Very often remarkable educators extend their talents well beyond the classroom. Such is the case with Harlan Kredit, an award-winning high school biology teacher from the state of Washington.

Harlan was born and raised near Fishtrap Creek in Lynden, Washington. Following his high school graduation, he attended Calvin College, a liberal arts college located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he graduated in 1961. Later, Harlan earned his master's degree from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Harlan taught science in Hudsonville, Michigan from 1962 to 1972. In 1973, he returned to Whatcom County in Washington and accepted a position as a biology teacher at Lynden Christian High School in Bellingham. In the classroom, Harlan fosters an investigative approach to curriculum, and emphasizes leadership and fish and wildlife conservation. "My goal each year is to challenge every class with a special project, which, due to their effort, becomes something they own---that is the 'hook' I use to engage them. It also becomes a means of giving something back to the community, both now and in the future," Harlan once expounded. "Using the outdoors as a major part of my teaching focus blends with the interests of the students, is real science, and the excitement of the students has validated that approach." Harlan has organized his students in a salmon restoration project, a tree planting project, and a litter disposal campaign in his home town.

In addition to teaching, Harlan spends his summers as a ranger naturalist and wildfire fighter at Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, and he has also served the National Park Service as a photographer. Furthermore, Harlan educates fellow teachers at the American Wilderness Leadership School in Jackson, Wyoming.

Harlan has been recognized with over twenty-five awards and honors for his work as an educator and as a  in conservation ecologist, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching and the National Conservation Teacher of the Year in 2004. In 2005, he received a Walt Disney Company Teacher Award. Additionally, Harlan has been inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Zitkala Sa: Music Teacher and Native American Rights Activist

One of the most amazing chalkboard champions and political activists in American history is Native American Zitkala Sa, whose Indian name translated means Red Bird.

This remarkable educator was born on February 22, 1876, on the Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Her father, an American of European descent, abandoned his family, leaving his young daughter to be raised alone by her Native American mother. Despite her father's absence, Zitkala Sa described her childhood on the reservation as a time of freedom and joy spent in the loving care of her tribe.

In 1884, when she was just eight years old, missionaries visited the reservation and removed several of the Native American children, including Zitkala Sa, to Wabash, Indiana. There she was enrolled in White's Manual Labor Institute, a school founded by Quaker Josiah White for the purpose of educating "poor children, white, colored, and Indian." She attended the school for three years until 1887, later describing her life there in detail in her autobiography The School Days of an Indian Girl. In the book she described her despair over having been separated from her family, and having her heritage stripped from her as she was forced to give up her native language, clothing, and religious practices, and to cut her long hair, a symbolic act of shame among Native Americans. Her deep emotional pain, however, was somewhat brightened by the joy and exhilaration she felt in learning to read, write, and play the violin. Zitkala Sa became an accomplished musician.

After completing her secondary education in 1895, the young graduate enrolled at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, on a scholarship. The move was an unusual one, because at that time higher education for women was not common. In 1899, Zitkala Sa accepted a position as a music teacher at Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Here she became an important role model for Native American children who, like herself, had been separated from their families and relocated far from their home reservations to attend an Indian boarding school. In 1900, the young teacher escorted some of her students to the Paris Exposition in France, where she played her violin in public performances by the school band. After she returned to the Carlisle School, Zitkala Sa became embroiled in a conflict with the Carlisle's founder, Colonel Richard Henry Pratt, when she expressed resentment over the rigid program of assimilation into the dominant white culture that Pratt advocated, and the fact that the school's curriculum did not encourage Native American children to aspire to anything beyond lives spent as manual laborers.

As a political activist, Zitkala Sa devoted her energy and talent towards the improvement of the lives of her fellow Native Americans. She founded the National Council of American Indians in 1926 and served as its president until her death in 1938. She traveled around the country delivering speeches on controversial issues such as Native American enfranchisement, their full citizenship, Indian military service in World War I, corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the apportionment of tribal lands. In 1997 she was selected as a Women's History Month Honoree by the National Women's History Project.

Zitkala Sa: a national treasure and a genuine chalkboard champion.

If interested, you can read more about the Carlisle Indian School in my book, Chalkboard Champions, available from amazon.

Digital Story: American Veteran and Teacher Henry Alvin Cameron

Here is a digital story about American veteran and science teacher Henry Alvin Cameron. Enjoy!

Find out more about this remarkable historical figure in my book, Chalkboard Heroes, available from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.com.

Terry Marzell appears at Corona Public Library's Book-a-Paloosa event

I was so excited to be invited to participate in this year's annual Book-a-Paloosa event at the Corona Public Library in Corona, California, last Tuesday, June 9. Here I am at my local author booth with copies of my books, Chalkboard Champions and Chalkboard Heroes.

The event was jam-packed with lively music, good food, exciting dances, home-made crafts, and, of course, other local authors. The public library staff was promoting their summer reading program, Read to the Rhythm. What a wonderful way to start a summer vacation!

Meet elementary schoolteacher, author, and Hollywood screenwriter Mary Elizabeth Vroman

Many talented educators can also claim fame as accomplished authors. This is true of Mary Elizabeth Vroman, an elementary school teacher who was also the author of several books and short stories, including "See How They Run," an award-winning short story that became the basis for a movie entitled Bright Road.

Mary was born circa 1924 in Buffalo, New York, and was raised in Antigua in the British West Indies. Like three generations of women educators in her family before her, Mary attended Alabama State Teachers College, now known as Alabama State University, in Montgomery Alabama, where she graduated in 1949. After her graduation, Mary accepted her first teaching position at an elementary school in rural Alabama. She later taught in Chicago and New York. Her teaching career spanned twenty years.

Following in the footsteps of three generations of women educators on her mother's side, she prepared for a teaching career at Alabama State Teachers College (now Alabama State University), - See more at: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2334#sthash.JuGKwRbV.dpuf

Following in the footsteps of three generations of women educators on her mother's side, she prepared for a teaching career at Alabama State Teachers College (now Alabama State University), - See more at: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2334#sthash.JuGKwRbV.dpuf

Following in the footsteps of three generations of women educators on her mother's side, she prepared for a teaching career at Alabama State Teachers College (now Alabama State University), - See more at: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2334#sthash.JuGKwRbV.dpuAlabama State Teachers College, now known as Alabama State Teachers College, in Montgomery, Alabama, where she graduated in 1949. After her graduation from college, Elizabeth became a schoolteacher in Alabama, Illinois, and New York. Her career spanned twenty years.

Mary published her first short story, "See How They Run," in the June, 1951, issue of Ladies' Home Journal. The story, based on her experiences in the classroom, generated five hundred enthusiastic letters from readers. Like most of her works, the story depicted the challenges of poverty and disadvantage. The plot revolves around a young, idealistic teacher who encourages her students to escape their poverty through education, and compares the forty-three third graders in the story to the blind mice in the familiar children's nursery rhyme. Mary describes the teacher's struggle to provide academic, financial, and emotional support for her students and their families so that they can achieve success. The piece earned the coveted Christopher Award in 1952 for its humanitarian quality. It was reprinted in the July, 1952, issue of Ebony.

Next, Mary served as a technical adviser and assistant screenwriter for the 1953 film version. The title of the story was changed to Bright Road, and starred Dorothy Dandridge and Harry Belafonte. Mary's work on the film earned her admission to the Screen Actors' Guild; she was their first African American woman member.

Vroman's "See How They Run" tells the story of a young, idealistic teacher encouraging her students to escape from their impoverished environment through education. Comparing the 43 third graders in the story to the blind mice in the familiar nursery rhyme, Vroman details the teacher's struggle to provide academic, financial, and emotional support for them and their families so that they can achieve success. - See more at: http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2334#sthash.JuGKwRbV.dpufIt was published in the Ladies' Home Journal in June, 1951. The piece earned the 1952 Christopher Award, and it was subsequently made into a 1953 film entitled Bright Road. Her work on the film earned her admittance to the Screen Writers Guild, the first African American woman to become a member of the distinguished organization.

Mary was married to Brooklyn dentist Dr. Oliver M. Harper. Sadly, Mary Elizabeth Vroman passed away on April 29, 1967, from complications following surgery. She was only 42 years old.

Roddy Lee: High School Teacher, Coach, and Olympic Athlete

In American history there are many examples of talented athletes who later became successful teachers and coaches. One such example is Roderick (Roddy) Lee, a retired high school business teacher and coach who represented the Republic of China (Taiwan) in the 1972 Munich Olympic games.

Roddy was born in the United States, but his family originally came from Taiwan. He grew up in Kensington, Contra Costa County, California, where he attended Kensington Hilltop Elementary, Portola Junior High, and nearby El Cerrito High School. This gifted athlete began running track while a student at El Cerrito. As a high school athlete, "I liked the hurdles best," he once said. "It was a little more exciting and the races were a little faster."


Following his high school graduation in 1967, Roddy enrolled in UC Berkeley, where he was a business major and member of the track team. In 1970, he was approached by a Taiwanese official who invited him to compete for Taiwan at the Asian Games in Bangkok. At the time, Roddy, whose Chinese name is Lee Chung-Ping, had dual citizenship with the United States and the Republic of China. Roddy agreed to represent Taiwan. "I hit a hurdle in the highs -- I was the favorite there going in," he said. "In the intermediates, I lost on a lean. But that's how it goes. I can say that now." Despite this setback, by the time the games were over, Roddy had won two silver medals.

Roddy also represented Taiwan in the 1972 Olympics, finishing 35th overall in the 110 hurdles. "There were only four guys on the track team," Roddy said. "A long jumper, a triple jumper, a sprinter, and me. And that was our relay team." The 1972 Olympics are best remembered for the Palestinian terrorist attack that left eleven Israeli athletes and coaches dead. The games were halted for one day for a memorial service. The rest of the Taiwanese team returned home on its scheduled flight. The one-day delay meant that Roddy was the last Taiwanese athlete left in Munich to carry the national flag for the closing ceremonies.


During his senior year of college, Roddy decided to become a track coach. He earned his degree and teaching credential, then coached track at Kennedy High School for ten years. Then Roddy transferred to his alma mater, El Cerrito High School, where he coached track and golf, taught computer science and physical education, and led his school's IT team until his retirement.

In his retirement, Roddy is still very much a part of his school. He is actively working on the El Cerrito High School Archiving Project, an effort to preserve the school’s history. The effort is fitting and proper, because he is part of that history. Lee holds a spot in the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame.