Author Archives: Terry Lee Marzell

About Terry Lee Marzell

Terry Lee Marzell holds a bachelor's degree in English from Cal State Fullerton and a master's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Cal State San Bernardino. She also holds a certificate for Interior Design Level 1 from Mt. San Antonio College. She has been an educator in the Corona Norco Unified School District for more than 30 years.

Texas teacher Caitlin Baumgarten earns Education Leadership Award

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Texas middle school teacher Caitlin Baumgarten has earned a 2023 Julius Glickman Education Leadership Award. Photo Credit: Caitlin Baumgarten

I am always eager to share the story of an outstanding teacher who has earned recognition for their work as a professional educator. One of these is Caitlin Baumgarten, a teacher from Texas who has garnered a 2023 Julius Glickman Education Leadership Award, an honor which recognizes exceptional leadership in the field of education.

Caitlin teaches Social Studies to sixth—eighth graders at A&M Consolidated Middle School in College Station. “I believe in teaching from the heart; in treating students with respect and dignity; in finding new, creative and engaging ways to spark a fire of interest in my students,” declares Caitlin. “In order to be a successful teacher, and to provide the best educational experience for all of my students, each moment in my classroom should be a positive experience for each student,” she asserts.

In addition to creating an engaging classroom environment and bringing history to life for her students, Caitlin enjoys helping other social studies teachers reach their students in new, exciting ways through her podcast, History Teachers Club.

“We history teachers love to say that our lessons ‘make history come alive’ but I have never quite seen that actually happen so much as it does in Caitlin’s classroom,” remarks colleague Daniel Lewer. “Her effort to make history truly come alive go beyond the room transformations and costumes. It fundamentally rests in the engaging lesson and rich content that her students have to wrestle with in her classroom,” he continues.

Caitlin earned her Bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with an emphasis in English/Language Arts and Social Studies from Texas A&M University in 2016. She also earned a minor in Political Science. She earned her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Grand Canyon University in 2021.

Humanities Texas, which bestows the Julius Glickman Education Leadership Award, presents annual statewide awards to Texas classroom teachers who have made exemplary contributions in teaching, curriculum development and extracurricular programming.

 

Oscar winners declare importance of music education

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Oscar-winning directors Ben Proudfoot (left) and Kris Bowers (right) pose with student musicians who were their guests at the 96th Oscars Awards ceremony on Sunday, March 10, 2024. Photo Credit: John Shearer, Black Entertainment Television, LLC

Composer and director Kris Bowers delivered remarks about the power and importance of music education during his Oscar acceptance speech on Sunday, March 10, 2024. He was recognized by the Motion Picture Academy for his film The Last Repair Shop, which he co-directed with Ben Proudfoot. The production garnered the Academy Award in the category of Best Documentary Short Film.

“Music education isn’t just about creating incredible musicians,” declared Bowers. “It’s about creating incredible humans,” he said. Bowers went on to explain the importance of music education in a time of increased technology usage by young people. “We’re living in pretty traumatic times and spending less than 30 seconds on Instagram I can feel pretty anxious and depressed,” asserts Bowers. “And you have so many kids that don’t have the tools to process those feelings,” he continued. “The arts are an incredibly important vehicle to communicate through these times.” Proudfoot added, “We hope young people will put down their phones and pick up a saxophone.”

The film’s subject matter shines a spotlight on the inspirational story of a Los Angeles workshop that repairs broken musical instruments that are loaned to over 80,000 public school students free of charge. Los Angeles Unified is the only big city school system that provides free bassoons, trombones, sousaphones, cellos, piccolos, and every other kind of instrument to their student musicians.

In this downtown workshop, a team of four technicians maintain the instruments. The four technicians profiled in the documentary are Dana Atkinson, who repairs stringed instruments; Duane Michaels, who works on woodwinds; Paty Moreno, who repairs brass instrument; and Steve Bagmanyan, who began as a piano tuner but has. now become supervisor of the shop.

Indiana Elem teacher Carol Pierobon Hofer earns Horace Mann Award

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Congratulations to Indiana educator Carol Pierobon Hofer. She has garnered a 2024 Horace Mann Award from the National Education Association Foundation. Photo Credit: National Board for Professional Standards

I am always excited to share the news when an outstanding educator earns recognition for their work in the classroom. Today, I share the news that Carol Pierobon Hofer, an elementary school teacher from Indiana, has just garnered a 2024 Horace Mann Award from the National Education Association Foundation.

Carol currently teaches classes in English as a New Language at Fox Hill Elementary in Indianapolis. The school has an enrollment of over 500 students, and 77% of them are minority students. Carol’s students are in grades one through five, she has taught students of all ages, from preschoolers to senior citizens. Her career as an educator spans 28 years.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Carol serves her school community as an interpreter, translator, and family liaison. Additionally, she is a member of the National Board Network of Accomplished Minoritized Educators (NAME) and mentors National Board candidates. She has served as a workshop leader and site visitor for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program.

Her selection as a Horace Mann Awardee is not the only recognition Carol has earned. She has been named a 2020-2022 WIDA Fellow by the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She earned this honor for her exemplary service to bilingual and multi-lingual students. Eleven years ago, she was a Fulbright Educator. During this period, she participated in an exchange in Uruguay.

Carol immigrated to the United States when she was 18 years old. A world traveler and polyglot, Carol says she feels at home in any part of the world.

Congratulations, Carol!

Math teacher Toru Kumon developed a learning system now used worldwide

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Japanese math teacher Toru Komon developed a learning system and tutoring program that has helped millions of students worldwide. Photo Credit: Kumon Institute of Education

Have you ever had a student who was enrolled in a Kumon tutoring center? These centers are immensely popular and extremely successful in helping students improve their academic skills. But did you know the learning system taught in these tutoring centers were developed by a Japanese math teacher named Toru Kumon?

Toru was born on March 26, 1914, in Kochi Prefecture, Japan. As a young man, he earned his degree in Mathematics from the College of Science at Osaka University. He then established a vigorous career as a high school math teacher in Osaka.

Despite his success as a professional educator, Toru discovered that his own son, Takeshi, was struggling to keep up in his own math class. In response, Toru conducted a careful examination of the boy’s textbooks, and came to the conclusion that the books failed to provide adequate opportunities for independent practice. To counter this, Toru designed a series of worksheets for Takeshi. Before long, Toru saw significant improvement in his son’s progress. After that, the teacher began using the strategy to tutor other children around the city.

By 1955, he established his first learning center, and in 1968, Toru retired from teaching to focus on his rapidly expanding educational service, which spread to the United States in 1974. The Kumon Learning System is designed to strengthen a student’s basic math and language skills by completing worksheets tailored to a student’s ability. The method also encourages students to learn independently and to study advanced material beyond their grade level. Even though Toru’s tutoring system emphasizes strategies considered old-fashioned by today’s standards, his Kumon Centers have enrolled millions of students around the world.

Sadly, Toru Kumon passed away in Osaka on July 25, 1995, from pneumonia. He was 81 years old. In his honor, the Toru Kumon museum was founded in Osaka. An asteroid, 3569 Kumon, was named after him. Additionally, the Kumon Foundation Day is celebrated each year on Oct. 20.

Emma Hart Willard: Influential educator and advocate for girls’ education

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Teacher Emma Hart Willard was one of the most influential educators in American history. Photo Credit: Public Domain

One of the most influential educators in American history was Emma Hart Willard, a teacher and women’s rights advocate from New England. In a time when most women were restricted to the role of homemakers, Emma advanced the cause of making higher education available for girls.

Emma was born on Feb. 23, 1787, in Berlin, Connecticut. Even at a young age, her intelligence was evident. Even though she was a female, her father nurtured her intellectual development. By the time she was 17 years old, Emma was teaching at the academy where she had been a student. By the time she was 19 she was the principal of the school.

In 1809, Emma married Dr. John Hart, and the couple had one son together. After her marriage, Emma and her family moved to Vermont. There she opened her own boarding school for girls. She taught her young students courses in science, mathematics, philosophy, geography, and history. The experience put her in a fine position to advocate for an institution of higher learning for female students.

In 1821, Emma persuaded the leadership of Troy, New York, to sponsor the founding of an institution of higher learning for girls. The school became known as the Troy Female Seminary, the first higher education institution for women in the country. The school was an immediate success, and upper class families began to send their daughters to Troy. Her example inspired other private institutions to open their doors to girls. Emma served as the principal of Troy Female Seminary until 1838. By that time, hundreds of graduates of the school—many of them teachers—had been shaped by her philosophy.

In addition to paving the way for advanced educational opportunities for girls in New York, Emma traveled widely throughout the country and in Europe, where she advocated more schools of higher learning be established. She founded an all-girls school in similar to the Troy School in Athens, Greece. She also wrote textbooks for American history and geography. In addition, she published a volume of poetry.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away on April 15, 1870, in Troy, New York. She is interred in Oakwood Cemetery in Troy. In 1905, Emma was inducted into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in Bronx, New York. She was also inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2013. The school that Emma Hart Willard founded in Troy still exists today, although it is now known as the Emma Willard School.

To read more about Emma Hart Willard, click on this link to Encyclopedia Britanica.