Author Archives: Terry Lee Marzell
Charlotte Gardner: Educator and former member of the North Carolina House of Reps
One-time teacher Charlotte Gardner also served in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Photo credit: Summersett Funeral Home
Many excellent educators have also served their community as politicians. One of these is Charlotte Gardner, a one-time high school teacher who also served in the North Carolina House of Representatives.
Charlotte was born on Nov. 14, 1931, in Baltimore, Maryland. As a young girl, her family moved to Rockwell, North Carolina. There Charlotte graduated from Rockwell High School in 1949. After her graduation, she enrolled at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in English and French, cum laude, in 1952.
Once she earned her degrees, Charlotte settled in Salisbury, where she lived with her husband. Early in her marriage, Charlotte accepted a position as a teacher in public schools located in both Robeson and Jones Counties. Over time, Charlotte and her husband raised six children.
In 1984, Charlotte was elected on the Republican ticket to the North Carolina House of Representatives, where she represented the 35th District for 16 years, from 1985 to 2001. While there, she served as a member on the Committees for Aging, Appropriations, Education, Financial Institutions, and Judiciary. She also served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Women’s Legislative Caucus from 1999 to 2000. But her greatest passion was working to improving conditions for the mentally ill.
For her work as a legislator, Charlotte garnered many pretigious awards. She earned the Distinguished Service Award from the Rowan County Republican Party; the Appreciation Award from the Rowan Mental Health Coalition; the Valand Award for Outstanding Legislator in the Cause of Mental Health from the North Carolina Mental Health Association; the 1995 Legislator of the Year from the North Carolina Alliance for the Mentally Ill; and the David T. Flaherty Merit Service Award.
Sadly, this teacher and chalkboard politician passed away in Annapolis, North Carolina, on June 10, 2020. She was 88 years old.
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Teacher Librarian Melaney Sanchez creates experiential learning activities
Maryland Teacher Librarian Melaney Sanchez creates innovative experiential learning activities for her elementary school students. She was featured recently in an issue of George Washington’s Mount Vernon Magazine. Photo credit: Bay Weekly
One of the most valuable resources in our nation’s educational community is our Teacher Librarians. And one of the best of them is Melaney Sanchez, who works at an elementary school in Calvert County, Maryland. In fact, she was featured recently in an issue of George Washington’s Mount Vernon Magazine.
Melaney works with students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade at Mount Harmony Elementary School. There she supports the schools teachers as she works with students at every grade level throughout all their years at the school. And she is passionate about the work. “I adore my job and the possibilities it brings for programming an cultural arts,” she declares.
As a Teacher Librarian, Melaney creates experiential learning activities, and has especially focussed on activities that bring President George Washington and Mount Vernon into the curriculum. She organized a “wax museum” where fifth grade students chose to portray key historical figures such as Paul Revere, Deborah Sampson, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, and others. The students prepared a monologue, and when approached, they speak as that figure and remain in character to answer questions. “Historical figures must come alive to motivate students to ask for more,” Melaney asserts. “When students care they will seek more knowledge, more books, additional websites, and more experience in and out of school,” she continues. She notes that the effort encourages students to become lifelong learners.
The innovative Teacher Librarian also presents lessons that include debates between American patriots led by George Washington and loyalists led by King George. “They throughly enjoyed learning about how Washington used spies to outwit the British,” Melaney observes.
Melaney earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Studies, Language Arts, and Early Childhood Education from the University of Michigan, Flint, in 1992. She earned her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from McDaniel College. She completed the requirements for her PhD in Instructional Leadership from Notre Dame of Maryland University in 2012. Her career as an educator spans 26 years.
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VA educator Jennifer Hatch garners agriculture award
Middle school teacher Jennifer Hatch has won accolades for incorporating agriculture into her mathematics curriculum. Photo credit: Virginia Farm Bureau
Much to the delight of their students, some educators throughout the country are incorporating agriculture into their course curriculum. One of these is Jennifer Hatch, an award-winning middle school teacher teacher from Virginia.
Jennifer teaches mathematics at Franklin Middle School in Franklin County, Virginia. Because the class is inclusive, her students display a wide range of learning needs. Her course curriculum includes a unit on gardening with hydroponics, which she admits is one of her favorite units. In their garden, her students grow lettuce, basil, and cilantro year-round.
“The hydroponics project allowed me to present my students with a hands-on way to apply required math concepts while also integrating lessons about agriculture,” Jennifer reveals. The students collect data, record plant measurements and growth rates, and perform data analysis throughout the growing process. “It is gratifying to see the pride in their eyes when they harvest their plants,” she says. The students also gain a farm-to-table experience by preparing meals using the produce grown in their classroom. The students use math to budget and shop for additional ingredients, calculate recipe proportions, and work on serving sizes.
For her hydroponics unit, Jennifer has garnered a 2023 National Excellence in Teaching about Agriculture Award by the National Agriculture in the Classroom Organization, US Dept. of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Farm Credit. Each year the organizations partner to honor teachers in pre-K through 12th grade for innovative ways they are using agricultural concepts to teach reading, writing, math, science, social studies, and STEM.
Jennifer has also been honored as a 2024 Regional Teacher of the Year for Franklin County. Last year, she was named Franklin County Public School’s Teacher of the Year. In all, her career as an educator spans 25 years.
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Jimmy Day named Colorado’s 2023 Teacher of the Year
Middle school music educator Jimmy Lee Day II has been named the 2023 Colorado State Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Rocky Mountain PBS
It is always my pleasure to celebrate exceptional educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Jimmy Lee Day II, a band director from Aurora, Colorado. He has been named his state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. He is the first African American man to win the coveted recognition.
Jimmy teaches instrumental music to sixth graders, seventh graders, and eighth graders at East Middle School in Aurora. He has taught there since 2017. In a career that has spanned 14 years, he has expanded three struggling band programs in urban areas. He transformed each of them into award-winning programs, earning superior scores at district music festivals. In fact, as a result of his effective teaching, Jimmy was chosen to participate as a mentor in the Public Education & Business Coalition and the Aurora Public School Mentoring Community of Practice.
The honored educator says the core strategies to his success as a teacher are twofold: Connection and consistency. “From classroom management to how I rehearse my students to how I want my expectations—it’s consistent, it doesn’t change, it’s unbending. And then my connection—me making myself human just like you—and we make connections,” he asserts.
What inspired Jimmy to pursue a career as a music educator? “I am originally from Detroit,” he explains. “The band director at my middle school, Mrs. Knox, saw my potential to be a great instrumentalist. She helped me attend after-school practice twice a week. My parents did not have a car and the school was far from where I stayed. As a result, I wasn’t able to attend practice most of the time. She offered to take me home when I wasn’t able to get a ride,” he continues. “At the time, I figured she was just being nice, but reflecting on it as an older person, I see that she saw me as an investment in her program, and she made sure to invest in me as well,” he concludes.
Jimmy earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music at Tennessee State University in 2006. He earned his Master’s degree in Teaching at Trevecca Nazarene University in 2008.
