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.

Wisconsin’s Katelyn Winkel-Simmerman garners recognition

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Middle school math teacher Katelyn Winkel-Simmerman has been recognized as one of her state’s five Teachers of the Year for 2024. Photo credit: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Congratulations are due to Katelyn Winkel-Simmerman, a middle school educator from Cedar Grove, Wisconsin. She has been named one of five teachers in the state of Wisconsin who earned 2024 Teacher of the Year recognition.

Katelyn teaches mathematics to fifth graders at Cedar Grove-Belgium Middle School. She has taught at the school for the past six years. Students and staff say Katelyn. has a reputation for having a warm demeanor, empathetic nature, and upbeat attitude. “You feel valued when you are a student in Mrs. Simmerman’s classroom,” says the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in a statement published on Facebook. “If you miss the bus and come in late for the third time that week, she greets you with a smile and tells you she’s glad you are here,” the statement continues. “If you are having a rough time at home, she provides a cozy space in her classroom to rest your thoughts because she knows you need a clear mind to learn at your best,” the statement concludes.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Katelyn serves as the adviser for her school’s Student Council. In this capacity, she works with students to plan events and provide meaningful opportunities beyond the classroom which have a positive effect on her school and community.

In addition to her Teacher of the Year recognition, Katelyn was one of two teachers out 100 applicants who garnered a Herb Kohl Fellowship Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Classroom.

Katelyn earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 2015 and her Master’s in Teaching and Learning with an emphasis in Math Intervention in 2019, both from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh.

SD teacher Naomi Last Horse Black Elk serves Native American students

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Teacher Naomi Last Horse Black Elk speaks with one of her students at a unique school that integrates Native American culture, history, and language into lesson plans. Photo Credit: South Dakota News Watch

Many excellent Native American educators serve students of their own culture very well. One of these is Naomi Last Horse Black Elk, a teacher of Oglala Lakota descent. Naomi serves as an educator of Native American culture at the Oceti Sakowin Community Academy located in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Naomi was born and raised in Kyle, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in K-12th Lakota Studies Education from Oglala Lakota College. Raised by her grandparents in a traditional setting, the Lakota language was always spoken in the home. As a young girl, many things were taught to the children in her community, including beading, sewing, preparing traditional foods, foraging, harvesting, and butchering meat, She has been teaching Lakota language for over 11 years.

In her classroom, Naomi uses evidence-based, culturally-focused teaching methods, curriculum, and environments that are intended to improve the academic performance of her young students.

Naomi takes her position as a role model very seriously. “I became an educator to inspire, promote and contribute to the seventh generation, through language, culture and values,” she explains. “I promote indigenous education through speaking always, listening always, and encouraging always to our young ones to learn our language whenever and wherever, the goal is to never stop,” she continues.

In Naomi’s classroom, students encounter an environment that is decorated with Lakota numbers, letters, and translations. She creates lessons from books by Native authors and Native folk tales. She encourages a spirit of kinship among her students, who often refer to one another as “cousins.”

To learn more about Naomi and the unique school where she teaches, click on this link to an article about her published by South Dakota News Watch.

Washington educator Gina Behens builds literacy through books

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Elementary school educator Gina Behrens from the state of Washington helps. her students build literacy through books. Photo credit: Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

There are many excellent teachers who work in our nation’s classrooms, and one of them is Gina Behens, an elementary school educator from the state of Washington. She helps her students build literacy through books.

Gina is an academic interventionist and instructional coach at Seth Woodard Elementary School in the West Valley School District in Spokane. In a career that spans 29 years, she’s worked at Woodard Elementary since 2013. Over the years, Gina has earned universal  respect from her students, families, and co-workers. She is described by her peers as an energetic, creative, hard-working professional who delivers high-quality instruction to struggling students.

This dedicated educator is a passionate literacy leader who works very hard to build a culture of reading, both inside and outside of the classroom. She has secured numerous grants in her efforts to create greater access to books for students, families, and classroom libraries. Many students in the school regularly visit her classroom’s lending library, which is available to everyone. Often students will find a hand-delivered book left on their desk with a personal note from Gina that encourages them to try a book she selected especially for them. And she has hosted over 50 family engagement events she organized to increase knowledge, confidence, and skills in literacy.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Gina is a member of her school’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) leadership team, the school leadership team, and the child study team.

For her work as an educator, Gina has been named the 2023 NorthEast Washington Educational School District 101 (NEWESD) Teacher of the Year. She also earned the Above and Beyond Award in 2021, an accolade that recognized her for being an outstanding educator.

 

Capri Bell Salaam named Arkansas 2023 Teacher of the Year

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Arkansas middle school teacher Capri Bell Salaam has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Linked In

As a former junior high school teacher myself, I know that teaching at this grade level requires an extra amount of love, patience, and creativity. Capri Bell Salaam, a junior high school teacher from Arkansas, certainly possesses all these qualities. In fact, she is so wonderful at her work that she has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year!

Capri currently teaches seventh and eighth graders at North Little Rock Middle School. On her campus, she has been recognized as a one-of-a-kind educator dedicated to the development of the whole child. But that is not all she is known for. Students and colleagues alike say they appreciate her “over-the-top” lessons that make learning fun. She dances through the hallways, sometimes in costume, and ignites her students’ interest, fostering excitement for learning with innovative best practices.

“I bring it to life with hands-on activities, where they can experience it even though it happened in the past,” declares Capri. “For history to really resonate with our kids, they have to breathe it, feel it, speak it,” she asserts. Under her guidance, her students conduct a crime scene investigation into the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth. Or the students dress in laboratory coats to do a mock autopsy of an injury-ridden President Andrew Jackson, to determine the state of his health and whether his health conditions—including bullets lodged in his torso as the result of a duel—affected his mental health and leadership abilities. In still another lesson, balls of paper are used to re-enact trench warfare. But this is not where the learning ends, Capri says. “We do tie it into the present. We do find the parallels from the past and modern times.”

Capri earned her Bachelor’s in English and Literature from the University of Central Arkansas in 2008. In addition, she earned a Master’s degree in Secondary Education and Teaching from Arkansas Tech University in 2016, and a second Master’s degree in Special Education at Harding University. She also completed the requirements for a Graduate Certificate in Instructional Technology from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock, in 2023.

After earning her degrees, Capri inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as a third grade teacher at Little Rock Preparatory Academy. She worked there two years, and then transitioned to North Little Rock Middle School, where she has spent the last eight years. She teaches Social Studies and English/Language Arts, and serves as a Special Education Resource teacher. In addition to working with her students, Capri provides professional development and coaching to other teachers on her campus in order to improve the overall instructional program. Recently she has joined the Adjunct Faculty at Arkansas Tech University.

Outside of the classroom, Capri also contributes to her community by volunteering with local charities.

How America’s educators contribute to our democracy

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As we celebrate the birth of our country today, I am reminded of the role our nation’s many Chalkboard Champions have played throughout history to preserve and perpetuate the freedoms we all enjoy.

Classroom educators teach our children about our nation’s rich heritage, our culture, our history, and our system of government. They lead children in the creation of hand-traced turkeys at Thanksgiving, teach them the words and music to our patriotic songs, design lessons about the accomplishments of our presidents and social reformers such as political activist Martin Luther King and labor leader Cesar Chavez, remind students of the contributions of our veterans, and organize patriotic festivities throughout the year. Our teachers even educate our kids about our failures so that we can become a better democracy.

And let’s not forget that many of our nation’s courageous teachers have become, themselves, a part of our country’s historical record. There are many fine examples. Think of Olive Mann Isbell, the Ohio teacher who was one of many pioneers who established a school in the Wild West frontier, or Christa McAuliffe, the New Hampshire history teacher who became the first educator in space. Think of Henry Alvin Cameron, the Tennessee science teacher who sacrificed his life for freedom in the WWI Battle of the Argonne Forest; or Robert Parris Moses, the New York City math teacher who played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. Think of Carrie Chapman Catt, the Iowa teacher who dedicated her life to earning the right to vote for women, and Zitkala-Sa, the South Dakota teacher who worked to secure the vote for Native Americans.

From sea to shining sea, there are thousands of teachers in our nation’s history who have made contributions to our society in large ways or quiet ways as veterans, activists, and supporters of our democracy. We thank them all for the freedoms we celebrate today.

You can read about some of these heroic teachers in my first book, Chalkboard Champions, or in my second book, Chalkboard Heroes, both available on amazon.