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.

MO teacher Vanessa Thomson earns Milken Educator Award

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Elementary school teacher Vanessa Thomson of Gladstone, Missouri, has garnered a prestigious Milken Educator Award. Photo credit: North Kansas City Schools

I always enjoy sharing an inspirational story about a talented educator who has earned accolades for work in the classroom. Today’s story is about elementary school teacher Vanessa Thomson of Gladstone, Missouri. She has garnered a prestigious Milken Educator Award for 2023.

Vanessa teaches second grade at Chapel Hill Elementary School in her home town of Gladstone. In a career that spans 15 years, Vanessa has spent all of them at Chapel Hill. The honored educator has accomplished amazing results with her students. Last year, her kids demonstrated significant growth in all content areas, with 70% ending the year reading at or above grade level and more than 90% mastering most math standards. Because her school’s population of English language learners (ELLs) has grown in recent years, Vanessa has focused on building a variety of language development strategies. And her hard work has yielded the desired results. In spring 2022, 89% of her ELL students demonstrated mastery on all priority standards, up from 25% at the beginning of the school year.

On her campus, Vanessa has a reputation for being a passionate advocate for her students. And her devotion doesn’t end when they leave her classroom. “I follow up with them. I have been invited to graduations and parties,” Vanessa says. “The kids my first year of teaching are graduating from college,” she continues. “If one of them wants to be a teacher or they receive some encouragement from me that takes them on a positive path, I have done my job. After all, it was my first-grade teacher that inspired me to be a teacher,” she concludes.

In addition to working with students in her classroom, Vanessa serves as a facilitator for Chapel Hill’s leadership team, she is a member of her District’s strategic plan action team, and she mentors new and beginning teachers. She also serves as a District demonstration teacher for writing, hosting teachers from across the district for lesson observations and sharing of best practices.

Vanessa earned a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, in 2008. She earned her Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, in 2013.

The Milken Educator Awards are hailed by Teacher magazine as the “Oscars of Teaching.” For more than 35 years, the program has recognized excellence in the world of education by honoring top educators around the country with a $25,000  cash prize. The honor includes membership in the National Milken Educator Network, a group of more than 2,700 exemplary professional educators from all over the country. To learn more, click on Milken Educator Awards.

Add Chalkboard Champions to your summer reading list!

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Over the years, many people have asked me what inspired me to write my first book Chalkboard Champions. I guess a large part of it had to do with coming home every night after spending another day investing my ALL into my kids, my lesson plans, my classroom, lugging a pile of papers to grade the size of Mount Everest back and forth to school, and then coming home to turn on the television, only to hear some politician or news commentator bemoaning the sad condition of “failing schools.” How demoralizing!

Anyone who spends any time at all in schools knows that there is much more success than failure going on there! In any work environment I have been a part of in the forty years of my work history, I have never seen a more hardworking, dedicated group of individuals than the teachers, administrators, and support staff that worked at my school. And because I communicate with teachers from all over the country, I can tell this dedication and work ethic are shared by professional educators everywhere. The world is full of amazing teachers, and these Chalkboard Champions, present and past, need to be celebrated!

I love to share stories about remarkable teachers, and there are so many wonderful and inspirational stories to be told! I simply selected twelve of them throughout American history to explore in my book. My hope is that these stories will revive the spirit of the professional educator and cultivate respect and appreciation for the teaching profession from the general public. Why not add these stories to your summer reading list? The book can be found on amazon at the following link: Chalkboard Champions.

Former Minnesota science teacher Jeff Isaacson is also an Olympic athlete

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Olympic athlete Jeff Isaacson taught junior high school science courses in Gilbert, Minnesota. Photo credit: Time Magazine

There are a few examples in our country’s history when an outstanding athlete is also an educator. One of these is Jeff Isaacson, a former science teacher from Minnesota who  competed in the Olympic Games—twice!

Jeff was born on July 14, 1983, in Virginia, Minnesota. Even as a boy, he expressed an interested in the sport of curling. As a young man, he attended Bemidi State University, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Science, and the University of Wisconsin, Superior, where he earned his Master’s degree in Teaching Administration.

In 2010, Jeff worked as a substitute teacher in Gilbert Junior High School in Gilbert, Minnesota. Eventually, he was offered a permanent position as a science teacher at Eveleth-Gilbert Junior High. He instructed courses in chemistry, Earth science, and life science to students in grades six through eight.

While earning his living as a teacher, Jeff formed a curling team and developed his talents as an athlete. In 2007, he captured a World University Gold Medal title in Italy. In 2009, the team captured the Moncton World Men’s Championship title. In both 2010 and 2014, Jeff and his team competed in the Winter Olympics. In the 2010 Games, which were held in Vancouver, Canada, the men finished in 10th place. In the 2014 Games, which were held in Sochi, Russia, the team finished in 9th place.

As a send-off to the Olympics, a special assembly was held at the school. His kids presented him a jumbo-sized gold medal and chanted encouraging slogans. “The students were so excited about it,” Jeff recalled. “They all had these signs with my picture on it. What a nice thing they did,” he continued.

Currently, Jeff works as the Curling Center Manager at the Chaska Curling Center in Chaska, Minnesota.

 

Elem teacher Melissa Kmetz named Ohio’s 2023 Teacher of the Year

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Elementary school teacher Melissa Kmetz has been named as her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Ohio State Department of Education

I always enjoy sharing stories about exceptional teachers who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. Today, I shine a spotlight on Melissa Kmetz, an elementary school teacher from Cortland, Ohio. She has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Melissa was raised in Campbell, Ohio, where she graduated from Campbell Memorial High. At the time of her graduation, she earned a full academic scholarship to Youngstown State University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, summa cum laude, in 2003. She earned a Master’s degree as a Reading Specialist from Youngstown in 2007. That year, she earned the ETS Recognition of Excellence award. She has also completed courses at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Once she earned her degree, Melissa inaugurate her career as an educator in Salem, Ohio, where she taught first grade. While there, she garnered a Martha Holden Jennings Grant to Educators, which she used to fund a literacy lending library. Later she relocated to Lakeview Local Schools, where she has been teaching ever since. In all, her career as a professional educator spans 20 years.

Currently, Melissa teaches third grade at Lakeview Elementary School, where she has been since 2006. She has a reputation for being a strong advocate for culturally diverse curriculum, global education, and student activism. In fact, in 2010, the honored teacher developed a Change the World Project in her school district. Through this project, for the past 12 years, Melissa’s students have been activists, developing charitable projects to benefit those in need both in their community and abroad. Over the years, these projects have included support globally to help those experiencing hunger, offering assistance to individuals impacted by natural disasters, helping to grant the wishes of terminally ill children, creating comfort kits for children in foster care, and supporting local animal shelters.

Melissa can really see the value in these projects. “It’s just really getting them to see that their hard work can reach out into the community and also other countries, as well,” she asserts. “That there’s a reason they’re doing everything. Not just that ‘A’ on a paper, but that they can use what they know to make the world a better place,” she concludes.

Indeed, Melissa.