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.

PA’s Cynthia Stevens named a 2023 Extraordinary Educator

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Elementary math teacher Cynthia Stevens has been named an Extraordinary Educator, class of 2023, by Curriculum Associates. Photo Credit: Cynthia Stevens

There are many talented and dedicated educators working in American public schools. One of these is Cynthia Stevens, an elementary teacher from Shillington, Pennsylvania. She has been named an Extraordinary Educator for the class of 2023 by Curriculum Associates.

Cynthia teaches mathematics to fourth graders at Mifflin Park Elementary in the Governor Mifflin School District. Cynthia is quite definitely an ambassador for her subject area, and her enthusiasm for her subject is one of the greatest tools in her teaching arsenal. “Positive ‘mathitude’ is contagious. If you act like it is the best thing in the world, they will believe it!” she declares.

Cynthia says she credits her success in the classroom to data-driven instruction. “Data-driven instruction is important because children need different things,: she asserts, “and data will show us what their needs are.” She says that her motto about data-driven instruction comes from one of her favorite quotes. “Children are not things to be molded, but rather people to be unfolded,” she says.

Click on this link to learn more about Curriculum Associates. Click on this link to read about other educators who have been named Extraordinary Educators.

CA PE teacher and baseball coach Tim Steele was once drafted by the Kansas City Royals

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California’s Tim Steele was once drafted by the Kansas City Royals. Instead, he chose to pursue a career as a physical education teacher and baseball coach. Photo Credit: Legacy.com

Often, individuals with superior athletic ability go on to become excellent athletic coaches. This is certainly true of James Timothy Steele—known to all as Tim—a baseball player who taught physical education teacher and coached baseball for many years.

Tim was born in Compton, California, on Jan. 20, 1950, and raised in the nearby city of Downey. As a youngster, he played baseball, standing out as a left-handed first baseman.

After his high school graduation, Tim was drafted by the Kansas City Royals, but chose instead to pursue his education by enrolling at Cerritos Junior College. There he led the school’s team to two championships, and was named the All-Conference Most Valuable Player. After two years at Cerritos, Tim was offered a full-ride athletic scholarship to attend the University of California (USC). While playing for the USC Trojans, he scored a 347 batting average, which put him in tenth place in Trojan history. Twice he was named an All-Conference honoree, and twice he was named a member of the All-College World Series Team, in 1971 and 1972.

Tim also represented the United States in the Pan American Games, earning a silver medal. This accomplishment earned him a meeting with then-President Richard Nixon. Tim went on to play four seasons in the minor leagues for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 1979, Tim joined the staff at Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead, California. There he worked as a physical education teacher and coached baseball and football. Later, he joined the coaching staff at the University of Redlands in Redlands, and he also completed a stint as a baseball coach at San Bernardino Valley College. By the time Tim retired as an educator and coach in 2011, his career working with young people had spanned 30 years.

Sadly, Tim passed away on Dec. 17, 2022, following a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. To read more about Tim Steele, see this obituary published by Legacy.com.

Ashley Lockwood named the 2023 State Teacher of the Year for Delaware

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Elementary school teacher Ashley Lockwood named the 2023 Teacher of the year for the state of Delaware. Photo Credit: University of Delaware

It is always a pleasure to share the story of an exceptional educator who has earned honors for their work with young people. One such educator is Ashley Lockwood, an elementary teacher who has been named the 2023 Teacher of the Year for the state of Delaware. Ashley earned the honor in recognition for her superior ability to inspire students with a love of learning, her exemplary demonstration of professional traits, and her strong sense of dedication and devotion to teaching.

Not intending originally to become a teacher, Ashley earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Delaware. Once she discovered her love for the classroom, she earned her Master’s degree in Education from Wilmington University.

In 2013, Ashley inaugurated her career in Maryland teaching special education. She stayed in that position for three years. In 2016, she relocated to Lulu Ross Elementary School in Milford, Delaware. There she teaches fourth and fifth grade inclusion classes. Currently, she teaches the fifth grade Spanish immersion program.

One of Ashley’s favorite books to use in the classroom is The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. The volume tells the story of a Korean girl who moves to the United States. The girl is embarrassed to tell her classmates her name because she’s afraid they will mispronounce it or make fun of her. Ashley says this book helps her show her students how important it is for everyone to create a welcoming environment in the class.

In her continued pursuit of inclusion, in 2020 Ashley founded an Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee for the Milford Education Association. The committee is dedicated to advocating for both students and staff members of color. As the Chair of the committee, she collaborates with colleagues to work towards finding solutions to issues that have to do with inequality.

In addition, Ashley is a member of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League Young Professionals, and she serves as the Kent County Committee Chair. In this role, she develops community service programs for underserved communities. She is also a mentor for new teacher in her district, and she serves as a member of her school’s Positive Behavior Supports Committee.

To read more about Ashley Lockwood, see this article about her published by the University of Delaware.

Teacher Carter Godwin Woodson: The Father of Black History

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Carter Godwin Woodson, the American school teacher who created Black History Month, an annual celebration of the many outstanding contributions African Americans have made to our country. Photo credit: Public Domain

This February, educators all over the country are sharing Black History Month with their students. The observance is an annual celebration of the many important  contributions African Americans have made to American society. But did you know that Black History Month, itself, was the brainchild of a brilliant African American teacher?

Carter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950)  is credited with organizing and advocating annual Black History Month celebrations in American schools, starting in 1926. Certainly this is an admirable accomplishment in and of itself, but there is so much more to learn about this outstanding educator.

Did you know that, as a youngster, Carter was forced to work on the family farm rather than attend school? Nevertheless, he taught himself to read using the Bible and local newspapers. He didn’t finish high school until he was 20 years old. Did you know that he once worked as a coal miner in Fayette County, West Virginia, and then later went back there to teach school to the children of Black coal miners, serving as a personal role model for using education as a means to get out of the mines? And did you know that Carter taught school in the Philippines, and then became the supervisor of schools, which included duties as a trainer of teachers, there?

This Chalkboard Champion was one of the first to study African American history, to collect data, oral histories, and documents, and to publish his findings in a scholarly magazine he published, The Journal of Negro History. For these accomplishments, and many more, Carter Godwin Woodson has been called the “Father of Black History.”

To read more about this fascinating historical figure, check out the chapter I have written about him in my first book, Chalkboard Champions.

Music educator Heather Rosner honored by Alexandria Chamber of Commerce

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Music educator Heather Rosner of Alexandria, Virginia, named a “40 Under 40” honoree by the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce. Photo Credit: Northern Virginia Magazine

Here’s an absolutely amazing music teacher whose story I would like to share. Her name is Heather Rosner, and she teaches at George Mason Elementary School in Alexandria Virginia. In 2022, Heather was named a “40 Under 40” honoree by the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.

Heather’s employment at Mason Elementary spans 12 years. Over this period, the honored educator has expanded the school’s music program to include every student in the fourth and fifth grades. But clearly, the most challenging period of her career took place during the Covid pandemic. When schools were closed down, Heather adapted her music program by providing wind, brass, and percussion instruments for every one of her 120 students to practice with at home. She made home visits, tuning and repairing the instruments, and supplementing her virtual instruction with one-on-one tutorials.

Once schools were re-opened at the start of the 2021-2022 school year, Heather’s District’s protocols did not allow for wind instruments, and students were required to wear masks at all times while in the classroom. Heather adapted to those conditions, too. “I totally changed what music looked like at our school,” she explains. She introduced her students to the bass guitar, drums, and ukuleles.

Heather, who was born in Rockville, Maryland, earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education from Ithaca College in New York. She also studied with a drum and gyil ensemble in Ghana. The gyil is a traditional West African wooden xylophone.

In June 2022, Heather was named to the “40 Under 40” list created by the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce. Each honoree, says the Chamber, was selected for their professional accomplishments, scholastic achievement, community impact, and personal story. In September 2022, Heather was named a finalist for Northern Virginia Magazine’s Teacher of the Year awards. Her nomination came as the result of widespread praise from her students’ families.

To read more about Heather Rosner, see this article published about her by Ithaca College.