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.

SD elementary teacher Abby Turbak garners 2022 Milken Educator Award

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South Dakota elementary school teacher Abby Turbak has garnered a prestigious 2022 Milken Educator Award. Photo Credit: Watertown Public Opinion

I always enjoy sharing an inspirational story about a talented educator who has earned accolades for her work in the classroom. Today’s story is about Abby Turbak, an elementary school teacher from Watertown, South Dakota. Abby has garnered a prestigious 2022 Milken Educator Award.

Abby teaches first grade at McKinley Elementary School in the Watertown School District. Her career has spanned 13 years, the last eight of them at McKinley. In addition to her work with her first-graders, this hardworking educator has served on her District’s Progress and Curriculum Committees and her school’s McKinley’s Response to Intervention team. She also leads summer professional development sessions for District teachers on topics such as math grouping strategies, classroom management, technology, parent communication, and time management. When the pandemic closed the schools in 2020, Abby helped colleagues create their Google Classrooms to ensure students received high-quality instruction while learning at home.

Obviously, Abby was born to teach. “I became an educator because I wanted to make a difference,” she declares. “I love kids. I love seeing them learn and grow.” She earned the prestigious award in recognition of her efforts to maintain high expectations for her students, for expertly integrating technology into her curriculum, and for sharing her passion for professional development with her colleagues.

Abby earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 2010 and her Master’s degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education in 2011, both from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion.

The Milken Educator Awards have been described by Teacher Magazine as the “Oscars of Teaching.” In addition to a $25,000 cash prize and public recognition, the honor includes membership in the National Milken Educator Network, a group of more than 2,700 exemplary teachers, principals, and specialists from all over the country who work towards strengthening best practices in education. To learn more, click on Milken Educator Awards.

New Mexico teacher and pioneer Clara Belle Williams

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Clara Belle Williams, a beloved teacher in New Mexico, at the time of her college graduation from Prairie View College, 1905. Photo Credit: Blackpast

Many African American teachers are distinguished for their firsts. One of these is Clara Belle Williams, a beloved New Mexico educator who was the first Black student to graduate from New Mexico State University (NMSU).

Clara Belle Drisdale was born in Plum, Texas, in October 29, 1885. As a young woman, she attended Prairie View Normal and Independent College in Prairie View, Texas. The institution is now known as Prairie View A & M University. A brilliant and diligent student, Clara Belle was named valedictorian of her graduating class in 1908.

After her graduation from college, Clara Belle accepted a teaching position at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she taught for more than 20 years. During this time, Las Cruces public schools were segregated. While teaching in 1928, she enrolled in summer school courses at the New Mexico College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts (NMCA&MA). Shamefully, many of her professors would not allow her inside the classroom because she was Black. But that didn’t stop the intrepid teacher. She took notes from the hallway, while standing up. Clara Belle finally earned her Bachelor’s Degree in English from NMCA&MA in 1937. She was 51 years old at the time. Always a lifelong learner, Clara Belle continued her education well beyond her graduation date, taking graduate level classes into the 1950’s.

In 1917, Clara Belle married Jasper Williams. The union produced three sons: Jasper, James, and Charles. When her sons were grown, all three of them attended college and graduated with medical degrees.

During her lifetime, Clara Belle Williams was awarded many honors.  In 1961, New Mexico State University  named Williams Street on the main campus in her honor. Additionally, NMSU conferred an an honorary doctorate upon her in 1980. The university named Sunday, February 13, 200t, Clara Belle Williams Day. Included in the festivities was the renaming of the NMSU English Building as Clara Belle Williams Hall.

This remarkable educator passed away at the age of 108 on July 3, 1994, in Chicago, Illinois. She was interred at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. To learn more about Clara Belle, click on this link: New Mexico State University Library.

NY teacher Lynda Brennan earns prestigious PAEMST honors

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Congratulations go to elementary school math teacher Lynda Brennan of New York. She has earned a prestigious PAEMST. Photo Credit: Mt. Kisco Daily Voice

Congratulations to elementary school math teacher Lynda Brennan of Suffern, New York, an elementary math teacher who has earned a prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

This prestigious honor recognizes the dedication, hard work, and important role that America’s teachers play in supporting learners who will become future STEM professionals, including computer technologists, climate scientists, mathematicians, innovators, space explorers, and engineers. The honor comes with a $10,000 cash prize, a certificate signed by President Joe Biden, and a trip to Washington, DC, to attend an honors ceremony with the President.

Lynda has been a teacher at Richard P. Connor (RPC) Elementary School for 26 years. She inaugurated her elementary teaching career as a kindergarten teacher. She has also taught fifth grade mathematics and science. For the past 12 years, she has served her District as a mathematics specialist, working with area Math Ambassadors.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Lynda works with Association of Mathematics Teachers of New York State (AMTNYS) as a Conference Committee Chair; Ten County Mathematics Educators Association (TCMEA) as an NCTM Representative; NCTM as a volunteer magazine referee; and with the Rockland Teacher Center where she facilitates a grant-funded elementary mathematics regional Professional Learning Community. In addition, she has been a speaker at national, state, and local conferences, including the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics (NCSM), NCTM, AMTNYS, TCMEA, New Cubed, Building Math Minds and Minds on Math Virtual Summits, and the Penn Wood School in the United Kingdom.

As if all this were not enough, Lynda is the founder of the Math MileMarkers children’s book series, a project she inaugurated seven years ago. She says her philosophy behind this endeavor is that mathematics-infused stories can connect all learners to the subject of mathematics in visually powerful ways. The series includes such titles as  “Miss Penny Says Prove It!” (2014), “On my way to Grandma’s House” (2015), “Charlie in Fraction City” (2016), and “Jayla Number Navigator” (2018).

Lynda earned her Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Management in 1986 from Siena College in Loudonville, New York, and her Master’s degree in Elementary Education in 1990 from Fordham University in the Bronx, New York.

Ann Wager: A 17th-century teacher in Colonial Williamsburg

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Ann Wager was a 17th-century school mistress who taught at Bray School located in Colonial Williamsburg, pictured above. Photo Credit: Ben Franklin’s World

In this country, an emphasis on the importance of education and recognition for the essential role of dedicated and hardworking teachers goes way back to our very beginnings. One of these early teachers was Ann Wager, a 17th-century school mistress who taught in Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg.

Ann Wager was born in 1716. As a young girl, she was educated by her father, despite her mother’s resistance to the idea. Ann’s mother believed it was not proper for a young woman to learn or to support herself. When she came of age, Ann married William Wager of Williamsburg, and the couple lived with their children in colonial Williamsburg. After her husband’s passing in 1748, Ann was faced with the necessity of earning a living.

As a widow, Ann inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as tutor and governess to the white children of Carter Burrell of the Carter’s Grove Plantation in Williamsburg. She held this position for two years.

In 1760 Ann was hired to teach school in the Williamsburg Bray School. This move was in response to Ben Franklin’s recommendation that the town establish a school “for the instruction of Negro Children in the Principles of the Christian religion.” The Bray school was the first school established in the colony of Virginia for African American students, which was not at that time illegal. For her work as a school mistress, Bray Charities Association paid her the salary of £20 per year, plus housing. Each year, between 20 and 30 boys and girls aged three to ten years of age were enrolled in the school, where Ann taught Anglican religious doctrine, reading, spelling, grammar, writing, and general deportment. In addition, girls were taught knitting and sewing. Ann taught lessons seven days a week.

Ann taught school in Williamsburg for 14 years. Over that period of time, she taught nearly 400 students.  Even when her health began to fail, she continued to teach until her passing on Aug. 20, 1774.

To read more about this colonial Chalkboard Champion, see this article written about her in History of American Women.