Author Archives: Terry Lee Marzell
Educator Joaquin Bustoz established AP program for Tempe students
Educator Joaquin Bustoz established an Advanced Placement math and science program for students in the Tempe Unified School District. Photo Credit: Arizona State University
There are many examples of brilliant educators who have offered their talents to improve high school instruction. One such educator was Joaquin Bustoz, Jr., a university math professor from Arizona who established an Advanced Placement program for high school students.
Joaquin was born on Dec. 30, 1939, in Tempe, Arizona, one of five children born to parents Joaquin, Sr., and Ramona. His parents, who were farm workers, also worked for their local schools, and were so revered that the Tempe Unified School District even named one of their elementary school after the couple.
In 1962, Joaquin earned his Bachelor’s degree in math from Arizona State University. Continuing his education at that institution, he earned his Master’s degree the following year, and in 1967 he completed the requirements for his PhD. After earning his doctorate, Joaquin became a professor of mathematics at the University of Cincinatti, where he taught from 1969 to 1976.
In 1985, Joaquin founded the Summer Math-Science Honors program for high school students under the auspices of the University of Arizona. Still in place today, the curriculum offers an Advanced Placement program that provides opportunities for under-represented students to study university mathematics and science while still enrolled in high school. He also devoted many hours to Native American students on the nearby Navajo and Pima Reservations.
For his outstanding work as an educator, Joaquin garnered numerous awards. For example, President Bill Clinton recognized Joaquin with the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, and Engineering (PAEMST) in 1996.
Sadly, this talented and dedicated educator was killed on Aug. 13, 2003, in an automobile accident. He is interred at Double Butte Cemetery in Tempe.
You can learn more about this outstanding Chalkboard Champion on the website of the Mathematical Association of America by clicking MAA. You can also learn more about the Advanced Placement program he founded at ASU Summer Math Program.
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Colorado teacher Cara Mentzel authors book with sister Idina Menzel
Anyone who works with kids surely knows the actress and singer Idina Menzel. Her Tony award-winning Broadway roles include Elphaba in Wicked and Maureen Johnson in Rent. Her blockbuster songs include “Let it Be” sung by the character Elsa in the Disney animated feature Frozen. Or maybe you know her from her many appearances as Shelby Corcoran in the television series Glee. But not many people know Idina’s sister, Cara Mentzel, an elementary school teacher in Boulder, Colorado. At least, they didn’t know the younger sister before now. (And her name really is spelled with the extra “T”.)
Cara earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, magna cum laude, from the University of Colorado in 1996. She earned her Master’s degree in Elementary Education with an emphasis on Children’s Literacy from the same university in 2008. In addition, she was designated a National Board certified reading teacher in 2011.
After earning her degrees, Cara taught elementary school, primarily second and third grades, for 13 years in classrooms in the Boulder Valley School District in Boulder, Colorado. For her work in the classroom, Cara has earned some prestigious recognition. She garnered the Barnes & Noble “My Favorite Teacher” award in the 2010-2011 academic year, and she was named to the Superintendent’s Honor Roll in 2011.
Former elementary teacher Cara Mentzel and her sister, singer and actress, Idina Menzel, have just published Loud Mouse, their first children’s book together. Photo Credit: Emejo Madrid
Cara and Idina have recently been interviewed on numerous daytime talk shows because the sisters have co-written a new book for young children. The volume, written for an audience aged 3-5 years, is entitled Loud Mouse. The book, illustrated by Jaclyn Sinquett, was published last month by Disney-Hyperion Press. The storyline revolves around the main character, a mouse named Dee, who was born to sing. Usually she performs just for herself, but when her teacher asks everyone to share something with their classmates, Dee decides to share a song. And as Dee sings la, la, la, la, LOUDly in front of her class for the first time, something extraordinary happens. . . .
Loud Mouse is not Cara’s first published book. Voice Lessons: A Sisters Story is a first-hand account of a younger sister growing up in the shadow of her larger-than-life older sister—looking up to her, wondering how they were alike and how they were different and, ultimately, learning how to live her own life and speak in her own voice. The book was published in 2017 by St. Martin’s Press.
Today, Cara devotes her considerable talent to writing, but on occasion she can still be found back in the classroom, speaking to kids about her favorite books. Idina and Cara are currently working on their second book together, a sequel to Loud Mouse entitled Proud Mouse.
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Chicago teacher Vivian Paley promoted the value of child play in the classroom
Chalkboard Champion Vivian Paley: Kindergarten teacher, early childhood education research, author, and passionate advocate for child play in the classroom. Photo Credit: The New York Times
One of the most remarkable teachers I have been reading about recently is Vivian Paley, a pre-school and kindergarten teacher, early childhood education researcher, and author originally from Chicago, Illinois. She devoted her lengthy career to proving the value of storytelling and fantasy play in the learning process.
Vivian was born in Chicago on Jan. 25, 1929. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1947. She earned a second degree, a B.A. in Psychology, from Newcomb College in Louisiana in 1950. She earned a Master’s degree from Hofstra University in New York in 1962.
After earning her degrees, Vivian inaugurated her teaching career in New Orleans. There, she once revealed, she felt burdened by what she considered to be an overemphasis on strict learning boundaries and memorization. She came to believe that such an approach stifled both learning and teaching. This experience became the catalyst for her later work. In the 1960’s Vivian relocated to New York, where she taught at public schools in Great Neck and Long Island until 1971. At that time she returned to Chicago, where she accepted a teaching position at the Lab Schools associated with the University of Chicago. There she was free to develop innovative instructional practices, conduct experiments, and pursue her research. In all, Vivian’s career as an educator spanned 37 years. Vivian retired from Lab in 1995, but in the years that followed she continued to lecture and hold workshops around the world.
Many professional educators believe that the most significant impact Vivian has had on the profession is in advancing the theory that storytelling and fantasy play are essential elements in academic and social growth. Her research on the subject was discussed at length in her books A Child’s Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play; The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter; and Bad Guys Don’t Have Birthdays: Fantasy Play at Four. In these books, Vivian demonstrates that storytelling and fantasy play help young learners immensely as they make sense of their environment, develop language skills, collaborate with their peers, and successfully function in the classroom.
For her work as an educator and a researcher, Vivian has earned many accolades. In 1989, she garnered the prestigious MacArthur Award. Known unofficially as the “Genius Grant,” the prize is given each year to between 20 and 30 individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their field. The recognition comes with a cash prize of $625,000. Vivian is the only kindergarten teacher to earn the award.
Vivian also earned the Erikson Institute Award for Service to Children in 1987 and the David H. Russell Award for Distinguished Teaching in English in 1999. She also garnered the John Dewey Society’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 2000 and was named an Outstanding Educator by the National Council of Teachers of English in 2004.
This Chalkboard Champion passed away on July 26, 2019, in Crozet, Virginia. She was 90 years old, but she will always be remembered as an advocate for child play.
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NY dance teacher Persephone DaCosta earns coveted FLAG Award
Dance teacher Persephone DaCosta started a girls’ empowerment club at her New York City public school that was so successful it was transformed into an academic class. The enterprise has earned her a coveted FLAG Foundation Award. Photo Credit: PATCH
I always enjoy sharing stories about creative educators who have earned accolades for their work with students. One of these is Persephone DaCosta, a dance teacher from New York who has earned a coveted FLAG Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence.
Persephone teaches traditional, West African, and Africa-Caribbean dance at Khalil Gibran International Academy, a public school located in Boerum Hill in Brooklyn, New York. The school offers a multicultural curriculum and intensive Arabic language instruction. There she inaugurated a young women’s empowerment circle she called ROSE, an acronym for Respectful Outstanding Sisters of Excellence. As part of the program, high school students gathered after school to talk about sisterhood and leadership. Before long, Persephone noticed the positive impact of the program on her students. Their attendance improved, they were getting better grades, and they were behaving better. Inspired by the students’ progress, Persephone transformed ROSE into an academic class that focuses on leadership and mentorship. In this course, students plan school-wide events, visit college campuses, and learn about mental wellness.
Of Trinidadian descent, Persephone began her dance training at the age of 6. She has studied ballet, tap, jazz, and traditional African dance. She graduated from Stony Brook University, where she studied dance, anthropology, and “Community Development through the Arts.”
The FLAG Award “is meant to identify teachers, recognize them for the incredible things they are doing in and out of the classroom, and award them for all of their efforts,” explains FLAG co-president Risa Daniels. “These are teachers who are having an impact beyond the classroom and doing things that are having long lasting, ripple effects on their schools,” she continued. As a winner of the FLAG award, Persephone will receive $25,000 and Khalil Gibran International Academy will receive a $10,000 grant to spend on their arts education program. Persephone intends to use the grant to renovate her sparsely-equipped dance studio.
