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.

Arkansas teacher Carol Rasco once served as president’s assistant

Posted on by

Former Arkansas teacher Carol Rasco has spent her entire professional life as an advocate for children, working towards improving education, promoting early literacy, and supporting children with disabilities. Photo credit: Hendrix Alumni Association.

Many excellent classroom teachers also serve in positions in the government. One of these is Carol Rasco, a former elementary teacher and school counselor that once served as an Assistant to the President under President Bill Clinton.

Carol was born on January 13, 1948, in Columbia, South Carolina. Later her family moved to DeWitt, Arkansas. As a young woman, she skipped her senior year in high school and enrolled at Hendrix College in 1965. There she first majored in Drama, although she later changed her major to Psychology. After transferring to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Carol earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 1969. She earned her Master’s degree in Elementary Counseling and Psychology from the University of Central Arkansas in 1972.

Carol began her career in education as an elementary school teacher, and later became a counselor at the middle school level. After she earned her Master’s degree, she used her expertise to set up a psychological counseling program in the public school system.

In 1983, this Chalkboard Champion accepted a position in the Arkansas Governor’s Office. She served Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in this position for ten years. Later, when Clinton was elected to the presidency, Carol followed Clinton to Washington, DC, where she worked as an Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy from 1997 to 2000. She spent the next four years in the US Department of Education in the America Reads Challenge program. During 2001, she worked as a consultant on Government Relations for The College Board, and from 2001 to 2016, she served as the President and CEO of Reading is Fundamental. For the past five years, Carol has worked as a child advocate for Three Boys with Books.

Carol has spent her entire professional life as an advocate for children, working towards improving education, promoting early literacy, and supporting children with disabilities. She is currently 73 years old.

New York educator Amanda Breheny honored in Time Magazine article

Posted on by

Amanda Breheny, a Spanish teacher from Queensboro, New York, was honored in an article in Time Magazine published last September. Photo credit: Time Magazine.

When Covid-19 forced her students into distance learning, educator Amanda Breheny created new and exciting learning experiences to meet the challenges of teaching during a pandemic.

Amanda teaches Spanish to seventh graders at Queensbury Middle School, located about 215 miles north of New York City. The innovative teacher invited guest speakers from Mexico and Honduras to speak to her class via GoogleMeet. The speakers shared information with the students about the importance of access to clean water. Amanda says the speakers helped many of her students understand the challenges of not having easy access to clean water. “For them to learn that there are kids that go home and they can’t wash their hands during a pandemic, that just, I think, it really hit home with them,” she says.

As a result of the speakers’ presentations, students in Amanda’s classes launched an awareness campaign, creating videos in both English and Spanish about the importance of clean water. In addition, they partnered with Pure Water for the World, a nonprofit in Vermont to raise nearly $100 to purchase a water­-filtration system for a family in Honduras.

For her work in the classroom, Amanda Breheny was featured in the Time Magazine article entitled “Educators who Saved a Pandemic Year” published in September, 2021.

Analyn Palugod of Guam honored as Guam’s 2021 Teacher of the Year

Posted on by

Elementary school teacher Analyn Palugod has Baan named the 2021 Teacher of the Year for the US territory of Guam. Photo credit: The Guam Daily Post.

I enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have been honored for their work. Among them is Analyn Palugod, an elementary school teacher from Mangilao, Guam. She has been named the territory’s 2021 Teacher of the Year.

Analyn teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) to third, fourth, and fifth graders at Adacao Elementary School in Mangilao. She also serves as the school’s ESL Coordinator. She has spent the last four years of the twelve years she has worked for the Guam Department of Education at the school. Prior to teaching ESL, she taught a variety of elementary grade levels as a regular classroom teacher.

Analyn employs a number of strategies to help her students acquire language. “Instead of words, I always try to do it through action,” she says. “So I would incorporate images. Having them summarize the story through drawing pictures, I can still be able to see that they mastered the concept. From there, I always try to incorporate the common core standards and try to make it at their own level,” she continues. In addition, her teaching methods include incorporating current events into the curriculum, which she says helps benefit her students even after they move on from her classroom.

Analyn is known to be an advocate for cultural education. She strives to help students take pride in their cultural diversity, unique backgrounds, and ways of knowing and learning. “By empowering students, I can engage their learning further while showing them that they can make an impact no matter what age they are,” asserts Analyn.

Analyn earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Guam, where she graduated in 2006 magna cum laude. She earned her Master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from the University of Southern California in 2014.

Florida computer science teacher Tim Clyatt succumbs to Covid-19

Posted on by

Florida computer science teacher Tim Clyatt succumbed to complications from Covid-19 on November 13, 2021. Photo credit: Jacksonville Memorial Gardens.

Sadly, we report that yet another beloved educator has succumbed to complications from Covid-19. Tim Clyatt, a teacher in the Clay County School District in Clay County, Florida, passed away on November 13, 2021. He was only 59 years old.

Tim was a computer science teacher at the Bannerman Learning Center in Green Cove Springs. The unique facility prepares non-traditional students for success in a global and competitive workplace by teaching students positive life skills and by teaching them to become life-long learners. The school reports an enrollment of minority students at 43%, and economically disadvantaged students at 56%.

Tim’s career as an educator spanned nearly 20 years. In a statement released by the school district, Tim was described by District officials as a “dedicated teacher who made a difference in the lives of many during his teaching career.” His students agree. “It’s tragic,” remarked Bannerman ninth grader Brooklyn Powers, who described her teacher as “most of the kids’ favorite teacher at the school.” The student added, “He understood kids very well.”

Tim was born April 16, 196,1 in Lake City, Florida. After his graduation from Columbia High School in his home town in 1979, he continued his education at Florida State University.

In addition to his classroom responsibilities, Tim was a member of the National Education Association, the Florida State University Garnet Key Honor Society, the Clay County Education Association, and the Florida Education Association.

To read more about Tim Clyatt, see this link to a story about him published by The Florida Times Union.