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.

Chalkboard Champions are Everywhere!

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chalkboard2[1]Many people have asked me what inspired me to write the book Chalkboard Champions. I guess a large part of it has 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, and then turning on the television 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 last forty years, I have never seen a more hardworking, dedicated group of individuals than the teachers, administrators, and support staff that work 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 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. The book can be found on amazon at the following link: Chalkboard Champions.

Roberta Flack: An Iconic Singer Who Was Once a Teacher

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$R3DK9IKMany people have heard of the Grammy Award-winning songwriter and singer Roberta Flack, whose best-known songs are “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” and “Where Is the Love?” But did you know that this famous jazz, folk, and R&B icon was once a public school teacher?

Roberta Flack was born February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina, although she was raised in Arlington, Virginia. Her mother was a church organist, so Roberta grew up in a musical household. At the age of nine, Roberta began to study classical piano, and by the time she was fifteen, she had won a music scholarship to Howard University. She completed her undergraduate work and her student teaching as the first African American student teacher at an all-white school near Chevy Chase, Maryland. Then Roberta accepted a position teaching music and English in Farmville, North Carolina, a gig which paid her only $2,800 per year. She also taught junior high school in Washington, DC, and at the same time she took side jobs as a night club singer. It was there that she was discovered and signed to a contract for Atlanta Records. The rest, as they say, is music business history.

In recent years, Roberta’s contribution to education came when she founded an after-school music program entitled “The Roberta Flack School of Music” to provide music education to underprivileged students in the Bronx, New York City.

If You Don’t Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students

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9780865304574_p0_v1_s260x420[1][1]If You Don’t Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students. So says educator and author Neilia A. Connors, Ph.D. She ought to know, she’s had an extensive career as a teacher at the elementary and middle school levels, an administrator, a university professor, and a consultant.

Connors’s humorous book, which presents her message through using cooking analogies and acronyms, dishes up practical advice for classroom teachers and administrators who hunger to create a positive school environment. Her goal is to share some simple kitchen-tested recipes for creating a climate of success and high moral throughout any campus.

Highly acclaimed, the book boasts a rating of  #24 on amazon’s best-seller list. If You Don’t Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students is available through amazon.com.

Educating (Chalkboard Champion) Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year

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9781565122796[1][1]A great read for any teacher regardless of number of years of service is Educating Esme: Diary of a Teacher’s First Year. This hilariously funny book, first published in 1999 but revised and republished in 2001, was recorded by 24-year-old Esme Raji Codell, a first-year teacher in an inner-city public school in Chicago.

The diary shines a spotlight on a real-life classroom from the perspective of a beginning teacher. Codell presents her daily battles with bureaucrats, gang members, abusive parents, and her own insecurities, but in the process she reveals what it takes to be an exceptional teacher.

This highly-acclaimed book is recommended by School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. You can find the volume on the web site of Barnes and Noble at the following link: Educating Esme.

Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire

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9780143112860[1][1]Chalkboard champion Rafe Esquith teaches in a Los Angeles community infested with gang activity, guns, and drug abuse. The fifth graders in his classroom are the children of immigrants who live in poverty and who speak English as a second language. These students also perform Shakespeare, play Vivaldi, score in the top 1 percent on standardized tests, and go on to attend four-year universities. How does Esquith teach in ways that foster these accomplishments? He explains his strategies and techniques in his 2007 book Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire!
In his book, Rafe Esquith reveals that the two mottoes in his classroom are “Be Nice, Work Hard” and “There Are No Shortcuts.” His students voluntarily come to school at 6:30 in the morning and work until 5:00 in the afternoon. Among the lessons Esquith teaches his students are learning to handle money responsibly, traveling the country to study history, reading the American classics, and pairing Hamlet with rock and roll.
Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire! is an inspirational read for any classroom teacher. You can find this wonderful resource on amazon at the following link: Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire!