Category Archives: Books

Here s a list of books written for teachers that are worth reading. Enjoy!

Author Terry Lee Marzell to appear at Tucson Festival of Books

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Author Terry Lee Marzell will be appearing at the 2018 Tucson Festival of Books to be held on March 10-11 on the campus of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Terry’s appearance will be in the Wheatmark Publishers booth, Booth 402, on Sunday, March 11, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m.

This year’s celebration of literature will be the tenth year of the annual festival. Over the last decade, the two-day event has grown to become the third largest reader event in the country. Each year, the festival attracts more than 130,000 book lovers who enjoy author presentations, panel discussions, workshops, exhibits, and great food. This year, event organizers are offering special programming for children and teens, a literary circus, culturally diverse programs, and a poetry venue. And it’s all free to the public! To learn more about the Tucson Festival of Books, visit their website at TFoB.

Terry Lee Marzell is the author of two books about remarkable teachers in American history: Chalkboard Champions (Wheatmark, 2012) and Chalkboard Heroes (Wheatmark, 2015). She is a retired secondary school teacher and school librarian, who is engaged today as an author, blogger, public speaker, and adult literacy tutor. Come visit her at the Tucson Festival of Books!

 

 

 

Meet Memphis Teacher Michael Scruggs: “You have everything it takes to be #1”

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Meet high school social studies teacher Michael Scruggs from Memphis, Tennessee. He is such an inspiration to his students! Every day he begins his classes with a motivational mantra such as, “You have everything it takes to be #1.”

This passionate chalkboard champion was featured last June in an episode of the Ellen DeGeneres Show. View the video below to see him in action, and to meet one of his former students.

 

 

Journalist Barbara Demick tells the story of Mi-ran, the North Korean Kindergarten Teacher who Defected

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The country of North Korea and its quarrelsome Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un have taken top billing in the news quite a bit recently, and with the upcoming Winter Olympic Games scheduled in Pyeong Chang, South Korea, we’re likely to hear a lot more. You can learn a great deal about the political climate of the two Koreas, as told by the citizens themselves, by reading a fascinating book entitled Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, written by award-winning journalist Barbara Demick.

The volume traces the lives of six ordinary North Korean citizens who were raised to accept without question the totalitarianism of the Kim regime. One by one, each of these citizens experiences a life-altering disillusionment with their Supreme Leader, and each ultimately feels compelled to attempt defection from their inhuman conditions. Eventually, each one escapes into the welcoming arms of South Korea.

One of these individuals was Mi-ran, a neophyte kindergarten teacher assigned to a school near her girlhood home of Chongjin. Mi-ran dearly loved her little students, but although she faced her class each day with the most cheerful attitude she could muster, she soon became embittered by her government’s expectation that she systematically brainwash her kids into believing they had “nothing to envy” while she watched them die a slow, agonizing death from starvation. The riveting story of Mi-ran’s defection, and the sweetheart she left behind, make fascinating reading. Equally engrossing are the stories of the other five defectors included in the book, one of whom is Mi-ran’s lost love.

Up to now, when Americans think of North Korea, we see only the menacing visage of Kim Jong-Un. The stories of these six ordinary citizens who have survived in, and escaped from, one of the most repressive governments in the world bring a humanizing perspective to that nation.

The book, first published in 2009, was named a National Book Award finalist and was similarly recognized by the National Book Critics Circle. You can find Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick on amazon.com.

Teacher Sarah Wu and her “Fed Up With Lunch” Campaign

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Those of us who work in public schools have long been aware that school lunches are, shall we say, less than appetizing. I’m sure the cafeteria personnel do the best they can with the resources they are given, but the truth is none of us eats a school-prepared lunch unless we are incredibly desperate. And I, for one, was almost never that desperate. But one educator who became determined to do what she could to call attention to the school lunch problem was Sarah Wu, teacher and a speech pathologist working at Haugan Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois.

One day, Sarah didn’t have enough time before going to work to pack her own lunch. After purchasing a lunch from her school’s cafeteria, she was shocked to see what was being served to the students. To spotlight the problem, every school day during 2010, the determined educator bought a cafeteria lunch, took it back to her classroom, snapped a photo of it, and wrote about it on her online blog. Sarah posted her observations on Fedupwithlunch.com using the pseudonym Mrs. Q. She kept her identity a closely-guarded secret because she was afraid she might get fired if school officials knew she was the one behind the blog. Eventually, her blog attracted thousands of readers, many of whom shared her concern about the quality of school lunches. In 2011, Sarah published a book about her project. The book was entitled “Fed Up with Lunch: The School Lunch Project: How One Anonymous Teacher Survived a Year of School Lunches” (Chronicle, $22.95).

Sarah’s year-long school lunch project was completed years ago, but she continues to write blog posts about food policy, school issues, and personal health. Occasionally she still posts photos and observations of the lunches served each day at her school. To learn more about this gutsy chalkboard champion, read this story published in 2011 in the Chicago Tribune: School Lunch Blogger “Mrs. Q”.

Marzell’s Books Added to Collections of Prestigious University Libraries

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I’m always so flattered whenever I learn that one of my books has been added to the collection of yet another prestigious university library. Today I discovered that my first book, Chalkboard Champions (2012), was recently added to the collection of the University of Arizona, Tucson, and Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. The volume had previously been added to the libraries of Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota; the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; the State University of New York in Oswego, New York; Hunter College in New York, New York; Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey; Salem State University in Salem, Massachusetts; and the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. It is also part of the collection of the Library of Congress.

Chalkboard Heroes (2015) has been added to the collections of the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, California; Chadron State University in Chadron, Nebraska; the University of Sourthern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and the University of Chicago Library in Chicago, Illinois.

Many thanks to all these university libraries for honoring my work!