Category Archives: Education

Connecticut teacher Kristen Record inducted into the NTHF

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Dr. Kristen Record of Stratford, Connecticut, has been inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Photo credit: Kristen Record

Hearty congratulations are due to educator Dr. Kristen Record of Stratford, Connecticut. She has been inducted into the 2023 Class of the National Teachers Hall of Fame (NTHF).

The honored educator teaches Honors Physics to juniors and seniors at Bunnell High School in Stratford. She also serves as the Senior Class Advisor. She also participates on her District’s Teacher Education and Mentoring Team. Further, she is active ion her local teachers’ union, service as the Secondary Vice President and the Chairperson of the Contract Negotiations team. Her career as an educator spans 23 years, all of them in Stratford Public Schools.

She was just a little girl when Kristen’s passion for teaching started. “When she was four years old, she would line up her stuffed animals like they were in a classroom, and she would teach them,” recalls Daniel Record, Kristen’s father, who was also a physics teacher. Her mother, Carolyn, and her brother and sister-in-law are also teachers.

Kristen’s advice for a beginning teacher? “Observe. Visit as many classrooms as possible. Observe what to emulate and what to avoid,” Kristen advises. “Great students at the door. Observe the energy they bring, and learn what’s going on beyond academics,” Kristen continues. And one more thing: take time to recreate, she advises. “Vacations are vacations. Observe them as such so you can recharge and be your best self at school,” she concludes.

Her induction into the NTHF is not the only recognition Kristen has earned. In 2022 she was involved in the 100K in 10 Teacher Forum. The Nation Education Association Foundation honored her with their California Casualty Award for Teacher Excellence in 2020. She earned a Global Learning Fellowship in 2015, and she became a Fellow of the National STEM Policy Institution at MIT/George Washington University. In 2011, she was named Connecticut’s State teacher of the Year. In 2009, she garnered a Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

Kristen earned her Bachelor’s degree in Science Instruction and Study from Southern Connecticut State University in 2006. She earned her Master’s degree in Teaching and Learning from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2000.

To learn more about Dr. Kristen Record, click on this link to the NTHF.

NC teacher Leah Carper named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year

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English teacher Leah Carper has been named the 2023 North Carolina Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

There are many exceptional educators in our country who have earned accolades for their work with young people. One of these is Leah Carper, an English teacher from North Carolina. She has been named as her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Leah Carper teaches at Northern Guilford High School in Greensboro, North Carolina. In her classroom, she designs curriculum that not only teaches the skills and standards of the course, but also teaches her students how to be empathetic, contributing members of a global community. “They’re students of humanity, and they’re learning how to be good people, and they’re learning that in our classrooms every day,” declares Leah.

Since her selection as North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year, Leah has shared stories about the many of the educators who influenced her. These teachers taught her about being accepting of new people or appreciating different cultures and countries. She even recalled a third grade teacher who bought her new shoelaces because she didn’t have any. These are things, she remarked, that cannot be measured on a standardized test.

In addition to her recognition as North Carolina’s Teacher of the Year, Leah garnered the title of 2022 Burroughs Wellcome Fund North Carolina Teacher of the Year. She was also named the 2021 Guilford County Schools Teacher of the Year and the Guilford County Schools PTA Outstanding High School Educator Award in both 2020 and 2018. She was named the Guilford County Schools Rookie Teacher of the Year in 2007.

Leah earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary English Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2006. She earned her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Queens University of Charlotte in 2017. Her career as an educator spans 18 years.

 

Author Terry Lee Marzell published in 2022 Inlandia anthology

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Author Terry Lee Marzell has just had two short pieces published by the Inlandia Institute. Photo credit: Hal Marzell

Author Terry Lee Marzell has just had two of her pieces published by the Inlandia Institute. Her work has been included as one of 61 contributors whose writing has been published in the 2022 edition of Writing from Inlandia. This is the third year in a row that Terry’s work appears in an Inlandia anthology.

One of the pieces published in this year’s anthology is an amusing anecdote entitled “One Wild Ride.” The story describes her hair-raising experience riding an ATV in Mexico’s Sonoran Desert. The other piece is a poem entitled “The Pen.” To purchase the volume, click on this link to 2022 Writing from Inlandia on amazon.

Last year, Terry published two pieces, both autobiographical, in the 2021 volume. The first was a sentimental story about her childhood entitled “The Sewing Machine,” and the second was a humorous anecdote she calls “My Introduction to French Cuisine.” To purchase the volume with these pieces, click on 2021 Writing from Inlandia on amazon.

In 2020, Terry published a humorous account of a harrowing personal experience entitled “Flash Flood Casualties,” and an observational piece entitled “The Beauty in a Hundred Mundane Moments.” To purchase this volume, click on 2020 Writing from Inlandia on amazon.

The Inlandia Institute is a regional literary nonprofit and publishing house that serves the Inland Empire of Southern California. The organization offers free public literary and cultural programming, supports writing workshops for teenagers and adults, and provides in-school and after school enrichment programs for children and young people.

Jason Torres-Rangel named CA 2023 State Teacher of the Year

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High school English teacher Jason Torres-Rangel has been named the 2023 California State Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Pomona College

It is always a pleasure for me to share the story of an exceptional educator who has earned accolades for his work in the classroom. One of these is Jason Torres-Rangel, a high school English teacher from Los Angeles, California. He has been named his state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Jason teaches Advanced Placement (AP) English to juniors at Theodore Roosevelt High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. His career as an educator spans 19 years. In his classroom, Jason strives to create “curriculum that is student centered, culturally aware, (and) that tries to show minoritized voices in ways that challenge assumptions in society.”

The honored educator had excellent models to emulate when he chose to go into the teaching profession. Both his father and mother are math and computer science teachers who inspired him with their own dedication to creating science, technology, engineering, and math opportunities for East LA students.

Jason’s honors as California’s Teacher of the Year is not the only recognition he has earned. He was named the LAUSD and LA County Teacher of the Year in 2022. In 2020, he was recognized by the American Federation of Teachers for his work in the Community Schools Movement. In 2016, he was recognized by the White House for the Initiative Advancing Educational Equity for Hispanics. In 2015, he won the United Way Inspirational Teacher award, having been nominated by a student and her mother.

Jason earned his Bachelor’s degree in English from Pomona College. He earned a Master’s degree in Education from Harvard University, and a second Master’s degree in English from California State University at Los Angeles. He is working on his PhD in Education from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont.

New York educator Alicia Wein earns 2024 Excellence Award

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High school English teacher Alicia Wein has earned the 2024 Excellence Award. Photo credit: University of Albany Alumni Association

I am always eager to share the story of an exemplary educator who has earned accolades for their work in the classroom. Today, I shine the spotlight on Alicia Wein, a secondary English teacher from Albany, New York. She has earned a 2024 Excellence Award, the Bertha Brimmer Medal, from the University of Albany Alumni Association.

Alicia teaches Guilderland High School in Albany, where she has taught for the past 27 years. At her school, Alicia works to keep at-risk students in the classroom through the campus Focus Program.  She is the co-founder and advisor of the school’s Muslim Student Association, and the co-advisor of the school’s LGBTQ+ Alliance. In addition, she was the advisor of the students who founded the first chapter of the March for Our Lives movement in the Capital District.

In addition, since 2004, Alicia has been a part of her District’s Capital District Writing Project (CDWP), and she has served as CDWP co-director and co-facilitator of the Invitational Summer Institute. And she is also the lead English instructor for the Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA) program.

Alicia incorporates technology into her instructional program so effectively that her classroom is nearly paperless. Some of the tools she has used are Edmodo, Google Drive, Classroom Calendar, digital assignments and discussion groups, digital drafting, digital paper submission, and digital feedback and evaluation.

For this work, Alicia has earned a reputation as a superlative classroom teacher, an excellent collaborator with community partners, and a dedicated champion for all students. She is highly respected by her peers, who turn to her for advice and instruction in writing as a teacher-leader in her District.

The annual Excellence Awards recognize alumni of the University at Albany for their outstanding achievements and commitment to service. Alicia graduated from the university in 2003. To learn more about the Excellence Award, click on this link to www.alumni.albany.edu/awards.