Category Archives: Education

Elem teacher Dana Andrews named 2023 Outstanding Teacher of the Year by Illinois State PTA

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Elementary school teacher Dana Andrews has been named the 2023 Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Illinois state PTA. Photo credit: The Edwardsville Intelligencer

Congratulations are due to Dana Andrews, an exceptional elementary school teacher who has been named the 2023 Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Illinois State Parent Teachers Association (PTA).

Dana teaches at Twin Echo Elementary School in Collinsville, Illinois. There she designs curriculum to meet the individual needs of each one of her young students. She uses frequent assessments to help her design instruction that is engaging and promotes individual growth. And the benefits of her strategies are evident to all. Her test scores rank among the highest in her district.

In her practice, Dana places a huge emphasis on relationships. “Her love for her students is evident in her everyday interactions, observes Dr. Julie Haake, Principal of Twin echo Elementary. “She is always cheerful, positive and sharing hugs when walking down the hallway. Her kind nature and warm personality have students gravitating towards her when they see her,” Dr. Haake continues.

To help foster communication between the school and the home, she establishes a folder for each student enrolled in her class. Every day she adds questions, comments, or notes of praise in the student logs, and then she sends the logs home. Each parent is encouraged to add their own questions or comments and then return the folder the next morning. In addition to the daily comments, Dana includes a weekly schedule with the current week’s list of events, plans, and important reminders.

In addition to the communication log, Dana makes daily posts on the classroom website. These posts include pictures of the class activities, updates on the students, and they are currently learning as a class. Furthermore, each week Dana messages parents individually to keep them updated.

Amazing work, Dana!

 

Remembering Freedom School teacher Sandra Adickes

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Intrepid New York City English teacher Sandra Adickes spent the summer of 1964 teaching in a Freedom School in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Photo credit: University of Southern Mississippi

The anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington earlier this week gives us the opportunity to think about the courageous and dedicated teachers, both Black and White, who tirelessly worked towards creating a more equal society in our country. One of these was Sandra Adickes, an English teacher from New York City who taught in Mississippi’s Freedom Schools during Freedom Summer.

Sandra was an energetic and idealistic thirty-year-old New York City English teacher in 1964, the year she ventured south into Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to teach in a Freedom School. The goal of the summer program was to empower the Black community to register to vote, and to help bridge some of the gap of educational neglect that had long been a tradition in that Jim Crow state. Both educators and Civil Rights activists realized that only through education and participation in the democratic process could African Americans hope to achieve their long-denied American Dream.

The enterprise was not without danger. On the first day of Freedom Summer, three workers involved in the program disappeared while investigating the firebombing of the church facility designated for their voter recruitment activities. Six weeks later, as Sandra Adickes conducted her classes in Hattiesburg, the badly beaten and bullet-ridden bodies of the three missing men were discovered buried in an earthen dam in nearby Neshoba County.

At summer’s end, Sandra’s fearless students decided—on their own—to integrate the Hattiesburg Public Library in what became, in effect, a graduation trip with an emphasis on civic reform. Sandra was arrested in the effort. Read her riveting story, and what became of her courageous students, in her book Legacy of a Freedom School. You can also find a chapter about this remarkable teacher in my book, Chalkboard Champions.

Georgia teacher Patricia Ramón advanced the cause of Civil rights during the 1960’s

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High school English teacher Patricia Ramón of Atlanta, Georgia, was one of many African American educators who worked diligently to advance the cause of Civil Rights during the 1960’s. Photo credit: Teachers in the Movement

Many exceptional African American educators worked diligently to advance the cause of Civil Rights during the 1960’s. One of these was Patricia Ramón, who was a high school English teacher in Atlanta, Georgia, during The Movement.

Patricia earned her Bachelor’s degree in English Education at Clark College, a predominantly Black university at the time. The institution is now known as Clark Atlanta University. She earned her Master’s degree at Georgia State University, a predominantly White university also located in Atlanta. When she garnered a Reader’s Digest grant, she completed the courses required to earn an Education Specialist degree in 1995.

When Patricia was a youngster, she attended Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, the church where Martin Luther King’s father, who was known as “Daddy King,” was a popular pastor. Patricia participated in the church choir, which was directed by MLK’s mother. And she often babysat for the family. When he grew to national prominence, MLK attended church services, where she learned the latest news about the Civil Rights Movement on Sunday. She would then take that information back to her classroom at Benjamin E. Mays High School on Monday. Her students became keenly aware of the Black activists who were out marching, preaching, and teaching about equal opportunity in Atlanta and elsewhere.

In addition, Patricia inaugurated her own version of Black Literature studies in her classroom. She introduced her students to prominent Black authors, including such notables as Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, and poets from the Harlem Renaissance. This was pioneering curriculum in the 1960’s.

To learn more about Patricia Ramón and other teachers who were active in the classroom during the Civil Rights Movement, click on this link to the Teachers in the Movement Project.

Mississippi Freedom Schools helped Southern Black Americans vote

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Freedom Schools were opened in southern states as part of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The most famous ones were established in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964. Photo credit: Civil Rights Teaching

The anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington today gives us the opportunity to think about the courageous and dedicated teachers, both Black and White, who tirelessly worked towards creating a more equal society in our country. Some of them dedicated their teaching expertise to teach in Freedom Schools during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, particularly during the Freedom Summer of 1964.

Freedom schools were the brainchild of New York City math teacher Bob Moses, an African American educator with unique vision. Under his direction, these alternative schools were organized and staffed by White political activists, teachers, and college students. They came from all over the United States to participate in the endeavor.

The goal of the summer program was to empower disenfranchised African American community to register to vote and to exercise their Constitutionally-guaranteed rights to political participation. Volunteers also hoped to help bridge some of the gap created by educational neglect. The neglect had long been rampant in states ruled by Jim Crow laws. Both Black and White citizens realized that only through education and participation in the democratic process could African Americans ever hope to improve their lot.

The enterprise was not without danger. On the first day of Freedom Summer, three volunteers involved in the program—Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney—disappeared. They were investigating the firebombing of the church facility in Mississippi designated for their voter recruitment activities. Six weeks later, the badly beaten and bullet-ridden bodies of the three missing men were discovered buried in an earthen dam in nearby Neshoba County, Mississippi.

To learn more about freedom schools and Freedom Summer, click on this link to the History Channel.

Nanette Hanson named Michigan’s 2022-2023 State Teacher of the Year

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Elementary school teacher Nanette Hanson has been named Michigan’s 2022-2023 State Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Michigan Education Association

I am always excited to share the story of an exceptional educator who has won accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Nanette Hanson, an elementary school teacher from Escanaba, Michigan. She has been named her state’s 2022-2023 State Teacher of the Year.

Nanette currently teaches first graders at Lemmer Elementary School in Escanaba. In a career that has spanned more than 25 years, she has taught 17 of them at Lemmer. Those who know her recognize that Nanette’s priority is to build strong relationships with each of her students. Daily she strives to create a strong sense of community, inclusion, respect, and belonging in her classroom.

This mindset is also a big part of her mentoring work with beginning teachers. And Nanette works not only with children and early-career teachers, but she also serves her school as the team leader on the Lemmer Leader in Me Lighthouse Team.

These priorities have their roots in her childhood. As a youngster, Nanette grew up in the small Upper Peninsula town of Gladstone. In those years, the honored teacher recalls, she was troubled by low self-esteem. She once revealed it was caring teachers who led to her personal sense of accomplishment and belief in herself. “I just knew I wanted to be that person for somebody else,” she continued.”“Every day is an opportunity for me to forge that relationship and be that light in someone else’s darkness.”

Inclusion is very important in Nanette’s classroom. “We have a large Native American population, and so I like to incorporate the community,” she declares. “We invite the Indian Education Program to come into our classroom, and they do a wonderful job of sharing the culture with our students, some of whom are Native American,” she says.

Nanette earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Creative Arts in 1994 and her Master’s degree in Education Administration and Supervision in 2009, both from Northern Michigan University.

To learn more about Nanette Hanson, view the four-minute video below: