Category Archives: Education

GA teacher Natasha Berry recognized as outstanding educator

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Elementary school teacher Natasha Berry has been recognized for her outstanding work in the classroom. Photo Credit: Valdosta Daily Times

It is always a pleasure to share the story of an outstanding teacher working in public schools. One of these is Natasha Berry, an exceptional STEM teacher from the state of Georgia.

Natasha inaugurated her career as a professional educator in 2003 after earning her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Valdosta State University. She also earned certification in Gifted and Talented Education. She currently works as a STEM Lab teacher for Henry County Schools in Henry County, Georgia. Prior to that, she taught third graders at Sallas Mahone Elementary School in the Valdosta City School District, and before that, she taught in the Lowndes County system for 14 years. In all, her career as an educator spans 20 years.

The daughter of a military veteran, Natasha was forced to relocate several times as a child, but she spent most of her life in Valdosta. Despite her moves, Natasha had strong support for education in her childhood home. “I come from a family of educators. My mother and many of my aunts and uncles are in the education profession,” she reveals. “I grew up watching and admiring the countless hours my mom spent using her creative talent to make learning exciting and engaging for the students inside her classroom every single day.”

For her work in the classroom, Natasha garnered a 2023 Gale Samuels Award from the Georgia Teachers of the Year Association.  The honor is bestowed in memory of Gale Samuels, a beloved educator at the Georgia Department of Education who contracted leukemia and passed away in 1998. Samuels was considered instrumental in promoting excellence in teaching in her state.

The Gale Samuels Award is not the only recognition Natasha has earned. In 2022, she was named a finalist for Georgia Teacher of the Year. In 2019, she was honored as the Sallas Mahone Teacher of the Year, and that same year this Chalkboard Champion was named the Valdosta City Schools Co-Teacher of the Year.

Educator and author Renee Jones named Nebraska’s 2023 Teacher of the Year

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Congratulations to high school English teacher and author Renee Jones, who has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Lincoln Public Schools

Congratulations are due to high school teacher Renee Jones from Lincoln, Nebraska. She has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year!

Renee teaches English, reading interventions, and oral communications courses at Lincoln High School. She says that connecting with students is the key to their academic success. In her classroom, she emphasizes building relationships. In fact, she says her philosophy can best be summarized as connection before curriculum. “Connecting students is the most influential and important element of my role as a teacher,” Renee declares. “Connecting students with me, with their peers, and with themselves, is at the heart of gaining the confidence they need,” she continues. Renee is so passionate about and successful at this practice that she was selected to speak on the topic at the 2022 South by Southwest (SXSW) EDU National Conference in 2022.

Renee’s selection as the 2023 Nebraska Teacher of the Year is not the only recognition she has earned. In 2019, she garnered the  Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools Inspire Award.

And these awards are not the only accomplishments Renee can boast about. During the pandemic, Renee authored a memoir describing the complications of balancing her work with her responsibilities as the mother of four young children. The volume, published by Google books in 2021, is entitled It Was Always Four: My Pandemic Journey in Becoming and Walking Away from Life as a Stay-At-Home Mom.

Renee earned her Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska, Omaha. She earned her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership in 2020 from Doane University, a private university located in Crete, Nebraska. She inaugurated her career as an educator in 2015 when she was hired to  teach English at Bryan Community Focus Program in Lincoln. In all, her career as an educator has spanned eight years.

 

Maryland educator, politician, and civil rights activist Verda Welcome

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As part of our Black History Month celebration, we recognize Maryland’s Verda Welcome: Educator, politician, civil rights activist, and community activist. Photo Credit: Preservation Maryland Trust

During Black History Month, we celebrate the many African American teachers who have dedicated themselves to social and political causes outside of the classroom. One of these educators was Verda Welcome, a teacher, politician, civil rights activist, and community activist from the state of Maryland.

Verda was born on March 18, 1807, in Lake Lure, North Carolina.  She was one of 16 children of farmers John and Docia Freeman. As a young girl, Verda attended North Carolina and Delaware public schools. The young scholar always planned to pursue higher education. However, following the death of her mother in 1928, she found herself with limited financial resources to pursue her goal. Undaunted, she worked as a domestic during the day and attended school in the evening. Eventually she earned her high school diploma. “I had to make the daily sacrifices needed to keep my dreams intact,” Verda once declared.

In 1929, Verda moved to Baltimore to continue her education at Coppin Normal School. There she earned her teaching certificate in 1932. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in History from Morgan State College in 1939. She completed the requirements for her Master’s Degree from New York University in 1943. In her later years, Verda was awarded honorary doctorates from Howard University, Morgan University, and the University of Maryland.

During her youth, Verda learned first-hand that African Americans were often underpaid, under-educated, and underprivileged. She determined to make a positive impact in the Black community as an educator, and so she taught in the Baltimore City Public Schools for 11 years.

In 1959, the dedicated teacher was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates to represent the Fourth District. She was the first Black woman to achieve that distinction. Verda served as a delegate until 1962, when she was elected to the Maryland State Senate. She was America’s first African American female state senator.

Verda served in the Maryland State Senate until 1982. Between the State House and the State Senate, she devoted a total of 25 years of service in the legislature. Significant among her accomplishments there was the passage of legislation dealing with such issues as discrimination in public accommodations, equal pay for equal work, the harassment of welfare recipients, illegal employment practices, voter registration, the abolition of capital punishment, and reforms in the state’s correctional facilities.

For her many important achievements in the area of civil rights, this amazing educator was inducted into Maryland’s Women’s Hall of Fame in 1988. Verda was 83 years old when she passed away on April 22, 1990, in Baltimore.

To read more about this amazing Chalkboard Champion, see this article published in the Baltimore Sun.

Former teacher, NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba earns new appointment

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Joseph Acaba, former Melbourne High School science teacher turned veteran astronaut, has just been appointed Chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Photo Credit: Yahoo News

As an astronaut, Joseph Acaba has logged a total of 306 days in space on three flights, first as a mission specialist on the space shuttle Discovery, and twice aboard the International Space Station. And recently, this veteran astronaut was appointed as Chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston, the first astronaut of Hispanic heritage selected to lead the office. But did you know that this accomplished individual was once a science and mathematics teacher?

Before his selection by NASA in 2004 as one of three “educator astronauts,” an initiative intended to build upon Challenger astronaut Christa McAuliffe’s Teacher in Space legacy, he spent his first year, 1999-2000, as a full-time teacher at Melbourne High School in Florida. There he taught freshman science before moving on to teach math and science in Dunnellon Middle School in Florida, where he remained for four years.

And that is not all of this Chalkboard Champion’s impressive employment history. Joe was a member of the United States Marine Corps Reserves. He  also worked as a hydro-geologist in Los Angeles, California, primarily on Superfund sites. And he spent two years in the United States Peace Corps as an Environmental Education Awareness Promoter in the Dominican Republic. In addition, he worked for a time as the manager of the Caribbean Marine Research Center at Lee Stocking Island in the Exumas, Bahamas.

Joe once said that, as an educator astronaut, he hoped to reach out to minority students. On March 18, 2008, he traveled to Puerto Rico, where he was honored by the island’s senate. During his visit, Joe met with school children at the capitol and at Science Park located in Bayamon. Science Park boasts a planetarium and several surplus NASA rockets among its exhibits. Joe made a second trip to Puerto Rico on June 1, 2009. On that trip he spent seven days on the island and came into contact with over 10,000 citizens, most of them school children.

IN teacher Brittany Tinkler garners prestigious 2022-2023 Milken Award

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Elementary school teacher Brittany Tinkler of Indianapolis, Indiana, has garnered a prestigious 2022-2023 Milken Educator Award. Photo Credit: Brittany Tinkler

There are many exceptional teachers working in American schools who are deserving of recognition. One of these is Brittany Tinkler, an elementary school teacher from Indianapolis, Indiana. She has garnered a prestigious 2022-2023 Milken Educator Award, she learned on Feb. 8, 2023.

Brittany teaches second grade at Rosa Parks Elementary School in Perry Township. She has taught there for 11 years. In her classroom, Brittany has embraced project-based learning, and she shares the practice with fellow educators through presentations, articles, and podcasts. Furthermore, Brittany enjoys exposing her students to different careers. To that end, she has brought a variety of community organizations into the school, including the local zoo, a radio station, and a fire station. In addition, she has launched a robotics club and founded  an after-school running club.

Brittany, who graduated from Perry-Meridian High School, says her own academic struggles as a child led her to pursue a career in education. “When I got into high school after all of this struggling, I officially decided I was going to become an educator so that I can help students feel successful and find what it is they’re good at, so I can bring that out of them at a young age,” she declared.

The honored educator earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 2012 from Indiana University and her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instructional Leadership in 2018 from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Brittany is one of 40 educators nationwide who has earned a Milken Educator Award this year. The honors have been described by Teacher Magazine as the “Oscars of Teaching.” In addition to a $25,000 cash prize and public recognition, the recognition includes membership in the National Milken Educator Network, a group of more than 3,000 exemplary teachers, principals, and specialists from all over the country who work towards strengthening best practices in education. To learn more, click on Milken Educator Awards.