Category Archives: Education

Chicago teacher Marva Collins earned national recognition

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Chicago schoolteacher Marva Collins earned national recognition for her innovative teaching methods. Photo credit: ricochet.com

Many talented educators come from humble backgrounds, yet manage to make the most of their modest beginnings. Such is the case with Marva Collins, a Chicago educator who earned national recognition for her innovative teaching methods.

Marva Delores Knight was born August 31, 1936, in Monroeville, Alabama, the first of two daughters born to businessman Henry and Bessie (Nettles) Knight. Raised in the heart of the segregated South, Marva attended a one-room school house and learned first-hand about the substandard educational opportunities offered to African American students. Nevertheless, her father expected her to study hard and succeed.

As a young woman, Marva attended Clark College in Atlanta, Georgia. After college, she taught school for two years. In 1959, the young woman moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she met and married draftsman Clarence Collins. The couple had three children. For the next 14 years, while raising her family, Marva worked as a substitute teacher in the Chicago School District.

Marva became concerned with youngsters she believed were not being served well by the school system, so in 1975 she withdrew $5,000 from her retirement account and founded a private school on the second floor of her home in the Chicago neighborhood of Garfield Park. Thus was born the Westside Preparatory School. Only a few students enrolled, but the dedicated educator resolved that her school would be open to any student who was not succeeding in the larger school systems, particularly low-income children, and those who’d been diagnosed with irremediable learning disabilities. At the end of the first year of the school’s operation, every student enrolled in Westside Prep earned test scores significantly higher than they had scored in previous years.

Marva’s methods became known as the Collins Method. Her program centered on phonics, math, reading, Language Arts, and the classics. She was also a big believer in the Socratic Method, which emphasizes learning through asking questions and engaging in dialogue with peers. “The essence of teaching is to make learning contagious, to have one idea spark another,” Marva once said.

The talented educator and her innovative school quickly became a national story, featured in stories in the magazines Time and Newsweek and in television news programs 60 Minutes and Good Morning America. In 1982, the story of Marva’s life and school were the subjects of a television movie starring powerhouse actors Cicely Tyson and Morgan Freeman.

For her pioneering teaching methods, Marva was honored with the Watson Washburn Award from the Reading Reform Foundation (1978), the Jefferson Award for Public Service (1981) and the Humanitarian Award for Excellence. Marva also received the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Monroe County Heritage Association during Black History Month (1994). In addition, she was awarded honorary doctorates from Amherst, Dartmouth, and Notre Dame. President George W. Bush honored the chalkboard champion with the National Humanities Medal (2004). To read more about this amazing teacher, click on the link for www.biography.com or the link For the Kids’ Sake.

Sadly, Marva Collins died of natural causes on June 24, 2015, in Beaufort County, South Carolina. She was 78 years old.

FL educator Nancy Henning works tirelessly for Delta Kappa Gamma

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Retired elementary teacher Nancy Henning works tirelessly for the prestigious organization Delta Kappa Gamma. Photo credit: Delta Kappa Gamma.

I always enjoy sharing stories of exceptional educators. One of these is Nancy Henning, a retired elementary school teacher from Tallahassee, Florida. Today she spends her time and energy working for the prestigious organization Delta Kappa Gamma.

Nancy was born at Shepard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas. Being raised in a military family meant she moved frequently during her childhood. Before her father’s retirement to Tallahassee, Florida, she lived in Texas, Illinois, Washington DC, and the Philippines.

After her graduation from Leon High School, Nancy enrolled in courses at Florida State University. There she earned four degrees, all in the field of education. Her teaching certificate includes Early Childhood Education, Middle Grades Mathematics and Science, and Educational Leadership.

Nancy inaugurated her teaching career the Monday morning after her college graduation. Her first teaching position was at Sopchoppy Elementary School in Wakulla County, where she took over a kindergarten class for a teacher on maternity leave. When that assignment was completed, she taught fifth grade in Wakulla County for seven years. She also taught Title I Math at Crawfordville Elementary School until she was selected to teach at Wakulla Middle School in its inaugural year. There Nancy taught reading, Language Arts, math, and science, and served as the team leader.

Nancy’s next position was as a math teacher at Cobb Middle School. She taught sixth and seventh grade math until being named the Dean of Students. Later she worked in the same capacity at Fairview Middle School. There she was named the 21st Century Community Learning Center Coordinator for a federally-funded program that provided after school educational instruction and services to students and their families.

In her last year of teaching, Nancy went back to the classroom full time, teaching seventh grade math. She once remarked it was the best year ever, and she left the profession with wonderful, happy memories. Nancy retired in 2015.

In 1982, Nancy was inducted into The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, a prestigious organization for women educators. She has served at the chapter level as Membership Chair, Treasurer, Program Chair, Vice President, and President. She was the District I Director in 2006-2008. At the state level she has served on numerous committees and as the Chair of the Program of Work Committee. Currently she serves as President of the Florida State Organization, having previously held the elected offices of Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, Second Vice President, and First Vice President.

Black History Month inaugurated by teacher Carter Godwin Woodson

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Carter Godwin Woodson, the American school teacher who created Black History Month, an annual celebration of the many outstanding contributions African Americans have made to our country. Photo credit: Public Domain

This February, socially conscious teachers all over the United States are launching their classes into Black History Month, an annual celebration of the many outstanding contributions African Americans have made to our country. But did you know that Black History Month, itself, was the brainchild of a brilliant American teacher?

Educator Carter Godwin Woodson is credited with organizing and advocating annual Black History Month celebrations in American schools. He is also recognized as the first African American born of enslaved parents to earn a PhD in History. Admittedly, these are noteworthy accomplishments. But there is so much more to this brilliant man’s life story than is usually publicized.

Did you know that, as a youngster, Carter was forced to work on the family farm rather than attend school? Nevertheless, he taught himself to read using the Bible and local newspapers. He didn’t finish high school until he was 20 years old. Did you know that Carter once worked as a coal miner in Fayette County, West Virginia, and then later went back there to teach school to the children of Black coal miners, serving as a model for using education to get out of the mines? Did you know that Carter taught school in the Philippines, and then became the supervisor of schools, which included duties as a trainer of teachers, there? And did you know that he was one of the first to study African American history, to collect data, oral histories, and documents, and to publish his findings in a scholarly magazine he published, The Journal of Negro History? 

To read more about this fascinating historical figure, check out my book, Chalkboard Champions.

MI teacher Leah Porter named her state’s 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year

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Third grade teacher Leah Porter of Holt, Michigan, has been named her state’s 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Lansing State Journal.

I always enjoy sharing stories about outstanding educators who have earned recognition for their work in the classroom. One of these is Leah Porter, an elementary school teacher from Holt, Michigan. She has been named her state’s 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year.

Leah is teaching third grade at Wilcox Elementary School in Holt this year, but she spent the last 15 years teaching kindergarten. Her career as an educator has spanned a total of 16 years. Leah has served her school in a variety of roles over her tenure there, including serving as a Reading Recovery teacher, teacher leader, and interventionist.

Leah is best known for her ability to build relationships with her students, and to build an atmosphere of inclusion in her classroom. “In my greatest dreams, I see an educational system that allows each child the freedom to be themselves, to have security and trust in their learning spaces, and to be celebrated for all that they are,” declared Leah.

Leah said that she has dreamed of being since she was a little girl. About a decade ago, her mother even found an old childhood drawing she’d made of herself as a teacher, which now hangs in her classroom. Reflecting on why she chose to become an educator, Leah credited her childhood teachers from North Elementary School in Lansing, Michigan, who taught her to appreciate the learning community that school provides. “I loved thinking about how you could be creative (in the job) and have to work and be on your toes every second of the day,” she said. “For all the prep and things that you think teaching will be, it’s a thousand times better than all those things and a thousand times as challenging, too, simultaneously,” she continued.

Leah earned both her Bachelor’s degree in 2004 and her Master’s degree in 2009, both from Michigan State University College of Education.

Popular theater teacher Jeannie Hutter succumbs to Covid-19

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Jeannie Hutter, a performing arts educator in Independence, Missouri, succumbed to Covid-19 on Jan. 5, 2022. Photo credit: Tommie Hutter

We are saddened to report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Jeannie Hutter, a performing arts teacher from Independence, Missouri, succumbed to the disease on Jan. 5, 2022. She was 57 years old.

Jeannie was born on July 18, 1964, in San Diego, California. She graduated from high school in 1982 from Goose Creek High School in Goose Creek, South Carolina.  She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at MidAmerica Nazarene College in 1986. In addition, she completed courses at Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas, for her certification in speech and theatre.

Jeannie inaugurated her teaching career in 1990 when she accepted a position teaching math at Liberty Middle School in Hutchinson, Kansas. In 1993, she moved to Kansas City where she taught math at the Kansas City Middle School of the Arts.

In 1999, Jeannie established the speech and drama program at Osage Trail Middle School, Independence, Missouri. While there, she earned a Master’s degree in Educational Technology from Lesley University. Ten years later she relocated from the middle school to Fort Osage High School, where she taught acting, directing, and stagecraft as the school’s Director of Theatre. During her 25-year tenure there, the popular teacher directed 75 productions.

The fallen educator will be sorely missed. Student Grant McDaniel recalled the personal struggles his teacher guided him through. He remembered she taught her students how to cope with life, which sometimes requires individuals to cope with loss. “She didn’t only teach us to cope, but she also taught us that life does go on, and to keep moving,” recalled student Lillian Templeton. Jeannie will perhaps be missed most by her twin sister, Tommie Hutter, who is also a teacher at the school. “She used to tease the kids and say, ‘I want a thank you when you get your Tony,'” Tommie remembered. “The funny thing is, every one of those kids has ended up in education. So I think that in itself tells you how much she has made a difference as an educator,” continued Tommie.

Jeannie was fully vaccinated, but had a rare auto-immune disease that put her at high risk. She struggled with a condition called granulomatosis with polyangiitis, a disorder causing inflammation of blood vessels in the nose, sinuses, throat, lungs, and kidneys. Formerly called Wegener’s granulomatosis, this condition causes decreased blood flow to various organs.