Category Archives: Education

Tabatha Rosproy garners 2020 National Teacher of the Year title

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Tabatha Rosproy of Winfield, Kansas, is the first early education teacher ever to garner National Teacher of the Year. (Photo credit: The Collegiate)

Congratulations to Tabatha Rosproy, an educator from Winfield, Kansas, who has just been named the 2020 National Teacher of the Year! This talented and dedicated educator is the first early childhood teacher to garner the national honor in the program’s 68-year history.

Tabatha teaches at Cumbernauld Village, a public school located within Winfield retirement village and nursing home. Her classroom is an intergenerational program. This means her students interact daily with nursing home residents. Elderly members of the retirement community visit her classroom as grandparent volunteers. They read to the children one-on-one and assist with other classroom tasks.

Tabitha’s  program serves at-risk, special education, and typically developing preschoolers. Amazingly, Tabatha’s students have the highest preschool literacy and math scores in the school district. Since the program was inaugurated, Tabatha has noted a marked increase in her students’ literacy skills. In fact, her classroom boasts the highest preschool literacy and math scores in the district.

“It is the most joyful experience that you can imagine,” Tabatha told interviewers on the television show CBS This Morning. “They are connected to people who are older than them, who have different abilities, and it has built so much empathy in their hearts.”

Tabatha was selected from among four outstanding national finalists The other three finalists were Chris Dier, a Louisiana high school history teacher who engages students around identity and culture; Leila Kubesch, an Ohio middle school Spanish teacher who advocates for foster youth who age out of the system; and Linda Rost, a high school science teacher in rural Montana whose students have excelled in national and international competitions.

To read more about this amazing chalkboard champion, see the story published online by The Collegiate. Below, see the full interview CBS This Morning recorded with Tabatha.

English educator Andee Reilly earns success as a novelist

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Andee Reilly, an instructor of composition at University of Hawaii and former high school  English teacher, has earned success as a novelist.

There are many examples of talented educators who have earned accolades in arenas outside of the classroom. One of these is Andee Reilly, an instructor of English who has earned success as a novelist.

Andee was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Following her graduation from Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights, California, in 1988, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies at California State University, Northridge. She earned a Master’s degree in English with a Creative Writing Option from California State University, Los Angeles, in 1999. In 2010, she completed the requirements for a second Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of California, Riverside, located in Riverside, California.

Educator and author Andee Reilly

After earning her teaching credential, Andee inaugurated her career as an educator as an English teacher at Palisades High School in Pacific Palisades, California. Her secret to teaching? “Be patient, be kind, and know what you’re talking about!” Andee advises.

After a few years at the high school level, Andee was hired to teach a course at Moorpark College. She taught additional courses at Pierce College and the College of the Canyons, until securing a position at California State University, Channel Islands (CSUCI). While at SCUCI, Andee garnered a Maximus Award for outstanding teaching.

“I love being able to show my students that effective writing can be learned,” Andee confesses. “Most of us aren’t born with some mystical ability to string sentences together in an inspiring and exciting way on our first try. It’s a skill that takes hard work, patience, and perseverance,” she declares.

When Andee relocated to Hawaii, she accepted a position at the University of Hawaii, Maui College, where she currently teaches composition. “Many of my students are fresh from high school,” reveals Andee. “I constantly try to remind myself that the transition to college can be a little scary for some.,” she continues. “I do my best to be patient and understanding of their needs,” she concludes.

In addition to her classroom successes, the honored educator also enjoys success as a published novelist. Andee says that ever since she was a teenager, she has been a fan of the rock group the Rolling Stones, and their music has long served as an inspiration to her writing. In 2015, Andee published her first novel, Satisfaction. This entertaining book tells the story of Ginny Martin, a recent divorcee, who embarks on a road trip to attend every concert on the Rolling Stones’ North American tour. Along the way, Ginny learns more about herself than she expected.

You can find Andee’s book on amazon.com by clicking this link: Satisfaction. To visit her website, click www.andeereilly.com.

NYC’s Paul Zindel: Chemistry teacher, author, and playwright

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New York City’s Paul Zindel was a high school chemistry teacher. But he was also a celebrated author and playwright.

Many fine educators distinguish themselves in other fields. Such is the case with Paul Zindel, a high school chemistry teacher who is also a celebrated author and playwright.

Paul was born on May 15, 1936 in Tottenville, on Staten Island in New York. His father was a policeman, and his mother was a nurse. When Paul was still a child, his father abandoned his family, and his mother struggled to support the family alone. It was, by his own account, a difficult childhood.

Upon his high school graduation, Paul enrolled in Wagner College on Staten Island. Although he majored in chemistry, he took a creative writing course from celebrated playwright Edward Albee. Albee encouraged and nurtured Paul’s writing talent.

After Paul earned his college degree, he accepted a position as a technical writer for Allied Chemical. He was employed there for six months, but did not enjoy the work. Pursuing a passion for helping young people, Paul decided to go into teaching. For the next ten years, he taught chemistry and physics at Tottenville High School.

While still teaching, Paul wrote the book he is probably most famous for, The Pigman (1968). It was so successful that in 1969 he left teaching to write full-time. “I felt I could do more for teenagers by writing for them,” Paul once explained. “I started reading some young adult books, and what I saw in most of them had no connection to the teenagers I knew. I thought I knew what kids would want in a book, so I made a list and followed it,” he continued. “I try to show teens they aren’t alone. I believe I must convince my readers that I am on their side; I know it’s a continuous battle to get through the years between twelve and twenty — an abrasive time. And so I write always from their own point of view,” he concluded.

Paul’s other signature work includes The Effect of Gamma Rays on the Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, which received an Obie Award in 1970 for best American play. He garnered a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1971.

Sadly, Paul contracted lung cancer and passed away on March 27, 2003. He is interred in Moravian Cemetery in Staten Island.

To learn more about this extraordinary educator and author, visit his website at www.paulzindel.com.

Retired special ed teacher Phyllis Ehrenthal succumbs to Covid-19

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Covid-19 has claimed he life of yet another educator. Retired elementary special education teacher Phyllis Ehrenthal of Connecticut succumbed to the disease on April 16, 2020.

With sadness, we report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another educator. Retired elementary special education teacher Phyllis Ehrenthal of Connecticut succumbed to the disease on April 16, 2020. She was 84 years old.

Phyllis was born on August 13, 1935 and raised in the Bronx borough in New York. As a young girl in the Great Depression, she was a talented and dedicated student. She attended Music and Art High School in New York City. She studied the visual arts there. Upon her graduation, she enrolled at Hunter College in New York City. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree in English.

As a teacher, Phyllis worked at several schools. Eventually she landed at Fox Run School in Norwalk, Fairfield County, Connecticut, where she worked with special education students for 25 years. During her years at Fox Run, Phyllis earned a reputation for encouraging every child to live up to their potential. She encouraged each one to choose their own life goals.

Once Phyllis retired from the teaching profession, she pursued a career as a family therapist. She worked diligently to strengthen the relationships between parents and their teenage children. During this time she also revived her childhood passion for art. She produced many fine oil paintings as a member of a cohort of artists at Weir Farm in Wilton, Connecticut.

To read more about Phyllis, see this online article at Legacy.com.

Caroline Boa Henderson: Teacher and Dust Bowl chronicler

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High school English and Latin teacher Caroline Boa Henderson, left, chronicled her experiences in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl.

I love to share intriguing stories of dedicated educators who exhibit talents in arenas outside of the classroom. This one is about Caroline Boa Henderson, a high school English and Latin teacher who is also celebrated as an author of her personal Dust Bowl survival story.

Caroline Boa was born on April 7, 1877, in Wisconsin, the eldest daughter of affluent farmers. Even as a young girl, Caroline dreamed of someday owning a piece of land she could call her own.

After her high school graduation, Caroline attended Mt. Holyoke College, where she earned her degree in languages and literature in 1901. The new graduate accepted her first teaching position in Red Oak, Iowa, where she taught high school English and Latin from 1901 to 1903. She then taught in Des Moines, Iowa, until 1907. Then, in pursuit of her childhood dream, Caroline relocated to Texas County, Oklahoma, where she staked out a homestead claim on a quarter section of land and moved into a one-room shack which she christened her castle. There she accepted a teaching position in the local school.

In 1908, Caroline married named Bill Henderson, a Texas County farmer. The couple established a farm in nearby Eva, Oklahoma. The following year, Caroline gave birth to a daughter they named Eleanor. When Eleanor came of age, the youngster enrolled at the University of Kansas, where she eventually completed her bachelor’s degree. In order to help pay for Eleanor’s education, Caroline relocated to Lawrence, Kansas, where the two women shared an apartment while Caroline taught school part-time. During this period, Caroline also enrolled in graduate courses in English at the University of Kansas. In 1935, she completed the requirements for her master’s degree.

During the years from 1931-1937, at the height of the Dust Bowl, Caroline published a series of letters and articles in the prestigious magazine Atlantic Monthly. These letters and articles chronicled the grueling conditions faced by farmers who elected to remain on their farms during the severe conditions presented by the Dust Bowl drought, as harsh a natural disaster as any our nation has seen, even in recent years. She also included descriptions of daily life on her own farm, including her experiences with housekeeping, canning, cooking, tending her vegetable and flower gardens, ironing, and caring for her chickens. Her letters and articles earned her a national following, and were included in a PBS special on the Dust Bowl created by Ken Burns in 2012. To read some excerpts from these published pieces, click on the link Letters from the Dust Bowl.

This very amazing teacher and talented author passed away on August 4, 1966, in Phoenix, Arizona.