Category Archives: Education

Teacher George Anderson named Iowa’s 2020 State Teacher of the Year

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Teacher and assistant football coach George Anderson named Iowa’s 2020 State Teacher of the Year.

Today we shine a spotlight on educator George Anderson, a teacher and coach from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. George has just been named his state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.

The honored educator teaches at John F. Kennedy High School, where he has worked for 13 years. There he teaches history and also serves as the assistant football coach. He is also a member of his school’s leadership team.

George was raised in the Murrells Inlet area of Garden City, South Carolina. He graduated from Socastee High School. As a young man, he served his country in the US Marine Corps. While in the military, he was an infantry scout for the Second Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. When he received his discharge in 1999, he moved to Iowa and took a job as a construction framer. While working in this job, he worked his way through college. In 2006, he graduated with a Master’s degree in Social Science Education from the University of lowa.

“As a teacher, I like active rooms, students moving around and discussing the material with other students,” George says. “I like to see students engage with the material of history in a way that isn’t just fact recollection or sequencing events. I want student-centered dynamics in the classroom,” he continues. “I do not want to be the center of attention,” he confesses.

To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this article published in The Gazette.

The amazing Troy McAllister: Teacher and championship-winning football coach

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The amazing Troy McAllister: Teacher and championship-winning football coach

There are many talented educators who also serve as exemplary athletic coaches. One of these is Troy McAllister. He is a teacher and football coach at Wendell Phillips Academy High School, a public school located on the southside in Chicago, Illinois.

Troy has been the coach of the Phillips Academy Wildcats since 2010. When he first took the job, only ten players were on the team. In the ten years since he assumed the helm, his teams have won two Call 4-A state championships. Currently, the Wildcats are currently ranked Number 93 in the High School Football America 100 national rankings.

But Troy does more for his players than simply teach them winning football plays. He set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to provide healthy pre-game meals for his players. “Due to the lack of funds, our school and our boys have pre-game diets that are either nonexistent or devoid of nutrition,” Troy described. “I am raising money to be able to buy food for our boys for pregame meals. It seems obvious, but having enough energy to play four quarters of football could mean the difference between making history or not. However, our kids do not always have that choice,” he explained. Through the fundraising site, the Chalkboard Champion was able to raise more than $5,300 towards his goal of $7,000.

For his work on the field, Troy garnered the 2018 Gatorade Coaching Excellence Award, a national award that recognizes the best coaches throughout the country.

To learn more about Troy, click on this link to an article about him published on USA Today.

Meghan Hatch-Geary named Connecticut State’s 2020 Teacher of the Year

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Meghan Hatch-Geary named Connecticut State’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.

Congratulations to English teacher Meghan Hatch-Geary, who has been named the Connecticut State’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. Meghan teaches World Literature and Advanced Placement English Language Competition at Woodland Regional High School in Beacon Falls.

Meghan was raised in Meriden, Connecticut. After she graduated from Maloney High School, she enrolled in the Tisch School of the Arts in New York City. There she studied musical theater. Ten years later, she earned her Bachelor’s degree at Hunter College, where she majored in Black and Latino Studies. She also minored in English literature. Once she earned her degree, Meghan traveled to Ghana where she served as a volunteer teaching primary school. She also completed a stint as an outreach educator in Ecuador.  When she returned to the United States, she pursued a graduate degree in education from the University of New Haven.

The honored educator’s career at Woodland Regional has spanned 11 years. In that time, she has garnered recognition for her work with Woodland Worldwide, an extracurricular organization she founded to empower young women. Through the organization, the students develop their leadership skills through service projects that raise awareness about gender discrimination, media bias, and human traffricking. The projects benefit others both locally and globally.

“I’m fortunate to have maintained strong relationships with students, many of whom have graduated college and are pursuing careers centered on activism, social justice, service, and education,” Meghan declared. “I see the direct results of our impact not only in their choice of profession, but when they return to Woodland to present workshops, perform in our awareness-raising cabaret show, or speak to our classes,” she continued.

“Sometimes the most powerful and lasting lessons happen after school,” asserted Meghan. “Working with our students and watching them find and use their voices to take action in their lives and communities has been immeasurably rewarding. It is the reason I became a teacher, and the reason I believe teaching is the most powerful profession in the world,” she concluded.

To read more about Meghan, read this article published on Nov. 1 by the Connecticut Educators Association.

K.C. Boyd: Teacher Librarian extraordinaire

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K.C. Boyd: Washington DC’s Teacher Librarian extraordinaire

Today we’re shining the spotlight on K.C. Boyd, Teacher Librarian extraordinaire from Washington, DC. This Chalkboard Champion has been featured in Education Weekly, School Library Journal, PBS News Hour, American Libraries, Library Journal, and Medium Magazine.

K.C. is affectionately called “Boss Librarian” by her students.  What does her work with the kids look like? “Some weeks I teach classes that support the curriculum in conjunction with lessons that are taught by teachers,” she describes. “I enjoy this immensely because I’m presenting curricular content in a different way. This alternative way of teaching the lesson often provides students with a more global view of the material and makes it more meaningful,” she asserts.

“There are other weeks when I do not have classes,” she continues. “This is when I’m identifying print/digital resources for the teachers and students for use in the classroom, scanning the net for free programs that are aligned with the mission/vision of the school, and keeping abreast of new trends in library science that I can use in my library,” she explains. “Lunch periods are always busy, as I have students in the library either checking out books, quietly talking to their friends, or watching a book that was made into a movie with my Apple TV,” she concludes.

K.C. is a second-generation educator. Her parents were teachers, both born in the South during the Jim Crow era. To seek better opportunities, they migrated north to Chicago in the 1960’s. And that’s where K.C. grew up.

K.C. holds three Master’s degrees: in Library Information Science, Media Communications, and Education Leadership. Before accepting her position in DC, she worked as the Lead Librarian for the East St. Louis School District in East St. Louis, Illinois. She also worked as an Area Library Coordinator for Chicago Public Schools and a District Coordinator for the Mayor Daley Book Club for Middle School Students.

“Working in school libraries is not easy,” confesses K.C. “It’s a roller coaster of events and emotions that are not for the weak. Committed warrior librarians possess the same driving force: a deep and abiding love for libraries,” she continued.

You can read more about this Chalkboard Champion in this interview at Tech at EdCircuit. You can follow K.C. Boyd on Twitter @Boss_Librarian.

Teacher Tim Staples killed during a search and rescue mission for a lost hiker

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Chalkboard Hero Tim Staples, tragically killed on Sat., Dec. 14, during a search and rescue mission for a lost hiker.

When the community is in desperate need of volunteers, it is often the teachers who respond. They often give their all to help wherever they are needed. This is certainly true of Tim Staples, a beloved Social Studies and English teacher from La Verne, California. This Chalkboard Hero tragically lost his life on Sat., Dec. 14 while conducting a search and rescue mission for a lost hiker.

Tim volunteered for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department search and rescue team for nine years. His lifeless body was found on Saturday night at the bottom of an ice chute. It is believe his death was the result of a bad fall in the snow and ice. The accident occurred while Tim and 125 other volunteers were searching Mt. Baldy for Sree Mokkapati of Ivine, who went missing in the area a week ago. The conditions under which this search was conducted were described as extremely dangerous.

The intrepid educator taught Social Studies and English at Damien High School, an all-boys Catholic school in La Verne. Tim also coached track and was an avid supporter of the debate team. Prior to his two and a half years at the Damien, Tim taught for five and a half years at St Lucy’s Priory High School in Glendora, California.

To read more about this chalkboard hero, read this article published by the Los Angeles Daily News.