Category Archives: Education
Maine teacher Becky Hallowell named her state’s Teacher of the Year
Wiscasset Elementary school teacher Becky Hallowell holds her 2025 Maine Teacher of the Year award in an outdoor classroom on the shore of the Sheepscot River, which runs right in front of her school. Photo credit: The Lincoln County News
I always enjoy sharing the story of an exceptional educator who has earned recognition for her work in one of our nation’s public schools. One such educator is Becky Hallowell, an elementary school teacher from Maine. She has been named her state’s 2025 Teacher of the Year.
The honored educator says she always knew she would become a teacher. “I wanted to be the biggest cheerleader for kids,” she reveals. “I have always been in awe of teachers. They were the people who made me smile and love school. They saw glimmers of my strengths and they encouraged me to chase after my interests,” she concludes.
To achieve her goal of becoming a teacher, Becky earned her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Maine at Farmington in 1994. She earned her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern Maine in 2011. Her career as an educator spans 30 years.
Becky teaches fourth graders at Wiscasset Elementary School in Wiscasset, Maine. In planning her curriculum, she says she is a huge advocate of project-based outdoor learning. To support this passion, in 2021 Becky worked with fellow teacher Kaden Pendleton to create an outdoor classroom on the banks of the Sheepscot River, which runs in front of the school. She called this classroom the Outdoor Wonderful Learning Space, or OWLS for short. There her second graders cleared the area of invasive species, and then conducted activities such as measuring leaves and diagraming plants.
“I’ve done my research, and the research is telling us that when kids are outside moving around, their ability to focus—even when they go back inside—improves for at least half an hour after they’ve had that outdoor time,” Becky asserts. “It’s something they can touch, it’s where kids tell me they feel safest, and they’re more accessible to learning,” she concludes.
Well done, Becky.
To read more about Becky Hallowell, click on this link to an interview with her published by the Maine Dept. of Education.
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Teacher and librarian Charlotte Stephens of Arkansas was a trailblazer
Charlotte Stephens, born into slavery, became the first African American teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas. Photo credit: Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Many fine educators are notable for their “firsts.” One of these was trailblazer Charlotte Stephens, the first African American to teach school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Charlotte was born into slavery in 1854 in Little Rock. After the end of the Civil War, in 1869, she inaugurated her career as an educator when she became a substitute for her own teacher, who had fallen ill near the end of the school year. Charlotte was only 15 years old at the time. At the end of her first full year of teaching, Charlotte used her savings to travel to Ohio, where she completed courses in pedagogy at Oberlin College. There she studied Latin, geometry, the history of Rome, music, English, and the Bible. For three years she continued to perfect her craft, returning intermittently to Little Rock to teach and earn additional money to pay for her courses.
Charlotte’s lengthy career as an educator included 30 years as an elementary school teacher, 30 as a high school teacher, and 10 as a teacher librarian in both high school and junior college. In all, Charlotte’s career spanned an astonishing 70 years before her retirement at age 85 in 1939. Among her most notable students were African American composers Florence Price and William Grant Still.
This Chalkboard Champion passed away on December 17, 1951. In 1910, Stephens Elementary School in Little Rock was named in her honor. To read more about her, see this article published in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
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Celebrating Juneteenth today!
The African American community celebrates Juneteenth today! Many teachers are aware of the significance of this event, and, if school for them is still in session, they may be planning an observance of the occasion with their students.
Juneteenth marks the 1865 arrival of Federal troops under the command of US General Gordon Granger in Galveston, Texas. Their military mission was to take control of the state following the Civil War, and to ensure that all enslaved people living there had been freed. Until that day, 250,000 enslaved people in Texas were unaware that slavery had been declared officially ended. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
The year following Granger’s arrival, freedmen in Texas organized the first of what became the annual celebration of “Jubilee Day” on June 19. In the decades since, Juneteenth commemorations featured music, barbecues, prayer services, and other holiday activities. As Black people migrated from Texas to other parts of the country, the tradition of celebrating Juneteenth spread.
Juneteenth is considered the longest-running African American holiday in US history. In 1979, Texas became the first state to declare Juneteenth an official holiday. Efforts to make the celebration a national holiday have, so far, stalled in Congress, but as of this year, 47 states recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.
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LA math teacher Lainey Hodge garners PAEMST
Exemplary math teacher Lainey Hodge of Monroe, Louisiana, has garnered a prestigious PAEMST. Photo credit: Laney Hodge
There are many exemplary educators working in our nation’s public school classrooms. One of these is Lainey Hodge, a mathematics teacher from Monroe, Louisiana. She garnered a coveted Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) from President Joseph Biden in January, 2025.
The PAEMST recognizes the dedication, hard work, and importance that America’s teachers play in supporting learners who will become future STEM professionals, including computer technologists, climate scientists, mathematicians, innovators, space explorers, and engineers. The PAEMST program, founded in 1983, is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on behalf of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. The honor comes with a meeting with the President and a $10,000 cash prize.
Lainey Hodge has taught mathematics for 14 years. Currently, she teaches courses in Geometry, Algebra 1, Algebra III, Advanced Math, Financial Literacy, and Math Essentials at Sterlington High School in Quachita Parish. She previously taught at Ouachita Parish High School for three years, Haughton High School for six years, and Minden High School for her first three years as a teacher.
Lainey is highly thought of among her students and colleagues.They particularly appreciate her approach to teaching mathematics. “That’s my job,” she says. “To overcome the stereotype that math is too difficult. I do my best to teach it in a way that makes it easy and fun,”she declares.
In addition to teaching these courses, Lainey is a mentor teacher and content leader who facilitates school and districtwide professional development. She is a teacher leader and advisor for the Louisiana Department of Education. Additionally, she works with Rivet Education, Inc. to review professional development of high-quality instructional materials.
Lainey earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology Education from Louisiana Tech University and her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a STEM concentration from Louisiana State University, Shreveport.
In addition to her PAEMST, Lainey was recognized as the 2023 Outstanding High School Teacher by the Louisiana Association of Teachers of Mathematics and the 2014 Region 7 Secondary Teacher of the Year by the Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators.
