Category Archives: Education

Teacher Sarah Lerner helps traumatized students recover from Parkland shooting

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Teacher Sarah Lerner uses all her teacher skills to help her students recover from the traumatic mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year.

In the aftermath of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day last year, teacher Sarah Lerner has been using all her teacher skills to help her students recover from their trauma.

Sarah serves her school as an English teacher and yearbook adviser. In this year’s annual, the perceptive and responsive educator suggested to her students that they include portraits of the 14 therapy dogs that have been welcomed on campus to help the traumatized students cope. The dogs have obviously become an important part of the healing process. “I’ll be teaching and in comes a dog and these big 18-year-old adults all of a sudden become mushy 5-year-old kids, and it’s been such a comfort for us,” Sarah explained.

Sarah has also provided her students with the opportunity to express their emotions in a book she edited and published entitled Parkland Speaks: Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Share Their Stories. In the book, the teens share their experiences, grief, anger, determination, healing, and hope. The collection includes poetry, eyewitness accounts, letters, speeches, journal entries, drawings, and photographs from the traumatic events and aftermath of the events of February 14, 2018. The book is filled with expressions of loss, a rally cry for change, and hope for a safe future. A large portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book go directly to Shine MSD, an organization formed by Parkland students that promotes healing through the arts. Parkland Speaks is currently being sold for $17.99 online and in bookstores across the nation. The volume is available on amazon here.

One of 14 therapy dogs brought in to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School to help students cope with last year’s mass shooting examines his portrait in the school’s yearbook. The portraits were the brainchild of yearbook adviser and teacher Sarah Lerner.

Drama teacher Madeline Michel garners prestigious honor at 2019 Tony Awards

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It isn’t every day that a classroom educator receives a prestigious honor at an elite televised awards show, but drama teacher Madeline Michel of Charlottesville, Virginia did just that. She gained national recognition at last night’s 2019 Tony Awards when she captured the Theatre Education Awards during the Creative Arts Awards portion of the broadcast. Madeline has taught theater at Monticello High School in the Albemarle County Public School District for the past 12 years.

The award, which is presented jointly by the Tony Award and Carnegie Mellon University, recognizes the top k-12 drama teachers in the nation, and celebrates education for the performing arts. Madeline is the fifth recipient of the award, which was established in 2014.

Madeline says her teaching philosophy is to shut up, listen, watch, find out what’s important to her students, and follow their lead. And then offer encouragement and guidance where and when the teens need it. It’s an approach Madeline says she developed when she began teaching in 1980 in Baltimore, and one she’s refined over her 12 years at Monticello High. It was her creation of an inclusive drama program, inviting all kinds of kids, and the permission she gives those kids to express themselves freely onstage that resonates so strongly with them. Her student-written and performed plays have won numerous regional awards, including this year’s grand prize at the Virginia Theatre Conference.

“I’m proud to share this award with my students at Monticello High School,” Madeline remarked. In her acceptance speech, the stellar educator lavished praised on her students. “This award is for all of the students who have found their voice and who speak for themselves, their families, and their community through theater and play writing,” Madeline concluded.

Congratulations, Madeline! To read more about Madeline and her performing arts program, click here.

Teacher, coach, and former pro football player Herb Banet

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Teacher, coach, counselor, and former professional football player Herb Banet

When I think of chalkboard champions, I never forget all of our nation’s talented coaches. These dedicated professionals work many long hours with our young people, teaching them the value of self-discipline, healthy competition, fair play, and teamwork, and helping them to choose a healthy, active lifestyle. One such chalkboard champion in Herb Banet, a high school teacher, basketball coach, and guidance counselor from Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Herb was born in 1913 in Fort Wayne. As a high school student, he was a gifted athlete.  At 6’2″ and 200 pounds, he earned All-City Honors in both football and basketball. After his graduation from Fort Wayne South High School in 1933, he attended Manchester University in North Manchester, Indiana, where he played collegiate football. While at Manchester, Herb played All-Conference Football and All-State Football in 1934, 1935, and 1936. During the 1937 season, Herb played in the National Football League with the Green Bay Packers.

As if all this were not enough, Herb was also a war hero. When World War II broke out, he served his country in the US Navy.

These experience served him well during his eighteen-year career as a coach at Central High School in Fort Wayne. While coaching there, his team made one trip to the Final Four in 1960, where they were defeated by just one point by East Chicago Washington. Later in Herb’s career he served as a guidance counselor at Northrup High School. This talented educator retired in 1979. In recognition of his illustrious career as an athlete, he was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Herb Banet passed away in 2003 at the age of 89 and is buried at Falls Memorial Gardens in Wabash, Indiana. It is certain that his efforts as a gifted teacher, coach, and counselor will always be well-remembered.

Celebrated musician Conrad Johnson chooses teaching over fame and fortune

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Talented musician Conrad Johnson gives up fame and fortune with international orchestras to pursue a career as a music educator.

If you are a music teacher or a jazz aficionados, you have no doubt heard of Conrad Johnson, Sr., a music educator from Houston, Texas. In addition to his role as a remarkable educator, Conrad was a phenomenal musician.

Conrad once played with the legendary Count Basie, and Erskine Hawkins once tried to persuade him to join his orchestra. But Conrad declined the fame and fortune he was offered because he didn’t want to leave his family or his give up his career as a  teacher. “Conrad Johnson is one of Houston’s unsung cultural heroes,” says Rick Mitchell, former pop music critic for the Houston Chronicle. “He could have made a national name for himself with his two big bands. Instead he chose to devote his career to educating Houston’s future musicians. He is retired from the school system, but he’s still hard at work as an educator.”

Born in Victoria, Texas, the young Conrad was nine years old when his family moved to the port city of Houston. After graduating from Yates High School, Conrad attended Houston College for Negroes, and then Wiley College in Marshall in eastern Texas, where he graduated in 1941. He started his career as a music educator at Kashmere High School that same year.

Conrad made a lasting contribution to music when he formed the Kashmere Stage Band, an internationally-known school orchestra that won a number of awards during its decade-long existence. His kids always called him “Prof.” Under Prof’s tutelage, the student musicians in the Kashmere Band won forty-two out of the forty-six competitions they entered between 1969 and 1977. They recorded eight albums featuring more than twenty original compositions by Conrad, and they went on tour throughout the United States, Japan, and Europe.

In 1978, following a thirty-seven-year career, Conrad retired from his position at Kashmere High School. In his retirement, he continued to remain active in shaping music in Houston by conducting summer programs and in-home tutoring. In 2000, the talented educator was inducted into the Texas Bandmasters Hall of Fame. The Conrad O. Johnson School of Fine Arts, a magnet school at Kashmere High School, is named after him. This wonderful teacher and musician passed away in 2008 at the age of 92.

To learn more about this chalkboard champion, click on this link: The Conrad O. Johnson Music and Fine Arts Foundation.