Category Archives: Education

Elementary teacher Wade Whitehead shares his expertise with Virginia’s student teachers

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Wade Whitehead

Elementary teacher Wade Whitehead shares his expertise with Virginia’s student teachers

I always enjoy sharing stories about gifted educators. Today I’m sharing the story of Wade Whitehead, a fifth grade teacher from Roanoke, Virginia.

Wade earned his Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Elementary Education from the College of William and Mary in 1994. In 2009 he earned his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Virginia.

This chalkboard champion inaugurated his career as an educator when he accepted a position as a second grade teacher at Westside Magnet School for the visual and Performing Arts. He taught there until 1997. Since then, he has taught third and fifth grades at Crustal Spring School. His teaching career has spanned a total of 22 years.

Wade is a fourth-generation teacher. Both his parents were elementary teachers. “As a youngster, I spent countless summer days in my parents’ empty classrooms,” remembers Wade. “I witnessed the business end of teaching as they worked at the kitchen table and on the living room floor in the evenings and on weekends,” he once said. “At an early age, I become curious about the mechanisms that drive teaching and that galvanize learning. By the time I was reaching a career decision point, I knew I wanted to dig into exactly how imagination, discovery, and sharing combine to produce new and meaningful understanding and knowledge.”

And he’s more than willing to share his expertise. Wade has led the creation and implementation of the Teachers of Promise Institute, which provides the best of Virginia’s student teachers an opportunity to interact with and learn from master educators from all over Virginia. He often serves as a guest instructor to practicing and pre-service teachers at nearby universities.

For his work in the classroom, Wade has earned a great deal of recognition. In 2000 Roanoke City Public Schools named him Teacher of the Year  and the Milken Foundation gave him their National Educator Award. In 2001, he garnered a USA Today Teacher Award. In 2001, he earned a McGlothlin Award for Teaching Excellence by the McGlothlin Foundation and was named Teacher of the Year by the Southwest Virginia Forum on Education.  In 2013, Roanoker Magazine name him him Most Inspiring Teacher, and in 2016 Wade was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas.

Comedian Lennon Parham: a former high school French teacher

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Lennon Parham

High school French teacher and comedian Lennon Parham

Anyone who has been up in front of a classroom knows that teaching is, in part, a performance. So it’s no surprise when talented teachers make a name for themselves in the entertainment industry. One teacher who has done this is former high school French teacher Lennon Parham, who now works as a celebrated actress and comedian.

Lennon was born on October 27, 1976, in Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia. Her parents named her after the musician John Lennon. As a young girl, she attended Parkview High School in Lilburn, Gwinnett County, Georgia.

After her high school graduation, Lennon enrolled at the University of Evansville, a small private university located in Evansville, Indiana, under the Teach for American program. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Theater.

Once she completed the requirements for her degree, Lennon accepted a position as a French teacher at T.L. Weston High School in Greenville, Washington County, Mississippi, where she taught for two years.

After fulfilling her obligation for Teach for America, Lennon began her career in the entertainment industry in earnest. Over the years, she has wracked up an impressive resume. She has made appearances in 26 episodes of the television show Playing House, 18 episodes of Accidentally on Purpose, 12 shows of Lady Dynamite, six episodes of Veep, and six shows of Best Friends Forever. She also appeared in roles on Children’s Hospital, Parks and Recreation, Bad Judge, and Arrested Development. Lennon also performed in the movies Pretty Bird, Confessions of a Splinterheads, Shopaholic, and Horrible Bosses 2.

Despite her success, the former French teacher has not entirely left the classroom. She has taught improv classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) training center in Los Angeles. The UCB is the only accredited improv and sketch comedy school in the country. You can learn more about this organization at this link: UCB.

The Civil War raged around her, but that didn’t stop educator Laura Towne

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Laura Towne

The Civil War raged around her, but that didn’t stop teacher Laura Towne

American history is full of chalkboard champions who risk life and limb for their students. One of these educators is Laura Towne, continued to teach even though the Civil War raged around her.

Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1825, Laura was raised in Philadelphia, where she moved in socially progressive circles. She was formally educated as both a homeopathic physician and a school teacher. She was also a dedicated abolitionist.

During the Civil War, Laura was one of the first Northern women to go south to work with freed slaves. She traveled to St. Helena Island in Port Royal, South Carolina, where she founded the first school for freed slaves, even though the battle continued to rage all around her.

This chalkboard champion was practical, independent, down-to-earth, and strong-willed. She readily entered into the life of Saint Helena Island, where she began her work attending to the medical needs of the freed slaves. In June, 1862, Laura gave up her medical practice, and together with Ellen Murray, her life-long friend and fellow teacher, opened the first school for freed slaves. Laura named her institution the Penn School. Nine adults students enrolled in the school, which operated out of the back room of an abandoned plantation house. Unlike most schools established for emancipated slaves, Laura’s school offered a rigorous curriculum, which was modeled on the schools of New England.

Laura spent forty years running her school and grew to love the life she had established in Port Royal. She and Ellen eventually adopted several African American children and raised them as their own. Upon her death in 1901, Laura bequeathed the Penn School to the Hampton Institute, at which time it began operating as the Penn Normal, Industrial, and Agricultural School.
Laura Towne: A true chalkboard champion.

Kindergarten teacher Edwin Sorto: His kids learn to salsa dance!

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Here’s a teacher you’ve just got to get a kick out of. He’s Edwin Sorto, a kindergarten teacher at KIPP Promise Academy, a public school in Washington, DC. In addition to his classroom responsibilities, Edwin is a professional salsa dancer, and he loves to teach his young students to dance, too!

To supplement the usual curriculum, Edwin has integrated dance into his lesson plans. He believes that learning to dance helps his students obtain a well-rounded education, and it teaches important life skills such as discipline and social skills. “They work incredibly hard at both academics and dance,” Edwin once explained. “This is just one more thing that keeps them engaged in school.” This amazing educator has the kids almost-expertly performing salsa, merengue, and bachata. He has even taught them choreography from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video.

Edwin was born in El Salvador, and immigrated to the United States at the age of 14. He was raised in a family where dance was a part of everyday life. Edwin believes that it’s best to learn how to dance when people are young because children pick up dance moves more easily and they are less inhibited than adults.

Edwin received his teacher training at Capital Teaching Residency, an organization which trains new educators in the DC area. There he partnered with a master teacher for one year at KIPP Promise Academy. Once he completed his training, he was allowed to create his own lesson plans. Now, groups of 25 to 30 students meet with him every day for his special afternoon classes where he leads physical education, art, and cultural activities.

When he’s not working with his kindergartners, Edwin travels around the country performing salsa with a dance team called Casineros. He also performs with Cazike, a Latin dance company run by his wife who also teaches at KIPP Promise Academy.

Enjoy this brief YouTube video of Edwin with his dancing kindergartners below:

Michigan’s June Teisan: Inspiring scientific minds for 27 years

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June Teisan

Michigan’s June Teisan: She’s been inspiring scientific minds for 27 years

I always enjoy sharing stories about remarkable teaches. That’s what this blog is all about! Today, I’m sharing the story of June Teisan, a retired junior high school science teacher from Michigan.

June earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology in 1986 and her Master’s degree in Teaching in 1991, both from Wayne State University located in Detroit, Michigan. In addition, June is a National Board Certified teacher.

In a career that spanned 27 years, June worked as a seventh grade science teacher at Harper Woods Secondary School in Harper Woods, Michigan, where she was employed until 2014. Teaching junior high school students is a memory June carries with fondness. “It was fantastic. I loved it,” June remembers. “It is such  an exuberant age. They are self-maintaining because they are not little anymore, but they are not so cool yet that they go off on their own, and the doors are still open for inquiry and for new things,” she says.

After June left the classroom, she accepted a position in the Office of Education at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where she served as an Education Outreach and Program Specialist. June has a reputation for being passionately committed to widening opportunities for under-represented and under-served students in the STEM fields. She is known for being committed to supporting urban and early-career educators with rich, innovative professional development.

Over the course of her career, June has collected many awards. In 2005, she garnered a White House Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. In 2008, she was named the Michigan Teacher of the Year and was named a finalist for National Teacher of the Year. She was also honored as a Smithsonian Teacher ambassador that year. In 2011, June was named a NASA TeacherNaut, and in 2015 she became an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow. In 2016, this remarkable teacher was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.