Category Archives: Education

The Remarkable Kimberly Bearden, Educator in Atlanta, Georgia

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Kimberly Bearden

The remarkable Kimberly Bearden, educator in Atlanta, Georgia

I love to share stories about remarkable teachers. Today I will share a story about the amazing Kimberly Bearden, a middle school teacher from Atlanta, Georgia.

Following her graduation from Joseph Wheeler High School, Kimberly enrolled in the University of Georgia. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education in 1987.

Following her college graduation, Kimberly accepted a position as a sixth grade Language Arts teacher at Floyd Middle School in Mableton, Georgia, where she worked until 1994. For the next ten years, she taught sixth and seventh grade at Dodgen Middle School in Marietta, Georgia. From 2004 to 2007 she taught middle school Language Arts and Social Studies at Mt. Bethel Christian Academy in Marietta.

Kimberly loves to make learning an adventure. She teaches her curriculum in innovative and inspirational ways. She has transformed her classroom into a beach, Mt. Olympus, a poetry coffeehouse, and a mountain retreat. Her students have experienced thunderstorms, an Italian restaurant, a hospital emergency room, a colonial village, and life on a fictitious planet, all without ever leaving the classroom. She has created Survivor tribal challenges and the All-Star Punctuation Bowl to teach grammar. Kimberly often teaches concepts through songs, kinesthetic games, and unique teaching strategies that motivate even the most restless learners.

For the past 11 years, Kimberly has practiced at the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, which she co-founded. She serves as the school’s Executive Director, teacher trainer, and a teacher of fifth and sixth grade Language Arts. The Ron Clark Academy is an innovative middle school and educator training facility in Atlanta. To learn more about the Ron Clark Academy, visit their website at Ron Clark Academy.

In total, Kim’s career as an educator has spanned more than three decades. “I was one of those people who always wanted to be a teacher,” Kimberly confesses. “I was one of those people who always loved school… I really wanted to be in a school with children every day,” she says.

For her stellar work in the classroom, Kimberly has earned many awards over the years. These include the Milken Educator Award in 1999 and the Disney Teacher Award in 2000. She was named a Georgia Teacher of the Year Finalist in 2000. In 2012, Kimberly garnered the Making a Difference Award, in 2015, she won the InfluencHER Award, and in 2016, she earned the University of Georgia Outstanding Alumni Award. That same year, she was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas.

Science teacher Bryce Carlson: He rowed solo across the Atlantic

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Bryce Carlson

Bryce Carlson, a high school teacher from Cincinnati, Ohio, who broke a world record when he successfully rowed solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

Some of the most amazing feats are accomplished by remarkable teachers. One of these teachers is Bryce Carlson, a high school science teacher from Cincinnati, Ohio, who was recently featured in the news because he broke the world record for rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. This extraordinary teacher is the first American to row solo and unassisted across the North Atlantic Ocean, and he did it in record time.

Bryce’s journey began in St. John’s in Newfoundland, Canada, on June 27. He arrived in St. Mary’s Harbor in the Isles of Scilly on the southwestern tip of England just 38 days, 6 hours, and 49 minutes later. The previous record was 53 days, 8 hours, and 26 minutes.

Bryce rowed a distance of about 2,000 nautical miles. This amazing teacher made the trip in a 20-foot, 700-pound boat made of carbon fiber he named Lucille. He packed the boat with navigation and safety equipment, a water maker, bilge pump, stove, mattress and sleeping bag, clothes, toiletries, a medical supplies kit, a few books, and a stereo with his favorite music selections. “If the boat or I get into real trouble, I can signal for help via an emergency beacon or VHF radio on the boat, a personal emergency beacon on my life vest, or by my tracking unit, satellite phone and a satellite Wi-Fi hotspot,” Bryce explained before he started out. These precautions were extremely important. During the journey, Bryce capsized several times and endured high waves, not to mention the remnants of a hurricane!

During his adventure, Bryce worked with a software company based in Cincinnati called Abre Everywhere, which will help him turn his experience and the data from his trip into courses available to other educators.

Bryce’s school is lucky to have him on their staff. He teaches biology, environmental studies, and psychology at the Seven Hills School, a private school located near Cincinnati, Ohio. The Seven Hills School, originally founded in 1906, aspires to foster natural curiosity, active inquiry, and self-discovery. Bryce certainly has modeled those characteristics in spades.

Bryce earned his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in 2003 and his Ph.D in Biological Anthropology from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2011.

Right on, Bryce!

Contemplating Teacher Responsibilities from Years Past

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19th century teachers

Contemplating teacher responsibilities from years past

As educators get ready for the start of another school year, they are undoubtedly contemplating their professional responsibilities. So this seems like an opportune time to read the list of responsibilities for teachers published by the National Popular Education Board in 1872. It’s amusing to see how much things have changed in the last 140 years. Here’s the list:

  • Teachers each day will fill lamps and clean chimneys.
  • Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day’s session.
  • Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.
  • Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings each week if they go to church regularly.
  • After ten hours in school, teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
  • Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
  • Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.
  • Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity, and honesty.
  • The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of 25 cents per week in his pay, providing the Board of Education approves.

Awesome.

Back to School: Tip #3 Make connections with others

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Back to School

We can’t deny it, summer is rapidly coming to an end, and the start of a new school year is just around the corner. This realization typically stimulates reflection about how you can ensure this school year will be the best ever. Here is the third post in a series that offers some tips on how to make this happen. Please feel free to post additional tips and hints in the comments section!

Today’s tip is about making connections with others. Studies have shown that the two most important aspects to success in teaching is pedagogy and relationships. For this reason, making connections with others, particularly students, should be one of your top priorities this year.

Studies show that when we do a better job of forming connections with our students and their families, we are more effective at meeting their needs. And when we do a better job of forming connections with our colleagues, we can collaborate with them more effectively, and teachers can also gain personal and professional support for themselves. So, when you get back to school, take a look around. Who would you like to get to know better? Reach out to the shy, quiet child who might otherwise fall between the cracks. Literally walk to the back of the classroom where the kids that like to hide are hanging out, and engage them in conversation. In the teachers’ lounge, plop yourself next to the new hire. Find a way to spend some time with each new person you have decided to approach. Ask questions that encourage conversation. This will help you to learn about who they are, what their interests and passions and commitments are, and what you may have in common. And then just sit back and listen.

We all know that teaching is a profession that depends on interpersonal interaction. You’ll have a better year if you spend as much time making connections with others as you do on lesson planning.

So enjoy making connections, and have a great year!

Cheers and a little dance for high school math teacher Bob Williams of Alaska

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Bob Williams

Cheers and a little dance for high school math teacher Bob Williams of Alaska

High school teacher Bob Williams of Alaska used cheers and little dances to generate enthusiasm for math. His strategies have garnered him an induction into the National Teachers hall of Fame.

Bob was born and raised in Palmer, Alaska. The son of a sawmill operator, Bob graduated from Palmer High School there. He earned his Bachelor’s in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, in 1982. He earned his Master’s in Mathematics Education from Columbia University in 1991. He completed the requirements for his Doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, in 2006. In addition, this talented educator achieved National Board Certification in 2011.

Bob inaugurated his teaching career in 1987 when he accepted a two-year post to Gambia, West Africa, as a Peace Corps volunteer. When he returned from Gambia, he taught high school math in New York Public Schools, where he worked from 1989 to 1991. Then he returned to Alaska, where he taught for three years at Nome Beltz Jr. and Sr. High School in Nome, Alaska, and seven years at his alma mater, Palmer High School in Palmer, Alaska. From 2004 to 2006 Bob devoted his professional talents to the K-12 Alaska Statewide Mentorship Project, and from 2006 to 20017, he returned once again to Palmer, where he taught math at Colony High School. At present he is the Director of the Division of Educator and School Excellence in the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.

In the classroom, Bob is famous for his high-energy teaching style. He loves to lead his students in cheers and dances to reinforce a math concept. This energy generates enthusiasm for learning and motivates students to achieve. “I think some of the biggest and most meaningful breakthroughs I make with students is that I tell them all that I want them all to feel welcomed, valued, safe, and respected when they walk in the class, no matter who they are. And I work for that,” Bob once revealed.

For his work as a professional educator, Bob has earned many accolades. In 2009, he was named the Alaska State Teacher of the Year, and the same year he earned an NSF Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching. In 2010, Bob garnered an NEA Foundation Horace Mann Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2017, he was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame, the first teacher from his state to be so honored.

“Bob is inspiring to all his students, colleagues, and parents he serves,” colleague Trevor Townsend once remarked, “and he represents all educators through his passionate teaching style, love for teaching, and his high standards of respect he creates in his classroom for all students to be successful. He cares deeply for students and the education process,” Trevor concluded.

Well done, Bob. Well done.