Category Archives: Inspiration
Gifting for Teacher Appreciation Day!
Super Teacher!
Teacher Appreciation Day is just around the corner! When trying to decide just the right gift to give to your friends and family members that are teachers, or that special teacher that works with your child, consider copies of Chalkboard Champions and Chalkboard Heroes. Each volume is packed with inspirational stories about remarkable educators in American history, and the historical implications of their pioneering work. These books make great gifts for individuals in the teaching profession and those aspiring to become teachers some day. They are also appealing to history buffs and social scientists.
Among the captivating stories in Chalkboard Champions is the story of Charlotte Forten Grimke, an African American born into freedom who volunteered to teach emancipated slaves as the Civil War raged around her. Read the eyewitness account of the Wounded Knee massacre through the eyes of teacher Elaine Goodale Eastman, and educator Mary Tsukamoto, imprisoned in a WWII Japanese internment camp. Read about Mississippi Freedom Summer teacher Sandra Adickes who, together with her students, defied Jim Crow laws to integrate the Hattiesburg Public Library. Marvel at the pioneering work of Anne Sullivan Macy, the teacher of Helen Keller, the efforts of teacher Clara Comstock to find homes for thousands of Orphan Train riders, and the dedication of Jaime Escalante, the East LA educator who proved to that inner city Latino youths could successfully meet the demands of a rigorous curriculum.
In Chalkboard Heroes, read about dedicated educators who were heroes both inside and outside of the classroom, including WWI veteran Henry Alvin Cameron and Civil War veteran Francis Wayland Parker. Learn about teachers who were social reformers such as Dolores Huerta, Civil Rights activist Robert Parris Moses, suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt, and Native American rights advocate Zitkala-Sa, all of whom put themselves at risk to fight for improved conditions for disenfranchised citizens. Discover brave pioneers who took great risks to blaze a trail for others to follow such as Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher in space; Willa Brown Chappell, the aviatrix who taught Tuskegee airmen to fly; Etta Schureman Jones, the Alaskan teacher who was interned in a POW camp in Japan during WWII; and Olive Mann Isbell, who established the first English school in California while the Mexican american War raged around her.
All these remarkable stories and more can be shared with someone you know this year on Teacher Appreciation Day!
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Teachers Make a Difference
Chalkboard Champions, feeling the need for some inspiration today? Watch this brief YouTube video created by Carson-Dellosa Publishing, and I guarantee you’ll feel uplifted!
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Teacher Haley Curfman Wears Her Students’ Artwork
Here’s a teacher who really knows how to celebrate her students. She’s Haley Curfman, a second grade teacher at Blackwell Elementary School in Blackwell, Oklahoma.
For the second year in a row, she brought a white dress to school and encouraged her students to fill the fabric with their art work. “This is something I’d seen on Pinterest a few years ago, and I fell in love with the idea,” she says. “I think every teacher should do this! It’s a great project and an even better keepsake.”
Haley says she purchased an inexpensive white dress, and pre-washed it before she brought it to the classroom. With fabric markers she purchased from Walmart, she set up an activity station that featured the dress, the markers, and pieces of cardboard to place between the layers of fabric. She reports that it took approximately a month to complete, because the students worked on it intermittently as time allowed. When the students were finished adding their artwork, she wore the dress for a class party, and then put it on display.
“It’s been pointed out that this idea has been around way longer than Pinterest,” discloses Haley. “Teachers have been sharing their dresses, aprons, quilts, T-shirts, etc. with me that they’ve been creating since the 1950’s with the same concept. Which is awesome, and I love that you are sharing them with me! Thank you all so much for your kindness and support!” she concludes.
For more of Haley’s classroom projects, check out her Facebook page at The Weary Teacher.
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Dr. Melissa Crum: Thoughts about Diversity Education
As educators, it is always fitting and proper to think about how we can best serve the needs of the students of color who comprise our classroom population. This is particularly true during Black History Month. In this TED Talk, the issue is explored by Dr. Melissa Crum, an education consultant, diversity practitioner, and artist who conducts workshops with many educators in urban schools. Dr. Crum was inspired to do this work when she remembered incidents from her own childhood, and when she observed that many teachers have challenges teaching and relating to students who do not share their same cultural background. In response, she worked with a museum educator to create an arts-based professional development series that helps educators reflect about how they are interacting with their students. Here she shares her inspirational and eye-opening message that everyone who works with students should hear.