Idaho’s Courtney Greene garners prestigious PAEMST

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Fifth grade STEM educator Courtney Greene of Idaho, shown here assisting a student in directed inquiry, has garnered a prestigious 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Photo Credit: Coeur d’Alene Post Falls Press.

It is always my pleasure to share stories about exceptional educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Courtney Green, an elementary STEM teacher from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She has garnered a prestigious 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).

Courtney currently teaches fifth grade at Fernan STEM Academy. Previously she taught at Bryan Elementary, Hayden Meadows Elementary, Sorensen Elementary, and Bovill Elementary. Her career as an educator spans 21 years.

Courtney’s passion for inquiry has led to partnerships with the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the University of Idaho to create authentic, place-based learning experiences for her students. Her class’s latest inquiry unit was a case study of a local creek system, which had students as collaborators with the community conservation water management team led by tribal scientists.

Courtney says she is especially interested in the environment, and the local ecosystem is her passion. She says she wants students to ask their own questions and wonder about the world so they will take ownership of their own learning. “Kids are natural scientists because they do ask all those questions,” asserts Courtney.”“So almost everything we start with is framed around questions.” Then she takes the standards and turns them into questions that students can ask more questions about.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Courtney has conducted presentations about inquiry-based learning pedagogy at the Northwest Council for Computer Education, the Idaho Education Technology Association, and the Idaho STEM Action Center’s ISTEM conference. She also leads professional development workshops to support teachers in creating science storyline units. Furthermore, she is an active member of the Idaho Science Teachers Association.

Courtney earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Idaho.

To learn more about Courtney Greene, see this article about her published by the Coeur d’Alene Post Falls Press.

Utah teacher Vanja Watkins has earned renown as a composer

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Music educator Vanja Watkins of Utah has earned renown as a composer of hymns. Photo Credit: BYU Music Group

Our nation’s students are indeed fortunate to have so many talented and dedicated teachers in our schools. One of these is Vanja Watkins, a public school teacher in Utah who has earned renown as a composer of hymns for the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS).

Vanja earned both her Bachelor’s degree and her Master’s degree at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Salt Lake City, Utah. After earning her degrees, Vanja accepted a position as the Music Coordinator for primary grades in the Ogden School District. The district had its own TV station, KOET (Channel 9), and for three years Vanja’s assignment included teaching a class called “Singing Time” for each grade, kindergarten through 6th, which was aired on that channel once a week. During her third year in that role, she taught the classes on KUED-TV to schools statewide. In 1964, Vanja married and for the next 20 years, she stayed home to raise her children.

When Vanja returned to the teaching profession, she accepted a position at the BYU School of Music, a stint that stretched for five years. Then she returned to Salt Lake City publish schools, where she taught for six years at Washington, Lowell, and Lincoln Elementary Schools. She concluded her career with another five-year stint at BYU. Vanja is now retired, but at age 84 she still teaches music to private students.

Vanja confesses she decided that she would pursue a career as a music teacher when she was a student in high school. “From then on, I really didn’t waver in that decision,” she says. “My high school choral teacher, Edward Sandgren, was truly a mentor for me, not only during my high school years but also when I returned to Ogden to do my student teaching with him at Ben Lomond High School. At that time my goal was to be a secondary choral teacher,” she remembers. “But as I began working with students, I realized that most of them had not had basic musical experiences. I had the distinct impression that the best place for me to begin teaching was in elementary schools,” she continues. “That had never entered my mind before, but it was a very strong impression and I knew I needed to follow it. My dear professor and Music Department Chairman, Dr. John R. Halliday, who directed the BYU Madrigal Singers in which I sang, influenced me to return to BYU for graduate work. He guided me to Lue Groesbeck, who had recently joined BYU’s music faculty to teach elementary music education. I learned so much from her that I could hardly wait to begin teaching. I knew I had found my niche,” Vanje concludes.

In addition to her career as an educator, Vanja has written many hymns for her church. She composed the music for “Press Forward Saints” and “Families Can Be Together Forever,” hymns that appear in the 1985 hymnal for the LDS Church. She also wrote the music for 27 songs that have been included in the church’s Primary Children’s Songbook.

To read an interview with Vanja Watkins, click on this link to Mormon Artist.

Educator Mary Bethune McLeod honored in US Capitol’s Statuary Hall

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The newest addition to the US Capitol’s Statuary Hall is the image of educator Mary McLeod Bethune, a teacher, women’s rights activist, and Civil Rights leader in Florida. Photo Credit: US House of Representatives

Many exceptional educators have earned honors for their work in the profession, and now, one of them was singled out for recognition in the US Capitol’s Statuary Hall this month. She is Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American teacher who was was also a women’s rights activist and Civil Rights leader in Florida.

The statue of the honored educator towers at 11 feet tall and was created from marble originating from the same Tuscan quarry in the Italian Alps used by Michelangelo. The block, which originally weighed 11,500 tons, was fashioned into the image of the teacher by artist Nilda Comas of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who was selected in a national competition run by Florida’s Council on Arts and Culture in 2016. Inscribed at the foot of her statue is Mary’s famous quote: “Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it may be a diamond in the rough.”

Mary was born on July 10, 1875, to former slaves in a log cabin on a plantation in Maysville, South Carolina. She was the only one of her parents’ 17 children to be born into freedom. When the Civil War was won, Mary’s mother worked for her former owner until she could buy the land on which the McLeod family grew cotton. By nine years of age, young Mary could pick 250 pounds of cotton a day.

Even as a youngster, Mary showed an unusual interest in books and reading. However, in those days it was rare for African Americans to receive an education. Nevertheless, a charitable organization interested in providing educational opportunities for Black children established a school near Mary’s home. Her parents could scrape together only enough money to pay the tuition for one of their children, and Mary was chosen. Later, the future educator earned a scholarship to attend the Scotia Seminary, a boarding school in North Carolina. She graduated from there in 1894. She also attended Dwight Moody’s Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago, Illinois. Her studies there spanned two years.

When she grew up, Mary retained her strong desire to extend educational opportunities to other African Americans. She became a teacher in South Carolina. While there, she married fellow teacher Albertus Bethune. In 1904 Mary founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. Beginning with five students, she helped expand the school to more than 250 students over the next few years. Today, this school is known Bethune-Cookman University.

In her later years, Mary became a close friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and also a trusted adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt. In recognition of her outstanding abilities, the President made her a member of his unofficial “Black Cabinet.” He also appointed her the head of the National Youth Administration in 1936. In 1937 the indefatigable educator organized a conference on the Problems of the Negro and Negro Youth, and she fought tirelessly to end discrimination and lynching. In 1940, Mary became the Vice President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP), a position she held for the rest of her life. In 1945, she was appointed by President Harry Truman to be the only woman of color present at the founding meeting of the United Nations.

This celebrated educator passed away peacefully on May 18, 1955. For all her accomplishments, Mary McLeod Bethune is truly a Chalkboard Champion. It is fitting and proper that she should be honored in our nation’s Capitol. To read more about her, see this link at the website for the National Women’s History Museum.

Wyoming’s Diana Ohman: Successful politician and former elem teacher

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Former elementary teacher and politician Diana Ohman of Wyoming. Photo Credit: Casper Foundation and Alumni Association

There are many examples of talented classroom teachers who go on to successful careers in politics. One of them is Diana Ohman, a former elementary school teacher from Wyoming.

Diana was born Oct. 3, 1950, in Sheridan, Wyoming. Her family later moved to Gurley, Nebraska, where she attended Gurley High School. Once she earned her high school diploma, Diana returned to Wyoming to attend first Casper Community College, and then the University of Wyoming, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Primary Education and her Master’s degree in Education Administration. After completing her education, Diana worked as an elementary school teacher at a rural school in Casper. There she developed her organization skills by meeting the needs of all the students who were at different grade levels. Later she became a principal in Torrington.

In 1990, Diana was elected on the Republican ticket to the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, where she served until 1995. She was then elected Wyoming’s Secretary of State, a position she held from 1995 to 1999. Once her term was over, she worked as a school superintendent in Laramie County. She also became a Deputy Director of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA). In this role, she led the organization’s European Division and then, in 2009, she took charge of the Pacific Division. In 2011, she accepted a position with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Later, Diana worked in the National Cemetery Administration Department, where she was in charge of cemeteries throughout the Midwestern United States. The accomplished politician retired in 2018.

For her work in the classroom, Diana was named Best Teacher for Campbell County, Wyoming, in 1980. She also earned a State Principal Award from the US Office of Education in 1990.  She was also honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award by the Casper College Foundation and Alumni Association in 2009.