NASA’s Educator Astronauts: Teachers in space

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The Educator Astronaut Project is a program sponsored by NASA to educate America’s students about space exploration. Inaugurated in the 1990s, the program furthers the objectives established in the original Teacher in Space Program. One of these objectives was to elevate teaching as a profession, and another of these objectives was to inspire students to pursue careers in science and math. Educator astronauts are fully trained astronauts who fly aboard spacecraft as full-fledged crew members. They have duties and responsibilities that are the same as any other astronaut. In addition, they prepare lessons and demonstrations about space exploration for students in America’s classrooms.

Educator Astronauts Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger (left), Ricard Arnold (center), and Joseph Acaba (right). Photo credit: NASA

To date, there have been four teachers who have been trained as educator astronauts. These teachers are Montana teacher Barbara Morgan; Florida educator Joseph Acaba; Maryland teacher Richard Arnold; and Washington educator Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger. New Hampshire educator Christa McAuliffe, the first participant in the Teacher in Space program, was classified as a civilian member of the crew. Tragically, she perished along with six astronauts in the space shuttle Challengerdisaster in 1986.

To read more about teachers in space, click on this link to Citizens in Space.org. To read more about the Educator Astronaut Project, click on this link to Revolvy.

 

California’s Carol Liu: Former educator and politician

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California’s Carol Liu, a former middle school and high school history teacher, also earned success in the political arena. Photo credit: California Competes.

Many times professional educators who have left the classroom go on to earn success in the political arena. One of these is California’s Carol Liu, a former teacher who has also served as a lawmaker.

Carol was born on Sept. 12, 1941, in Berkeley, California. Her father was an immigrant from China, and her mother was a fourth generation Californian. As a young woman, Carol attended San Jose State College, where she earned her Bachelors’ degree in 1963. She earned an Administrative Credential from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1982.

After she earned her teaching degree, Carol taught history at the junior high and senior high school level in the Richmond Unified School District. Her career as an educator spanned from 1964 to 1978. From 1975 to 19778, she also served as the Executor Director of the Richmond Federation of Teachers.

Once she left the teaching profession, Carol earned success in the political arena. First, she was elected to the City Council of La Canada Flintridge, a small city near Pasadena. She served there from 1992 to 2000. During these years, she served two terms as the city’s mayor. Next, she was elected on the Democratic ticket to the California Sate Assembly, where she represented the 44th District from 2000 to 2006. In the Assembly, Carol served on the Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education and on the National Commission on Accountability in Higher Education.

Last, Carol was elected to the California State Senate, where she represented the 25th District from 2008 to 2016. As a Senator, Carol served on the Legislative Advisory Committee of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. She chaired several committees and caucuses during her tenure, including the Assembly Higher Education Committee, the Assembly Select Committee on Adult Education, and the Senate Education Committee.

All her life, Carol has been a strong proponent of increasing access to higher education, as well as to career and technical education. Among her most important legislative work was SB 1143, which created the task force that led to the California Community College Student Success Act. Win addition, she was responsible for the enactment of SB 110, the Crime Victims with Disabilities Act of 2010. The bill, which assures that abuse and neglect of the elderly and people with disabilities are prosecuted as crimes, was passed unanimously by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Kudos to Carol Liu: a true Chalkboard Champion.

Paul Timm named Nebraska’s Teacher of the Year

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Congratulations to Paul Timm, a science educator from Lyons, Nebraska, who has been named his state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: AgUpdate.

Congratulations go out to Paul Timm, a science educator from Lyons, Nebraska. Paul has been named his state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year.

Paul currently works at Lyons-Decatur Northeast Secondary School in Lyons. The school is located about 70 miles northwest of Omaha. There he teaches biology, agriculture education, and health science for grades 7 through 12. Throughout his 17-year career, he has taught 18 different courses, including AP Biology, a science research course, Earth and space science, and welding and agricultural mechanics. In addition, Paul has taught a leadership class, sponsored his school’s Quiz Bowl, advised the National Honor Society on his campus. As if all this were not enough, Paul has also coached cross county and track and field. His cross country teams have earned four conference championships and five state qualifications.

Paul says he views learning as an entrepreneurial venture. Students are not just employees at the job, he believes, but business owners building an enterprise of learning with passion, personal choice, and full ownership. “I begin by fostering a culture which promotes curiosity and questions, sharing of ideas, celebrating successes, and willingness to learn from failures,” explains Paul. “Project- and inquiry-based learning drives education to the highest levels while extending the learning environment beyond the classroom and providing student choice,” he declares. Using this philosophy, Paul strives to prepare his students for life outside school.

Paul earned his Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Education and his Master’s degree in Entomology, both from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He is also a National Geographic Certified Educator, a 2020 Advocate for the Society for Science and the Public, and a 2017 Nebraska Finalist for the Presidential Award for Mathematics and Science Teaching.

To read more about Paul Timm, click on this link to the University of Nebraska.

Korey Harrington, Florida Sp Ed teacher, succumbs to Covid-19

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Sadly, we announce that Special Education teacher Korey Harrington of Florida has succumbed to Covid-19. Photo credit: St. Johns Family Funeral Home.

Regretfully we announce that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet anther beloved teacher. Korey Harrington, a middle school Special Education teacher from Nocatee, Florida, succumbed to the disease on Sept. 14, 2021. She was 47 years old.

Korey was born in New York on Nov. 12, 1973. She was raised in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, and earned her degree at Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania. In 2005, Korey relocated to Florida in to work at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. During her teaching career, she also worked at the Microschool in Jacksonville, Acclaim Academy, Seacoast Christian Academy, and Nease High School. At the time of her passing, Korey was working as a middle school Special Education teacher at Pine Island Academy in the St. Johns County Schools in Nocatee. Pine Island Academy just opened up this year.

As an educator, Korey had a reputation for showing up to work early and staying late, and she would go the extra mile to help just a single student, says her mother, Katherine Harrington. “She was dedicated to her students, making sure they succeeded in every way they could, Mrs. Harrington remembered. “She would work with them after hours, she would work with them during school. She was valuable to them, and I can honestly say that many of them thank her for where they are now,” Mrs. Harrington continued.

Korey;s co-workers also remembered the fallen educator this way. “I was lucky to have worked with Korey at Florida School for the Deaf and Blind,” remarked friend Evan Birnholz. “She was a special person that went out of her way for the students she worked with and became a good friend to me,” he said. “She will be missed but not forgotten by anyone who’s life she touched!”

To learn more about this exceptional educator, see this link to News4Jax.