Texas Theater Arts teacher Brad DeBorde named a 2020 Top Teacher

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Middle school and high school Theater Arts teacher Brad DeBorde of Texas has been named a 2020 Top Teacher by Fort Worth Magazine. Photo credit: Brad DeBorde

I enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have earned awards for their work in the classroom. One of these is Brad DeBorde, a Theater Arts teacher from Grand Prairie, Texas. He has been named a 2020 Top Teacher by Fort Worth Magazine.

Brad comes from a family of teachers. His father taught physical education to special needs students, and his mother served as an Athletic Director of DeSoto Independent School District. The honored educator earned his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of North Texas in 2006. Currently, he teaches middle and high school Drama at the Oakridge School in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District. In his spare time, he has directed productions at Ellis County Children’s Theater in Waxahatchie, Texas.

Brad says he sees a lot of parallels between himself and his students. They’re all growing together. “Those first five years as a teacher, you’re a young punk and think you know everything,” Brad confessed. “And then you settle in and realize ‘Oh, teaching is also a lifelong learning position.’ So, like your students, you grow and you mature,” he continued.

In addition to theater, Brad is also a writer of five fantasy novels for young adults in a series he dubbed Paydunor. Check out his publications on amazon.com. He also teaches a seminar course on independent publishing. “My students spend half the semester writing a novel or novella, and I teach them how to self-publish or find literary agents,” he described. “We’ve actually had about 12 students published now. It’s kinda cool that a kid can enter a college interview and say, ‘Hey, here’s my novel,'” he concluded.

 

Nebraska teacher Joanne Moldenhauer garnered many awards

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Math educator Joanne Moldenhauer, originally from Nebraska, garnered many accolades for her work in the classroom. Photo credit: Peter McCollough of the Daily Democrat.

I enjoy sharing stories about talented educators who have earned honors for their work in the classroom. One of these was Joanne Moldenhauer, a high school math teacher originally from Omaha, Nebraska.

Joanne was born on March 15, 1928, in Omaha. As a young girl, she attended Benson High School in her home town. In 1949, Joanne earned her Bachelor’s degree in Physics at Iowa State College. Three years later she completed the requirements for her Master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.

Joanne inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as a math teacher in Omaha. For the next two years she taught mathematics and biology at Central High School in Omaha. She worked for a while for the General Electric company, but by 1955, she was teaching high school math at Central Park Junior High School in Schenectady, New York, and the following year, she was teaching at Davis Senior High School in Davis, California. Her career there spanned 50 years, until her retirement in 2006.

During her years as a teacher in Davis, Joanne won many accolades for her work in the classroom. She garnered the Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished High School Mathematics Teaching from the Mathematical Association of American two times, in 19990 and 2001. Stanford University honored her with their Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Award, given each year to a distinguished high school teacher from the school’s graduating engineering students. She also earned the Harvey Mudd College Distinguished Teacher Award twice. In 1991, Joanne was one of the two first participants in the Uman-Davis Sister City Teacher Exchange in Ukraine.

This exceptional educator passed away on February 14, 2016. She was 87 years old. Joanne Moldenhauer: a true Chalkboard Champion.

 

Talented teacher and celebrated poet Rosemary Thomas

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There are many talented educators who have also earned acclaim as authors. One of these was Rosemary Thomas, a creative writing instructor who also authored and published excellent poetry.

Rosemary was born on February 16, 1901. As a young woman, she earned her Bachelor’s degree from Smith College in 1923. She earned her Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1950.

Rosemary taught creative writing at a number of prestigious schools, including Spence School and Brearley School in New York. She also taught at the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania, and Oxford Schooling Hartford, Connecticut.

The talented educator was also a successful poet. Her poems were published in the New York Times, The New Yorker, and in other distinguished magazines. In 1951, Rosemary garnered the Twayne First Book Contest for her inaugural book of poems, Immediate Sun. The book featured a foreword written by celebrated poet Archibald MacLeish, who described her poems as having “a common quality, a characteristic idiom, and inflection the reader would recognize again as a man recognizes the inflection of a decisive voice.” The volume included a poem about her brother-in-law, Canadian tennis star J. F. Foulkes, entitled The Colonel. A second collection of Rosemary’s poems entitled Selected Poems of Rosemary Thomas was published posthumously in 1968.

Rosemary passed away on April 7, 1961, in New York City. In her honor, the English Language and Literature Department at her alma mater, Smith College, awards the Rosemary Thomas Poetry Prize each year to the best poem or group of poems.

Retired teacher Ruth Rowan serves in the WVa House of Delegates

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Retired elementary school teacher Ruth Rowan works tirelessly as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. Photo credit: Vote Smart.

Many hardworking educators find second careers as politicians. One of these was Ruth Rowan, a retired elementary school teacher from Hampshire County, West Virginia, who also served in her state’s House of Delegates.

Ruth was born on September 12, 1948, in Pennsylvania. Her grandfather was a coal miner. Ruth’s ancestry runs deep in West Virginia. As a descendant of Frontier Ranger Doctor Llewellyn, her earliest forebears blazed a trail in the wilderness near the Forks of Cheat River in present-day Monongalia County, West Virginia.

As a young woman, she earned her Bachelor’s degree from California University of Pennsylvania and her Master’s degree in Education from West Virginia University.

One she earned her education, Ruth taught elementary school in Hampshire County Schools. She also joined the West Virginia Education Association and the National Education Association. In addition, Ruth is a member of the Board of Directors for the West Virginia Children’s Home Society and the Family Crisis Center.

In 2004, Ruth was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates on the Republican ticket. She defeated the embattled House Delegate Jerry Mezzatesta for his seat after he was embroiled in a political scandal in 2003 and 2004. The former teacher has represented the 57th District since December 1, 2004, and her term of office is due to expire in 2022. As a member of the WV House, Ruth works tirelessly on legislation to benefit children, education, seniors, veterans, health care, and infrastructure. She serves on the Education, Health and Human Resources, and the Senior Issues committees. She is the minority chair of Veteran’s Affairs, minority vice chair of women’s caucus, co-chair of Crimes against children and children and families.

To read more about Ruth Rowan, see this information provided by Vote Smart.