John Houston Ingle: Teacher and Hollywood actor

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Many educators have enjoyed success in other professions. One such teacher is John Houston Ingle, who earned acclaim as a Hollywood actor.

Many Chalkboard Champions have enjoyed success in professions outside of the field of education. One such teacher is John Houston Ingle, who also earned acclaim as a Hollywood actor.

John is probably best known as the actor who played the part of Edward Quartermain, the scheming patriarch, on the daytime television soap opera General Hospital. Others will remember him as the actor who portrayed Mickey Horton in the rival soap opera Days of Our Lives. John has also appeared in episodes of The Office, The Golden Girls, Night Court, and Boy Meets World. And, in addition, he has appeared in films such as Death Becomes Her, Robocop 2, The Land Before Time, and Heathers. He also voiced many characters in animated features such as the Jetsons, Smurfs, and the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.

This former teacher and talented educator was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1928. He graduated from Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga, California. After high school, John attended Occidental College in Los Angeles. He began his career as an educator when he accepted a position teaching English and Theater at Hollywood High School in 1955. In 1964, he transferred to Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California. During his tenure there, his students included such celebrities as Nicolas Cage, Richard Dreyfuss, Barbara Hershey, Swoozie Kurtz, Stefanie Powers, and David Schwimmer. John also taught courses at the University of California, Los Angeles. John retired from the teaching profession in 1985.

John Houston Ingle, Chalkboard Champion and Hollywood actor, passed away in 2012 at the age of 84. You can read his obituary at this link.

Kimberly Piper-Stoddard earns NH Teacher of the Year Award

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Congratulations to New Hampshire educator Kimberly Piper-Stoddard, who has garnered her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year Award. Kimberly teaches Language Arts to prisoners for the Department of Corrections.

Congratulations to New Hampshire educator Kimberly Piper-Stoddard, who has garnered her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year Award. Kimberly works for the New Hampshire Department of Corrections. This is the first time in New Hampshire history that an educator working in the prison system has won the prestigious recognition.

Kimberly’s career as an educator spans 25 years. She has taught at all levels, including pre-school, elementary, and middle school. Currently she teaches secondary Language Arts at Granite State High School, which is located on the grounds of the state prison in Concord. Her students, both male and female, range in age from 17 to 70.

When Kimberly learned that a position for an English teacher opened up at the prison, she didn’t hesitate to apply. “I was always drawn to the at-risk kids, the kids who had no one else in their corner,” Kimberly says. “They kind of drew me in and made me want to reach them. This seemed like an extension of that,” she continued.

Kimberly has worked for the Department of Corrections for four years. She credits her success in the classroom to recognizing her students as unique human beings. “The students in my classroom are trying to get their lives back on track,” the honored teacher observed. “And being able to help them and honor them along the way, and be tough with them when I need to be tough, and be supportive when they need support, that’s the thing that’s most rewarding about being here.”

Granite High School is fully accredited and recognized by the New Hampshire State Department of Education. Completing courses through the program like those that Kimberly teaches gives inmates an opportunity to earn a high school diploma. Gaining an education is a major step in the rehabilitation of the inmates. “Every individual is on his or her own journey and own life path,” Kimberly asserts. “We all make choices, but everyone deserves another chance, and they will take that chance when they are ready,” she concluded.

Kimberly earned her Bachelor’s degree in English teaching and her Master’s degree in Elementary Education, both at the University of New Hampshire.

To read more about this amazing Chalkboard Champion, see this article about her at NHPR.

 

West Virginia’s Vicky Bullett: Former teacher and basketball coach

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West Virginia’s Vicky Bullett is a former middle school teacher and previous Olympic athlete who works as a girls basketball coach.

There are many fine educators who have a history as a remarkable student athlete, and often these educators demonstrate exceptional talent as athletic coaches. One of these is West Virginia’s Vicky Bullett, a former Olympic athlete who also worked as a teacher and girls basketball coach.

Vicky was born October 4, 1967, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. While she was a young girl, she played basketball with her six brothers in their back yard.

After she graduated from high school, Vicky garnered a scholarship to attend the University of Maryland from 1985 to 1989. There she also played on the women’s basketball team. While at Maryland, she was named a 1989 Kodak All-American. In fact, over the course of her college years she averaged 16.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Vicky is one of the most decorated players in the university’s history. In 1989, Vicky earned her a Bachelor’s degree in General Studies and in 2001, she returned to school and earned an additional degree in Social Work.

Vicky was named to the US Olympic basketball teams in both 1988 and 1992. In 1988, the tewam earned a gold medal, and in 1992, the team earned a bronze medal. This exceptional athlete also played for the US team in the 1990 Goodwill Games, and she was a member of the US National team that went to the 1990 World Championships held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. She played in Italy and Brazil, before joining the Charlotte Sting when the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) was launched in 1997. She played three seasons there and three more with the Washington Mystics.

In 2007, Vicky returned to Martinsburg, West Virginia, where she accepted a position as a teacher for the Berkeley County Board of Education. She completed graduate courses in Education and then became a teacher and basketball coach at South Middle School in Martinsburg. “For young people, today’s world is difficult,” observes Vicky. “You’ve got to be careful what you say to some kids. They respond to certain things and the coach’s job is to know how,” she continues. “Each kid has a different personality and different strengths. You’ve got to find a way to get the best out of them. They’re learning to trust you and you want your student-athletes to buy into your philosophy and what you’re teaching them,” she concludes.

In January, 2009, Vicky left the classroom and accepted a job as an Assistant Coach with the Washington Mystics. Later that year, she also became the Manager of Basketball Operations for the organization. In the years that followed she also served as the Head Coach for the women’s basketball teach at Hagerstown Community College in Hagerstown, Maryland. In May, 2016, she was named as the Head Coach for the women’s basketball team at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Vicky was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2011. In honor of being a member of the 1988 Gold Medal Team, Vicky’s home town of Martinsburg renamed the street in which she grew up to “Vicky Bullett Street.”

To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this interview entitled World Champions of the Panhandle by Katherine Cobb.

 

Five educators inducted into National Teachers Hall of Fame

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The names of the five 2020 educators that have been inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame were announced in a special ceremony emceed by College Football Playoff (CPF) Foundation Ambassador Rachel Lindsay. The ceremony featured former US Secretary of Education Dr. John King, President of the National Education Association Becky Pringle, and CPF Foundation Executive Director Britton Banowsky.

The five inductees include Andrew Beiter of Springville Middle School in Springville, New York; Melissa Collins of John P. Freeman Optional School in Memphis, Tennessee; Donna Gradel of Broken Arrow High School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma;Thomas Knab of Dodge elementary School in East Amherst, New York; and Jamie Siddiqui of East Bridgewater Junior/Senior High School in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts.

Teachers selected for the Hall of Fame each year must have a minimum of 20 years of full-time teaching in Pre-K through grade 12 classrooms. Each must submit a rigorous nomination packet and video. A national selection committee, with representatives from education organizations and corporate partners, meet to select the inductees in late February.

The National Teachers Hall of Fame, located in Emporia, Kansas, will be officially inducting the Class of 2020 on June 18, 2021, when the five recognized teachers will meet in Emporia for professional development and a celebration of teaching. The honored educators will gather together next April when the National Education Association will honor them at a special reception at their headquarters in Washington, DC. The five educators will also be featured presenters at the Education Summit at Disney World in June, 2021, sponsored by Pegasus Springs Education Collective.

To watch a 22-minute video of the 2020 induction video, click below.

Biden names Dr. Miguel Cardona as new Secretary of Education

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President-Elect Joe Biden has chosen his new Secretary of Education. The nominee is Dr. Miguel Cardona, a professional educator from Connecticut.  (Photo credit: Associated Press)

President-Elect Joe Biden has named his new Secretary of Education. The nominee is Dr. Miguel Cardona, a professional educator from Connecticut. During his campaign, Biden had pledged to select a schoolteacher to serve as his education secretary. Dr. Cardona fits the category, starting his career nearly two decades ago as an elementary school teacher in Connecticut before becoming a principal. Since August, 2019, he has served as his state’s top education official.

Dr. Cardona is a product of public schools. In fact, when he started school, a kid from the projects in Meriden, Connecticut, he was unable to speak English. But succeeding in school was important to young Miguel. He graduated from Wilcox Technical High School. In 1997, he earned his Bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University. He completed his Master’s degree in Bilingual/Bicultural Education, and he also completed a program in Administrator Preparation, his Doctorate in Education, and a certificate in the Executive Leadership Program.

Dr. Cardona has worked as a dedicated public school teacher, an administrator, and the parent of students in public schools. In 1998, he inaugurated his career as an educator when he accepted a position as a fourth grade teacher. By the time he was 28, Dr. Cardona became the youngest principal in the state before working his way up the ladder to Assistant Superintendent of the district. In August, 2019, just months before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in March, Dr. Cardona was appointed by Governor Ned Lamont to the position of Connecticut State Commissioner of Education.

When the state’s schools shifted to remote learning, Dr. Cardona scrambled to deliver more than 100,000 laptops to students across the state so they could study from home. Since then, he has increasingly worked toward the safe reopening of his state’s schools. Now his priority will be returning students back to school safely nationwide.

“He will help us address systemic inequities, tackle the mental health crisis in our education system, give educators a well-deserved raise, ease the burden of education debt, and secure high-quality. universal pre-K for every three and four year old in the country,” declared Biden.

To read more, see this article published online by CNN.