Educator Nancie Atwell shares reading/writing strategies

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Here’s some words of inspiration educator Nancie Atwell, an award-winning English teacher who founded the innovative Center for Teaching & Learning.

Nancie discovered a love of books as a child, when she became bedridden with rheumatic fever as a child. Today she teaches English as a writing-reading workshop, an innovative approach to reading she first described in her book In The Middle, now in its third edition (the first two editions sold half a million copies). In her workshop, Nancie’s students choose the subjects they write about and the books they read. The kids, who may not have been readers before taking her workshop, read an average of 20 pieces of publishable writing and 40 books each year. They are also engaged in writing practice that leads to improvement in their writing and reading skills.

In 1990, Nancie founded the Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL), a non-profit demonstration school she  organized to develop and disseminate effective classroom practices. The center’s faculty conduct seminars, write professional books and articles, and invite teachers from across the US and other countries to spend a week at the school. There they experience the center’s methods firsthand and expose students to other culture groups. So far, 97% of CTL graduates have matriculated to university.

Since 1976 Nancie has written nine books on teaching (with praise from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education), edited five collections and delivered 120 keynote addresses on her teaching. In addition, Nancie has won awards from the Modern Language Association, the International Reading Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. In 2011 she received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of New Hampshire.

To learn more about the Center for Teaching & Learning, examine their website at CTL.

Covid-19 claims the life of retired elementary teacher Michael Ganci

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Covid-19 claims the life of retired elementary school teacher Michael Ganci of Newington, Connecticut.

The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of many beloved educators. One of these is Michael Ganci, a retired elementary school teacher from Newington, Connecticut.

Michael was born on June 8th, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Glendale, New York. As a young man, he attended Richmond Hill High School in Richmond Hill, New York, where he graduated in 1963. Michael earned his Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Long Island University, and his Master’s in Education from Central Connecticut State University.

For many years, Michael taught at Ann Antolini Elementary School in New Hartford, Connecticut. Over the course of his long career as an educator, he taught more than 10,000 students. “Mr. Ganci was my fourth grade teacher,” recalls former student Lydia Gibb. “One of the reasons I became interested in science was that he made it fun. He was a wonderful teacher.” Former student Charles Blow agrees. “I remember him as my fifth grade teacher at the Ann Antolini school,” remembers Blow. “He was my hero at that time in my life! Because of him I looked forward to school every day,” continues Blow. “He was very good at drawing caricatures. He’d have us give him a word and would draw an amusing caricature that represented the word. I remember laughing so hard at what he came up with. He was very imaginative!” concludes Blow.

In addition to his career as a public school teacher, Thomas was also a fourth degree black belt, and served his community as a Sensei in Kyokushin karate at the New Hartford Karate Club. He was introduced to martial arts by his father, who had been an amateur boxer, and began his karate instruction in his early teens in New York. In fact, Michael pioneered one of the first accredited college level courses in traditional karate in the United States.

To read more tributes to this amazing educator, see his page at Legacy.com.

Kindergarten teacher Karen Lee shares metamorphosis of caterpillars online

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During the shelter-at-home directive ordered in resonse to the coronavirus pandemic, kindergarten teacher Karen Lee of Norfolk, Viriginia, shares the metamorphosis of caterpillars with her students online.

Every spring in her 30-year career, educator Karen Lee has introduced her classes of kindergartners to a lesson about caterpillars. This year, on the very day Karen introduced her young students to the caterpillars, her school closed down in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Karen took the caterpillars home. In the weeks since then, the veteran educator has been shifting her guided study of the caterpillars as they morph from caterpillars to butterflies into a lesson taught through distance learning.

Since the school’s closure, Lee told the Virginian-Pilot she has been recording and sharing online the metamorphosis of the caterpillars with her kids. The veteran educator has been sharing with her students everything they would have experienced in class. She’s posted videos of the caterpillar’s progress and let students know when they hatched last week.

It’s been difficult to adjust, Karen confesses. With younger children, it’s important to show them things they can see and touch. Digital lessons don’t  convey that as well as face-to-face lessons do. “I don’t know if I’m doing right or wrong,” she says. “I’m just doing what I feel like they need at the moment. They really need us.”

Karen earned her Bachelor’s degree in Science, Education, and Early Childhood Education and Teaching from Arkansas State University in 1989. She has been a teacher in the Norfolk Public Schools system in Virginia since 1999. Prior to accepting her position there, Karen taught for five years at Westside Consolidated in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Lee County School District for three years in Florida. She currently teaches at the Willoughby Early Childhood Center in Norfolk, Viriginia.

New York’s Julia Richman: She was a champion for immigrant students

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Just about everyone agrees that a teacher can profoundly influence the lives of the students in his or her classroom. But Julia Richman, an educator, philanthropist, author, and social reformer from New York City, influenced the lives of students in an entire city.

Julia was born October 12, 1855, in New York City, the daughter of German-speaking Jewish immigrants from the Czech Republic. At a young age, Julia made some important decisions about her own future. “I am not pretty…and I am not going to marry,” she once declared, “but before I die, all New York will know my name.”

Julia was determined to become a teacher, a decision her very traditional father vehemently opposed. In the late 1800’s, an eighth grade education was considered sufficient for girls. However, after a protracted battle royal, Julia convinced her father to allow her to pursue her goal of becoming a professional educator. In 1872, Julia realized her dream when she graduated from Hunter College.

Over the next four decades, Julia worked tirelessly as a classroom teacher, principal, school superintendent, and social reformer. Inside the classroom and within her community, she improved the lives of countless newly arrived immigrants, special needs students, and delinquents: the children 19th-century society typically considered “throwaway kids.” This innovative educator tossed away the conventional methods of instruction of her day, and designed model programs that educators from all over the world came to observe. She instituted numerous progressive practices that are still used in public schools today.

When Julia passed away in 1912, the New York City Board of Education ordered the flags of all NYC public schools be flown at half mast in her honor. It appeared that Julia’s prediction as an eleven-year-old had come true: all New York City New her name.

Want to learn more about Julia Richman? I’ve written an entire chapter about this amazing educator in my book, Chalkboard Champions, available on amazon or bn.com. Available in print or ebook versions.

Retired music teacher Rushia Stephens passes away from coronavirus

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Retired choral music teacher Rushia Stephens of Atlanta, Georgia, passed away from coronavirus on March 19, 2020.

Sadly, many outstanding educators have succumbed to the coronavirus. One of these is Rushia Stephens, a retired teacher from Atlanta, DeKalb County, Georgia. Rushia passed away on March 19, 2020. She was only 65 years old.

Rushia was born September 7, 1954. As a teenager, Rushia was one of the first black students to attend what was known then as Northside School of Performing Arts. After her graduation, she went on to study first at Morris Brown College in Sumter, South Carolina, and then at Ithaca School of the Arts in New York. There she sang alto soprano and performed in the theater. She also was a  member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Vocal Music Performance in 1974.

After earning her Bachelor’s degree, Rushia returned home, where she taught choral music for many years at her alma mater, which by then had become North Atlanta High School. During that time she also earned a Master’s degree in Music Education from Georgia State University in 1992.

Rushia’s career with Atlanta Public Schools spanned 28 years.The dynamic educator will be remembered fondly by her former students. “From the first moment that you met her, she commanded the room,” remembers Zipporah Taylor, one of those former students. “She had a beautiful smile. I remember being a freshman and receiving my first solo in the Messiah and just thinking how she was giving me all of these tips and said,  ‘Darling, you must perform–the stage is yours!'”

After her retirement as an educator, Rushia went back to teaching music at Montclair Elementary School in DeKal. She busies herself with organizing plays and musical performances for younger students.

To read more about this amazing educator, see this link at the Atlantic Journal.