Third grade teacher and Maryland’s 2020 Teacher of the Year Teresa Beilstein

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Third grade teacher and Maryland’s 2020 Teacher of the Year Teresa Beilstein.

I love to share stories about outstanding educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Teresa Beilstein, an elementary school teacher from Arundel County, Maryland. She has been named her state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year.

After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Loyola, Teresa worked for SunTrust Bank. Later she earned two Master’s degrees, one in Teaching and a second in Organizational Psychology, both from Walden University. In addition, she holds an Advanced Professional Certificate in Early Childhood Education and Reading, and she is a nationally board certified as an Early Childhood Generalist.

In 2013, Teresa accepted a position to teach third grade at South Shore Elementary School for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. The school is located in Crownsville. The honored educator confesses that she especially likes working with third graders. She says that year is a time when children are developing their personalities and humor and are “absolutely on fire for learning.” In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Teresa collaborated with a small team of county educators who wrote an elementary-level curriculum and assessments aligned to new science standards.

Teresa believes that educators should always look for ways to engage their students’ attention and interest. “As teachers, we need to bring the content, bring the data, and bring the fun,” Teresa declared. “Before students can be expected to learn, they need to be emotionally invested and it is my job, as an educator, to create the spark that will draw students in and get them involved,” she continued.

To read more about this chalkboard Champion, see this article published by the Maryland Department of Education.

Helen Agcaoili Brown, Los Angeles teacher, established Filipino library

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Helen Agcaoili Brown, a former third grade teacher in Los Angeles, California, founded the Filipino American Reading Room and Library.

Students in our country are so fortunate to have many talented chalkboard champions in our schools. One of these is Helen Agcaoili Brown, a California teacher who is the founder of the Filipino American Reading Room and Library.

Helen was born May 16, 1915, in Manila, the Philippines. Her family immigrated to the United States shortly after her graduation from Manila Central High School in 1934. As a young woman, Helen studied first at Pasadena City Junior College, and then at the University of California, Los Angeles. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education and her Master’s degree in Social Work.

After she earned her college degree, Helen accepted a position as a third grade teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District in Los Angeles, California. Her career spanned many years.

In 1985, Helen founded the Filipino American Reading Room and Library, the first of its kind in the country. To enlarge the library’s collection, she donated her private library collection. She realized the value of the library she inherited from her father, and she worked diligently to build on it by collecting books, pamphlets, newsletters, newspaper clippings, and even the souvenir programs given out during the events of various Filipino organizations. She believed that nothing was too insignificant when it came to preserving the social history of Filipinos in the United States. In addition to founding the library, she also served as the facility’s librarian.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away on January 25, 2011. She was 95 years old.

The Filipino American Library is located at 135 N. Park View St., Los Angeles, CA 90026. You can visit their website at Filipino Library.

Marzell: The teacher learns a life lesson from her student

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Retired teacher Terry Lee Marzell shares a valuable life lesson she learned from one of her students.

Most educators would agree that it is important to teach our students valuable life lessons in addition to the usual reading, writing, and arithmetic. But every once in awhile, we teachers learn meaningful life lessons from our students. Here’s one I learned.

In my student teaching year (many moons ago), I was approached one day by one of my seniors. He said he needed to leave school immediately because he had injured his ankle while riding his motorcycle earlier in the day. He claimed he needed to leave school to seek medical attention. I suspected the young man was (dare I say) pulling my leg. I asked him to pull up his pants leg and let me see the ankle. Now, I am not a medical professional, but I had a work history that included six years as an admissions counselor at the local hospital’s emergency room. I was pretty sure I could spot an injury where there was one. But when I looked at the boy’s ankle, I did not see any obvious signs of injury. No bruises. No swelling. No cuts. No burns. Nothing. I told the student complacently that I thought he could survive until the end of the class, and I directed him to take his seat.

I also decided that after school I would contact his parents and report the attempted subterfuge. By the end of the school day, I had perfected my game plan. I would call the parents, express concern about the health of the young man, and then relate how he had concocted a fake injury to get out of class.

So after school I dialed the student’s home phone number, and the boy’s mother answered. “Good afternoon. I’m your son’s English teacher,” I said. “Today in class he told me he had injured his ankle. I am calling to find out if he is OK,” I explained. “Just a minute,” she responded. Then I heard her call out to her son. I heard her ask him if he had hurt his ankle. And I heard him respond, although I could not clearly discern what he was saying. But I allowed myself to feel a little bit smug, secure in the belief that the boy had just been caught in a lie.

A moment later, the mother was back on the line. “My son told me what happened today,” she said. “He has a trick ankle, and sometimes it pops out of the socket. When this happens, it really is quite painful,” she continued. “But our next door neighbor is a doctor, and when this happens, my son simply goes to the neighbor’s medical office, and the doctor pops it back into place,” she went on. He’d gone to the medical office after school, she told me, and the issue had been resolved. “So, yes, thank you for asking, he is OK,” she concluded.

As you can imagine, the smug expression promptly fell right off my face. Then I stammered something about making sure that this information was recorded on his school health record so that his teachers would be aware. Had I known, I would have let him go, of course. I expressed relief that he was no longer in pain, and said I looked forward to seeing him in class the next day.

I allowed myself a small ovation that I had not openly accused the student of dishonesty, not to his face and not to his mother. But still I felt chastened. Appropriately so. I learned an important life lesson that day. I learned that I could not make assumptions about the conditions of my students. Simply put, the kids deserve the benefit of the doubt.

High school English teacher and Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt

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High school English teacher and Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt.

Many people have heard of Frank McCourt, the author of the blockbuster Angela’s Ashes. But did you know that Frank was a high school English teacher in New York?

Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 19, 1930. His parents were immigrants from Ireland. They came to America to escape the poverty, hoping to make a success of their lives. But when the Depression hit, the McCourt family returned to Limerick, Ireland, where they sank even further into poverty. Frank was forced to quit school at 13 to work a series of odd-jobs (and engage in some petty crime) to help feed his family. At 19, Frank was able to return to the United States on his own.

In 1951, he was drafted by the US Army to serve in the Korean Conflict. He was stationed in Germany for two years, where he worked first training dogs and then as a company clerk. Once he was discharged from the military, Frank returned to New York City, where he was employed at a series of low-paying jobs. He worked on the docks, in warehouses, in a grocery store, and in a bank.

As a veteran, Frank was eligible for benefits provided by the GI Bill. He used these benefits to enroll at New York University. There he earned his Bachelor’s degree in English in 1957. He completed the requirements for his Master’s at Brooklyn College in 1967, and he later completed some post-graduate courses at Trinity College in Dublin.

Following his college graduation, Frank accepted a teaching position at McKee Vocational and Technical High School in Manhattan. His students were teenage mechanics, beauticians, taxi drivers, and gang members. They were a tough crowd. They let him know right away they weren’t interested in Shakespeare. In fact, they didn’t want to be in school at all. Frank once recalled that one of his students threw a baloney sandwich at him in class one day. But the teacher who was saw his boyhood self in his students knew exactly how to respond. He picked up the sandwich, ate it, and told the class it was delicious. The stunt won over the recalcitrant kids.

Over his 30-year career, Frank taught at several other schools in New York City, including Ralph R. McKee High School in Staten Island, Stuyvesant High School, Seward Park High School, Washington Irving High School, and the High School of Fashion Industries. During these years, the veteran teacher told his students stories of his impoverished childhood in Ireland. He wanted the kids to know that education was the ticket out of poverty.

Frank eventually published these childhood stories in his memoir Angela’s Ashes (2006). The volume won much acclaim, including a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Critics Circle Award, and an LA Times Book Award. Frank also garnered the prestigious Ellis Island Family Heritage Award for Exemplary Service in the Field of the Arts (2006). The same year he was honored with the United Federation of Teachers John Dewey Award for Excellence in Education.

Sadly, this amazing educator suffered from cancer and meningitis and passed away on July 19, 2009. He was 79 years old. He is buried in Great Oak Cemetery in Roxbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut. To learn more about him, read this obituary published in 2009 by the Guardian.

Social Studies teacher and politician Della Au Belatti of Hawaii

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Social studies teacher and politician Della Au Belatti of Hawaii

I love to tell stories about talented educators who also make a mark in politics. One of these is Della Au Belatti, a high school social studies teacher who also serves in the Hawaii State House of Representatives.

Della was born on March 14, 1974, in Manoa Hawaii. As a young girl, she attended high school at the Maryknoll School in Honolulu.

Della earned her Bachelor’s degree in History from Princeton University in 1996. That same year, she completed her student teaching at Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey. After her graduation, she accepted a position as a social studies teacher at her alma mater, Maryknoll High School. She taught there from 1996 to 2000.

In 2003, Della earned her Juris Doctorate from the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. From 1993 to 1996, the talented educator spent time as an intern for United States Senate in the office of Hawaii Senator Daniel K. Akaka. She also worked as a law clerk for both Circuit Court Judge Dexter D. Del Rosario and Associate Justice Simeon R. Acoba.

In 2006, Della was elected to represent District 24 in the Hawaii State House of Representatives on the Democratic ticket. She served in that capacity from 2007 to the present time. She has served on the Committees for Health, Human Services, and Judiciary. In 2017, she was appointed to the position of State House Majority Leader.

To learn more about Della Au Belatti, read her biography at VoteSmart.