Georgia’s Laura Ross named School Counselor of the Year

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Georgia’s Laura Ross named School Counselor of the Year by the American School Counselor Association.

Today we send congratulations out to Laura Ross, a school counselor at Five Forks Middle School in Lawrenceville, Georgia. She’s been named the 2020 School Counselor of the Year by the American School Counselor Association.

Laura earned her degree at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. In fact, she has three degrees: A Bachelor’s in Social Work, a Master’s in Social Work, and a degree as an Educational Specialist in Professional School Counseling. In a career that has spanned nine years, she has spent the last five of them at Five Forks. Five Forks is part of the Gwinnet County Public School District.

“Laura is a true hero when it comes to helping us grow as a school in building relationships with our students,” remarked Christine Douthart, Principal of Five Forks Middle School. “She is a school counselor who has the best interest of students at the heart of everything she does.”

This amazing school counselor serves as a trainer for the Dove Self-Esteem Project. She facilitates presentations to educators about body confidence for teenagers. She has also spearheaded a movement to provide acceptance and support for her students in the LGBTQ community. To this end, she became a founding sponsor of her school’s first Gay/Straight Alliance.

The School Counselor of the Year Award honors professionals who devote their careers to advocating for the nation’s students. These Chalkboard Champions devote themselves to addressing students’ academic, social, and emotional development, and their college and career readiness needs.

To read more about Laura, click on this link to the American School Counselor Association.

Beloved actor Andy Griffith once taught music and drama

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Beloved television actor Andy Griffith once taught high school music and drama in North Carolina.

Many people are familiar with the beloved television actor Andy Griffith. He starred as the affable sheriff Andy Taylor on the 1960’s series the Andy Griffith Show. Later, he starred as the curmudgeonly lawyer Ben Matlock on the legal drama show Matlock. But did you know that before his career as an actor, Andy Griffith taught high school music and drama?

Andy was born on June 1, 1926, in Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina. He was the only child of Carl and Geneva Griffith. Carl was a furniture carpenter, and Geneva was a homemaker. Even as a child, Andy was aware that he lived on “the wrong side of the tracks.” He was a shy and introverted child, but he soon learned how to make his classmates laugh, and that helped him to gain self-confidence.

As a young man, Andy harbored hopes of becoming an opera singer. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music at the University of North Carolina in 1949. Once he earned his degree, he taught at Goldsboro High School in North Carolina. His career there spanned three years.

Andy, who was so good at so many things, once confessed that he didn’t think he was a very good teacher. “First day, I’d tell the class all I knew, and there was nothing left to say for the rest of the semester,” he once told The New York Times.

To read more about Andy Griffith, consult this obituary published by the New York Times in 2012.

Brian May of the rock band Queen: He was once a teacher

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Brian May, the lead guitarist and songwriter with the superstar rock band Queen. was once a teacher?

You may have heard of Brian May, the lead guitarist and songwriter with the superstar rock band Queen. But did you know that he was once a teacher?

As a youngster, Brian received his education at the Hampton Grammar School, now known as the Hampton School. By all accounts, he was an exceptional student. After graduating from high school, Brian enrolled at Imperial College London, where he studied mathematics and physics. He earned his Bachelor’s degree, with honors, in 1968. In 2007, he completed the requirements for his Ph.D. in Astrophysics which he had begun in 1971. His doctorate is also from Imperial College.

In 1971, before he struck it rich with Queen, Brian worked as a math and science teacher at South London’s Stockwell Manor. The school served economically disadvantaged students at the time. “It was very challenging,” Brian confesses. “You couldn’t get the children to attend unless they were incredibly interested in what you were saying,” he continues. “I had an advantage because I was young and could speak to them in their own language,” he said.

Brian says he enjoyed his experience as a teacher, although one class gave him exceptional trouble. “One of my most disastrous experiences was the time I tried to teach the second form rectangles, pentagons and hexangles,” Brian remembers. “I had this idea of letting them cut up colored paper with scissors. The staff said, ‘You are seriously going to take scissors into the second form?’ Half an hour into the lesson, they were all attacking each other with scissors — ears, feet and hands were getting cut and there was blood and paper everywhere,” he admitted. “I remember thinking, ‘I will never try this again!'”

To read more about Brian May, click on this biography.

Health teacher Sharon Bradley: She hasn’t missed a day of school in 26 years!

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Here’s a fabulous Chalkboard Champion from Garland School district in North Texas. She is Sharon Bradley, a health science teacher at Naaman Forest High School. Sharon is 85 years old, and hasn’t missed a day of school in 26 years. Watch this inspirational video about her.

Choir Director Amy Eden describes life lessons her students learn

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Music Educator and choir director Amy Eden describes life lessons her students learn from participating in her program.

Today I would like to spotlight  music educator and choir director Amy Eden. She teaches at Corona High School in Corona, California. I met Amy when she brought her Madrigals to perform at the monthly meeting of the California Retired Teachers Association, Division 80, last Friday.

During the Madrigals’ performance, Amy chatted with the audience about the life lessons her students learn from their involvement in her music program. What Amy teaches her students in addition to music is impressive!

The students travel from venue to venue within the city, she noted, and the acoustics of each venue varies greatly. The students must instantly adapt to the unique sound properties of each venue. She also mentioned that when the group experiences unexpected absences in its members, those who are present must adjust their volume to compensate for those missing voices. The chalkboard champion conducted an impromptu on-the-spot survey of the students, which revealed that many of the students pursue other interests in addition to choir. These interests include theater, sports, Advanced Placement courses, learning to play an instrument, and working at jobs outside of school. “So they really have to learn time management,” Amy pointed out.

Amy earned her Bachelor’s degree in Vocal/Choral Education at California State University, Fullerton. While there, she studied conducting, participated in the Chamber Singers, the University Singers, and joined the ACDA Student Chapter. Amy also earned a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the American College of Education in 2016. She has taught at Corona High since 2003. Prior to accepting her position there, she taught for one year at Terra Cotta Middle School in Lake Elsinore, California.

In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Amy performs in and directs local Broadway musicals and she sings for her church.