Music Educator Tony White directs LA All-District Band in 2019 Rose Parade

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Music educator Tony White will once again lead the All District High School Honor Band in their annual appearance in the Rose Parade on Tuesday, January 1. For the past three decades, the group has been marching under the able direction of this amazing educator. Tony worked as a music teacher at John C. Fremont High School for ten years. Although he currently works as a professional jazz musician playing the saxophone and clarinet, he is still heavily involved with music and arts education, serving as the music and entertainment coordinator in the LA Unified School District. “The  challenge for me is maintaining both,” he asserts.

This chalkboard champion earned his Bachelor’s degree from University of California, Riverside, his teaching credential at Cal State Dominguez Hills, and his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Pepperdine University.

The 390-member band is comprised of student musicians from all over the Los Angeles Unified School District. The group has appeared in the Rose Parade every year since 1973, and has also appeared in Super Bowls XI, XIV, and XVII. This impressive band is known for its energetic marching style and powerful brass. And, a little-known fact about this band is that both celebrated musicians Herb Alpert and John Williams were once participants.

You can learn more about the Los Angeles All District High School Honor Band at  www.laallcityband.com. Be sure to watch their performance in the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day!

Texas educator Akash Patel recognized as 2018 Global Teacher Finalist

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Akash Patel

Texas middle school teacher Akash Patel has been named a 2018 Global Teacher Finalist by The Varkey Foundation. The nonprofit Foundation recognizes outstanding teachers from all over the world each year who have made an outstanding contribution to their profession. Of the 50 finalists, the winning teacher receives a cash prize of $1 million.

Akash, who speaks five languages, teaches Spanish at Thomas J. Rusk Middle School, a Title I school located in Dallas, Texas. The school’s student population is 100% socio-economically disadvantaged. His students come from backgrounds that include gang activity, drug addiction, and juvenile offenders.

Akash inaugurated his teaching career in 2015 in small rural communities in Oklahoma. In his first year, he was recognized by the State Department of Education as their January Educator of the Month, and the Multicultural Education Institute as their Multicultural Teacher of the Year.

To promote global citizenship, Akash connects his classroom with professionals from around the world using social media platforms such as Skype, Google Hangout, and Adobe Connect. Over 1,000 volunteers from over 150 countries have joined his Global Connect database at the World Experiences Foundation, a charitable organization Akash founded.

In addition to his classroom duties, Akash is a frequent speaker at local and national conference, and he has trained over 5,000 teachers in Oklahoma to use his Global Connect database and other multicultural programs.

Learn more about this remarkable teacher by viewing the YouTube video below:

Michigan’s Nita Nicholie: Science teacher extraordinaire

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Nita Nicholie

Nita Nicholie, science teacher at St. Joseph High School in St. Joseph, Michigan.

Ever wonder if what you do in the classroom truly makes a difference in the lives of your students? Well, here is a story that proves that it does. This story is about Nita Nicholie, a science teacher at St. Joseph High School, a public school located in St. Joseph, Michigan.

This amazing educator earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics from Michigan State University in 1985. When Nita started inaugurated her career in the classroom, she thought she’d teach for only a few years. That was 32 years ago. “I went into teaching because I love science, but I stayed in teaching because I love the kids,” Nita confesses.

Former student Autumn Roth, who took an Honors Physics with Nita before heading off to college, remembers, “On the first day of class she burst into the room singing show-tunes at the top of her lungs. I knew right then that this was going to be a good class.”

Nita’s influence on the lives of her students extends beyond her classroom. Over the years, this compassionate educator and her family have taken in over 20 students to live with them. “A lot of times they just needed a safe place to sleep, to have a warm shower in the morning and food before they go to sleep at night,” the chalkboard champion remarks. Nita even has an alarm set on her phone to remind her to text some students to make sure they’re awake and heading to school. It’s all part of connecting with her students, and doing whatever she can to help them be successful in school. For her efforts, Nita has earned special recognition. In 2010, she was nominated for Michigan Teacher of the Year.

“There’s no formula about how to be a great teacher,” Nita asserts. “If I really truly love what I do, the kids know it.”

Nita Nicholie: truly an inspiration.

Sandra Adickes: Legacy of a Freedom School teacher

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Thirty-year-old Sandra Adickes was an energetic and idealistic high school English teacher from New York City the year she ventured south into Mississippi to teach in a Freedom School. The goal of the summer program was to empower the black community to register to vote and to help bridge some of the gap of educational neglect that had long been a tradition in that Jim Crow state. Both blacks and whites realized that only through education and participation in the democratic process could African Americans ever hope to improve their lot.
 
The enterprise was not without danger. On the first day of Freedom Summer, three workers involved in the program disappeared while investigating the firebombing of the church facility designated for their voter recruitment activities. Six weeks later, as Sandra Adickes conducted her classes in Hattiesburg, the badly beaten and bullet-ridden bodies of the three missing men were discovered buried in an earthen dam in nearby Neshoba County.
 
At summer’s end, Sandra accompanied her fearless students when they decided to integrate the Hattiesburg Public Library. Sandra was arrested in the effort. Read her riveting story, and what became of her courageous students, in her book Legacy of a Freedom School. You can also find a chapter about this remarkable teacher in my book, Chalkboard Champions., available from amazon.