John Taylor Gatto: English Teacher and Renaissance Man

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Gatto11024x576Many talented educators are also published authors. This is the case with John Taylor Gatto, a veteran English teacher with thirty years of experience in the classroom who is also an accomplished author of highly-regarded books about the field of education.

John was born December 15, 1935, in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, a river town thirty-five miles southeast of Pittsburgh. As a young boy, John attended publish schools in Swissvale, Monongahela, and Uniontown, and the private Catholic boarding school in Latrobe, all towns located in western Pennsylvania.

After graduation from high school, John enrolled at Cornell University, and also completed undergraduate work at the University of Pittsburgh, and Columbia. He also served in the U.S. Army medical corps at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Following his army service, John did graduate work at the City University of New York, Hunter College, Yeshiva, the University of California, and Cornell.

In addition to his career as an educator, John has a varied and unique employment history. After college, he worked as a scriptwriter in the film industry. He was also employed for a time as an advertising writer, a taxi driver, a jewelry designer, an ASCAP songwriter, and a hot dog vendor before becoming a schoolteacher. During his years as a schoolteacher, John also entered the caviar trade, conducted an antique business, and operated a rare book search service. In addition, he worked as a documentary record producer, producing films that presented the dramatized story of H.P. Lovecraft, and another that presented the speeches of Richard M. Nixon and Spiro Agnew. One of his productions won several awards for cover design and content.

Following his retirement, he authored several seminal books on modern education which offered a frank critique of current instructional practices. His best known books are “Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling” and “The Underground History of American Education: A Schoolteacher’s Intimate Investigation into the Problem of Modern Schooling.”

John was named Teacher of the Year in New York City in 1989, 1990, and 1991, and the Teacher of the Year for New York State in 1991. 

Duane Pomeroy: High School Social Studies Teacher and Topeka Politician

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Often talented educators also distinguish themselves as public servants. This is true of Duane  Pomeroy, a high school social studies teacher and tennis coach who served for a time as the acting mayor of his home town of Topeka in Shawnee County, Kansas. Duane is pictured here on the left, following a tennis match.

11236168Duane was born in Topeka on January 1, 1952, and was raised there. His father, Elwaine Pomeroy, served sixteen years as a Kansas state senator. Duane graduated from Topeka High School in 1970. After his high school graduation, Duane enrolled at Washburn University in Topeka. There he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science in 1978 and his teaching certificate in 1979. Interestingly, while he was working on his degrees, he served on the Topeka Unified School District 501 Board of Education for four years, from 1977 to 1981. Interestingly, Duane also served as an alternate delegate to Republican National Convention from Kansas in 1972.

Long after his service on the Board of Education, Duane accepted a position at Topeka High School where he taught government and social studies. He also served as the head coach for both the school’s tennis team and the bowling team.

Duane became a member of the Topeka City Council in January, 1993, when he was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Vic Miller when Miller was elected to the Shawnee County Commission. Duane also served as the Deputy Mayor under Mayor Butch Felker. From November, 2003, to January, 2004, he served as the acting mayor when the mayor became involved in a scandal and was forced to resign. His weeks as the interim mayor were eventful. Besides overseeing the application process for appointing a new mayor, he made approximately 40 appointments and reappointments to city boards and commissions. He also handled recommendations related to streamlining expenses related to the city’s fire department.

On a personal note, Duane married Deborah Briggs, and the couple have two grown sons, Shane and Troy.

Mark Geiger: The High School Math Teacher with International Acclaim as a Soccer Referee

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There are many examples of talented educators who have also logged impressive accomplishments in athletic arenas. Such is certainly the case with Mark Geiger, a former high school math teacher who now serves as a referee for Major League Soccer in both the United States and Canada.

imagesMark was born on August 25, 1974, in Beachwood, New Jersey. After graduating from Trenton State College, Mark taught advanced placement math at Lacey Townships High School in Lanoka Harbor, Ocean County, New Jersey. In 2009, this remarkable educator was one of 103 teachers who received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching. The prestigious award is given annually to the best elementary and secondary science and mathematics teachers from across the country. The winners were selected by a panel of distinguished scientists, mathematicians, and educators following a state-level selection process.

Mark earned his National Referee badge in 2003 while still teaching. He began his career as a part-time MLS referee a year later. In 2008, Geiger was added to U.S. Soccer’s International Panel of Referees, making him eligible for higher-profile international matches and requiring more travel. When he was offered a full-time, salaried position with the Professional Referee Organization, he reluctantly decided to retire from teaching. He wanted to referee international matches, and he was aware of FIFA’s preference for officials with full-time referee jobs.

Mark confesses that his experiences as a teacher has made a significant contribution to his success as a soccer referee. He once commented that math is about quantity, structure, space, and change, and that is also true of  the dynamics on the soccer field. He also remarked that maintaining order and clarity in a classroom of gifted, confident students is not that different from fairly governing the lightning-fast interplay of 22 of the world’s most gifted and talented soccer players. “When I was in the classroom, it was 25 or 30 students each with a different learning style,” he has said. “On the soccer field you have 22 different players, each with different personalities. So it’s about recognizing what’s going to work with a particular player and then implementing that.” He added, “The situations that are in the grey areas, preventing players from taking that next step, communicating with them, managing them, working with them” is what a good referee brings to the game. Sounds a lot like great teaching.

Mark is recognized as one of the best professional soccer referees in the business. He has worked the  Olympics games in 2012 and four matches during the U-20 World Cup finals in Colombia, which culminated in his officiating the championship game. The U-20 final marked the first time an American official refereed a major FIFA men’s tournament championship. Mark has also been to Morocco for FIFA’s Club World Cup, and he worked the fifth-place match between the Egyptian and the Mexican club. Later Mark served as the fourth official at the championship game. For his outstanding work as a referee, Mark was selected the Major League Soccer Referee of the Year in both 2011 and 2014.

Mark Geiger: a true chalkboard champion.

Educators Are Well Represented by Shanna Peeples, the 2015 National Teacher of the Year

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412553_img650x420_img650x420_cropOne of the most inspirational chalkboard champions I have learned about recently is Shanna Peeples, a high school English teacher from Amarillo, Texas. Shanna was honored this Wednesday by President Obama as the 2015 National Teacher of the Year.

Shanna, who teaches at Palo Duro High School, is the first educator from the state of Texas to earn the national honor since 1957. The prestigious award was given to her in recognition for her dedication and service to immigrant students, primarily refugees from East Africa, many of whom came to Texas after spending time in Kakuma, a camp established in Kenya for displaced persons. Available jobs in feedlots and slaughterhouses attracted these refugee families to Amarillo.

Palo Duro Principal Sandy Whitlow says Shanna is a lifelong learner who inspires her students and colleagues. “Shanna can tailor instruction to the needs of her students, whether she is working with refugees who have suffered traumatic events in their lives, or AP students who crave challenging curriculum, or at-risk students who are attending school in the evenings to recover lost credits,” describes Whitlow. “The bottom line is that her students know she truly cares about them, and she will invest every ounce of energy in helping them attain their goals.”

Shanna teaches AP English and English III, and she serves as the English department chair. She also serves as an instructional coach for other teachers. Not only does Shanna teach her regular day classes, but she also instructs an evening credit recovery program for pregnant teens and young people just released from juvenile detention. Shanna says the most important thing she does as an educator is to make every one of her students feel valued. “That’s what we all need,” she says. “We need kindness. We need understanding, and we need a sense of belonging. Kindness is probably my first and best lesson.”

After President Obama presented the crystal apple award to the Lone Star educator, he recognized fifty-four other deserving chalkboard champions from around the country. “I think what it takes to make a great teacher is somebody who just loves what they do, who loves kids and who loves to bring out the potential in every kid,” Shanna expressed at the Rose Garden ceremony.

She represents all of us in the profession very well indeed.

The Music Lives On, Due to Chalkboard Champion Hortense Parker Gilliam

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hparker2Throughout history, our lives have been genuinely enriched by legions of music teachers who have perpetuated the love of music in our young people. One such music teacher was Hortense Parker Gilliam, an elementary school music teacher who is the first known African American graduate of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary.

Hortense Parker was born in Ripley, Ohio, in 1859, the fourth of six children born to John Parker and Miranda (Boulden) Parker, a free black couple. Her mother was born free in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father was born into slavery, but in 1845 he was able to buy his freedom. John Parker became a noted abolitionist, inventor, and industrialist. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, John guided hundreds of slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad. In fact, the Parker home has been renovated and is now designated a National Historic Landmark.

Hortense’s parents were determined that all of their children should get an education. As children, Hortense and her two younger sisters received a standard education in traditional subjects, and they also studied music. After her high school graduation in 1878, Hortense enrolled in Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, now known as Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Her expenses were paid by a wealthy patron. The institution did not know she was a woman of color until she arrived on campus, but they did not cast her out. On the contrary, Hortense lived on campus in a dormitory along with 250 other students. Unlike many institutions of her day, Mt. Holyoke did not require its black students to live off campus. Hortense was remembered by her classmates as “a quiet ladylike girl, noted especially for her musical ability.” Because of her exceptional musical abilities, faculty and fellow students alike often asked her to play the piano in the seminary in the evenings after classes were done. She had aspirations to continue her music education in Europe upon her graduation, but unfortunately her patron passed away during her senior year. She graduated in 1883, the first known African American student to graduate from that institution.

After graduating from college in 1883, Hortense taught music and piano at Lincoln Elementary School in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1906-1913. That same year she married James Marcus Gilliam, a graduate of Cornell University, and moved with him to St. Louis, where she taught music. During her long career, she also taught music at schools in New York and Indiana.

As the first African-American graduate of Mt. Holyoke, Hortense was featured in Our Path: Students of Color at Mt. Holyoke at the 2007 Alumnae Student Conference there. This chalkboard champion passed away on December 9, 1938, near St. Louis, Missouri.