Even during the summer, teachers are constantly looking for resources they can use in their classroom. Here is one I am happy to share with you: Comic Life, a download that allows the user to create their own comics. Teachers can use the program to create personalized comics to supplement their instructional programs, and they can also encourage their students to use the program to create their own classroom projects. Here is a tutorial I create a while ago that shows you how to use the program. If you like it, here is the online link to where you can learn more, and where you can download a free trial: Comic Life. Enjoy!
Dr. Mary Frasier,, a trailblazer for under-represented students who are gifted and talented
Often, classroom teachers identify a concern in their classroom, and then go on to produce groundbreaking research to address that concern. This is true of Dr. Mary Frasier, a trailblazer for under-represented students who are gifted and talented.
Mary Frasier was born on May 17, 1938, in the segregated town of Orangeburg, Orangeburg County, South Carolina. An extremely intelligent youngster, she skipped two grades, and enrolled in college on a scholarship when she was in the 11th grade.
Mary earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education when she was only 19 years old. While teaching school, she earned her Master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling from South Carolina State College. She earned her Doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Connecticut.
As an educator, Mary devoted her considerable energy towards improving education for gifted and talented students, especially those in low-income or minority populations. She developed the groundbreaking F-TAP, the Frasier Assessment Profile, an assessment tool that was significantly better for assessing the abilities of low-income and minority children than tests previously used.
Then, to advance educational opportunities for minorities and low-income students who were gifted, Mary founded the Torrance Center for Creativity and Talent Development in the College of Education at the University of Georgia, Athens. Also, she served as the president of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) from 1987 to 1989.
For her work in the field of education, Mary earned many honors. In 1990, she received the EVE Award for Achievement in Education from the Athens Daily News/Banner-Herald. The NAGC awarded her their Distinguished Service Award in 1991. In 2002, she was recognized as the Aderhold Distinguished Professor, one of the highest honors the College of Education at the University of Georgia, Athens, can confer.
This gifted and talented educator passed away on February 3, 2005, in Athens, Georgia. You can read more about her at the website of the University of Georgia at Mary Frasier. If you prefer, here is a very nice YouTube video about Dr. Frasier created by Amy Hill in 2016.
Many successful classroom teachers go on to become excellent motivational speakers and/or superb trainers of neophyte teachers. Dr. Danny Brassell, a former elementary school teacher, does both!
Teacher and motivational speaker Dr. Danny Brassell
Danny was born into a middle-class family in upstate New York. While he was growing up, his family moved frequently, but his parents always emphasized the importance of education. Danny was ingrained with a strong work ethic, and even at a young age he was a hard worker. He took many jobs as a youngster, including newspaper delivery, babysitting, sandwich making, and busing tables. As a young man, he worked as an attendant at a health club, a paralegal, an assistant to a US Congressman, an archivist at a homeless shelter, and a freelance journalist. In addition to being well-traveled within the United States, Danny has also traveled to over 50 countries worldwide.
Danny graduated from Durango High School in Durango, La Plata County, Colorado. He earned Bachelor’s degrees in Sociology and Print Journalism from American University in 1994. In 1996, he completed the requirements for his Master’s degree in Multicultural Education from California State University. In 2001, Danny earned his PH.D. in Education from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Danny inaugurated his career as a classroom teacher at an inner-city elementary students in Compton, California. In 1996, he began teaching at California State University. A tenured professor in the Teacher Education Department, he works with beginning teachers and administrators. He has taught courses in educational theory, reading, second language acquisition, and multiculturalism. Danny helped coordinate alternative teaching credential programs that served over 4,000 teachers in 150 schools throughout 14 school districts. In addition, Danny taught international students English as a Second Language at the American Language Institute at the University of Southern California. He is the founding director of a Master’d degree program offered by Loyola Marymount University’s, in partnership with Teach for America.
You can find out more about this amazing chalkboard champion at his website, dannybrassell.com. You can also view the short excerpt of one of his motivational speeches from March 6, 2017. Simply click below.
I found this little 4 1/2-minute YouTube video from 2015 hysterically funny and wondered if educators would be interested in using it to help teach classroom rules. View it below, and let me know what you think! (All rights to Universal Studios and Illumination Entertainment)
Mary Catherine Swanson, original developer of the AVID program.
Back in 1980, Clairemont High School in San Diego, California, suddenly faced a court-ordered integration order. Teachers at the predominantly white, suburban, middle-class school knew that their incoming minority students would need extensive remediation. As Clairemont’s staff scrambled for ways to meet the needs of these students, one innovative staff member came up over with a groundbreaking idea. That staff member was English teacher Mary Catherine Swanson.
Mary Catherine believed strongly that with appropriate academic tools and support, minority and other under-represented students could succeed in a rigorous academic atmosphere just as well as their Clairemont classmates. To meet their needs, she developed an innovative instructional program called Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). The program trained students in strategies for note-taking and test-taking, offered peer mentoring and tutoring, and sponsored cultural field trips.
Mary Catherine’s efforts produced astonishing results. Since the program’s inception, over 400,000 students have participated in the training. The program is so successful that today over 5,000 high schools in 45 states and 16 countries around the world have implemented it. Statistics show that of those students enrolled in AVID, 95% go on to enroll in a four-year college, and 85% of them graduate. To learn more about the AVID program, go to www.avid.org.
The overwhelming success of Mary Catherine’s work has earned her many honors. Among them are an A+ Award for Reaching the Goals of America 2000 from the US Department of Education; the EXCEL Award for Excellence in Teaching; and the Salute to Excellence from the American Association for Higher Education. She has also been recognized with the UC San Diego Remarkable Leader in Education Award and the Distinguished Achievement Award by the UC Davis Cal Aggie Alumni Association. She has also been recognized with honorary doctorates from UC San Diego and the University of LaVerne.
Mary Catherine Swanson: truly a chalkboard champion.
