Tag Archives: Elementary Teachers

Elem teacher De’Shawn Washington named 2024 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year

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Elementary school teacher De’Shawn Washington of Lexington, Massachusetts, has been named his state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year. He is the first African American man to be so honored. Photo credit: Massachusetts Teachers Association

It is always my pleasure to share the story of an outstanding educator who has earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is De’Shawn Washington, an elementary school teacher from Massachusetts. He has been named his state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year.

The honored educator is the first African American man to be honored with Massachusetts’ top educator honor. “It starts with having the Black students in the classroom seeing their future selves as an older person, as a teacher, in a classroom,” De’Shawn asserts.

De’Shawn teaches a fourth grade inclusion classroom at Maria Hastings Elementary School in Lexington. His career as an educator spans eight years, four of them at Hastings Elementary. “It’s all about the passion, right?” declares De’Shawn. “Teaching is a calling. I’m very fortunate to be in education and be in this work today,” he concludes.

In addition to his work with his young students, De’Shawn is a member of his district’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Community Input Team; the Elementary Schedule Review Committee; and the Student Success Team. He is also a member of the School Site Council. Prior to his work in Lexington, he taught in Boston Public Schools.

As if all that were not enough, De’Shawn organizes workshops at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, to help pre-service teachers pass the Massachusetts Tests for Education Licensure. He has presented and published about culturally responsive instruction. He also volunteers as a Big Brother.

He received Lexington Public Schools’ Core Values Award in April 2021 for building and sustaining a sense of community in his classroom.

De’Shawn earned his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance in 2013. He earned his Master’s degree in Elementary Education in 2018 and a second Master’s degree in Special Education in 2022, all from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Currently, he is working on his PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt University.

 

Texas teacher Lalla M. Odom was one of the original founders of DKG

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Texas teacher Lalla M. Odom was one of the original founders of the professional organization known as the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society (DKG). Photo credit: DKG

Many talented classroom teachers are also devoted to assisting their colleagues in their efforts to become better educators. One of these was Lalla M. Odom, an elementary school  teacher from Texas. She worked to provide professional training and support to fellow women teachers through the organization Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG).

Lalla was born on April 8, 1874, the second oldest in a family of seven children. She was raised in Fayette County, Texas. As a child, Lalla was intelligent and ambitious. After her high school graduation, she attended first Waco Female College and then Baylor University. She earned her Bachelor’s degree when she was only 17 years old. Not content to end her studies there, Lalla enrolled in the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio. After she earned her diploma there, she accepted a position as a music and math teacher at Willie Halsell College in Vineta, Oklahoma. There she met and married Edgar Odom. The couple returned to Texas, where they settled in Austin in 1917.

In Austin, Lalla accepted a position at Metz Elementary School, where it was apparently unknown that she was married. At the end of the school year the School Board threatened to lay her off because of her marital status, but her cause was championed by an open-minded superintendent. After a few weeks, the Board reversed its decision. Lalla became the first married woman to earn a permanent contract in Austin.

When school officials decided to establish the first junior high school in their district, Allen Junior High, Lalla was selected to head the Math Department there. To hone her professional skills, she went back to college, earning both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree at the University of Texas. She took additional graduate courses in education, government, and English.

In 1929, Lalla was one of 12 educators who founded the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society (DKG). Because of a long-standing custom in those days,  women were prohibited from meeting together professionally. Nevertheless, the founders believed there was a pressing need for an organization in which women educators could assist each other in their efforts to become better teachers. The 12 co-founders extended membership in their newly-formed organization to rural and urban teachers; preschool, elementary, high school, college, and university teachers; librarians; and school administrators. DKG members still work together today to improve professional preparation, to recognize women’s work in the teaching profession, and to fund scholarships to those who need support to improve their professional skills.

In addition to her work in the classroom and with DKG, Lalla was actively  involved in city, state, and national political affairs. She also was active in professional organizations such as the Classroom Teachers Association, the Texas State Teachers Association, and the National Education Association.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away on April 14, 1964. She was interred in Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.

To learn more about the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, click on this link: DKG.

Teacher, cookbook author, and television personality Shirley McClay

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Long-time elementary school teacher Shirley McClay was also a highly-acclaimed cookbook author, television personality, and public speaker. Photo Credit: The Daily Bulletin

There are many outstanding educators who have accomplished a host of impressive achievements even after they have left the classroom. One of these is Shirley McClay, an elementary school teacher from Southern California who became an acclaimed author, television personality, and public speaker.

Shirley was born on Sept. 1, 1932, in Los Angeles, California. In 1948, she moved with her family to nearby Lake Elsinore, where she enrolled at Lake Elsinore High School. After her high school graduation, Shirley earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education with a Minor in Art from Southern California’s Pepperdine University. Once she earned her degree, Shirley went on to launch her career as a kindergarten teacher. She spent 25 years in the classroom.

Once she retired from teaching, Shirley and her friend Marilyn Meich co-authored several cookbooks. The pair published The Fast and Fabulous Four Ingredient Cookbook in 1984, the highly-acclaimed Original 4-Ingredient Cookbook in 1987, and The Trim & Thin 4 Ingredient Cookbook in 1988. By herself, Shirley published Caught Bear Handed? Recipes By Shirley Atwater-McClay in 1988 and Slick Chick Recipes By Shirley Atwater-McClay in 1989. To promote the cookbooks, Shirley appeared on local talk shows. In addition, she appeared at many engagements as a public speaker. And as if that weren’t enough, she owned and operated her own dance studio for a number of years.

During her lifetime, Shirley belonged to a number of organizations, including the American Association of University Women, PEO, the Lion’s Club, Newcomers, and several local book clubs. An avid world traveller, the retired teacher travelled extensively with her husband, Marvin McClay. She often declared her favorite destination was the continent of Africa.

Sadly, Shirley MclCay passed away on June 24, 2024, in Murrieta, California. She was 91 years old.

NH teacher Elizabeth Duclos named her state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year

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Elementary teacher Elizabeth Duclos has been named New Hampshire’s 2024 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: New Hampshire Department of Education

Students in one New Hampshire town are indeed fortunate to have an outstanding educator working in their school. I’m talking about Elizabeth Duclos, an elementary school teacher from Pembroke. She has been named her state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year.

Elizabeth teaches third grade at Pembroke Hill School. In her classroom, she believes the most important thing is to create a caring environment. She says she values and respects her students’ ideas, and she encourages them to take risks and become leaders in the classroom. She also fosters a sense of community and collaboration among her students.

The honored educator says she decided to be a teacher when she was only eight years old. She was raised on a 125-acre dairy farm in Orange County, New York. On this farm, her mom milked the cows, but when Elizabeth tried her hand at it, she decided after only two weeks she didn’t like it. Instead, she fell in love with helping her aunt, a teacher in Nottingham, prepare for the new school year. “I would come up for the summer and help her set up her class,” Elizabeth remembers, “and every time I said, ‘This is where I want to be.'”

Obviously, she made the right decision. Selected from more than 300 nominees, Elizabeth was selected because of her work ethic, insightful thinking, expertise in education, and effort towards making sure that each student receives the support they need to succeed in her classroom.

Elizabeth earned her Bachelor’s degree in Family Studies and her Master’s in Elementary Education, both from the University of New Hampshire. She also earned a certificate from Plymouth State University as a K-12 reading and writing specialist. During her professional career, Duclos has served as the Vice President of the New Hampshire Association for the Education of Young Children. Her career as an educator spans 16 years.

 

Teacher Eleanor Murdoch Johnson founded a widely-read children’s newsletter

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Teacher, administrator, and editor Eleanor Murdoch Johnson founded a children’s newspaper to bring nonfiction reading materials to elementary school children. Photo Credit: New York Times

There have been many exceptional educators who have made an indelible mark on the American education system. One of them was Eleanor Murdoch Johnson, an elementary school teacher from Oklahoma who founded the children’s newspaper entitled My Weekly Reader.

Eleanor was born in Hagerstown, Washington County, Maryland, on Dec. 10, 1892. As a young woman, she studied at both Colorado College in 2012 and the Central State Teachers College in 1913. She earned her Bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from the University of Chicago in 1925 and her Master’s degree from Columbia University in 1932.

Once she completed her formal education, Eleanor inaugurated her career as a first grade teacher in Oklahoma. She also served as Superintendent of Schools in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

It was while working in Pennsylvania in 1927 that Eleanor came up with the idea of a nonfiction newspaper for elementary school students. “In her work with kids,” says The Weekly Reader editor Terry Borton, “she noticed most of the reading they did was fairy tales and fantasy, which she felt was fine, but she felt they were missing a knowledge and understanding of the real world, which she thought they would like.”

In response, Eleanor proposed a nonfiction weekly newsletter for children that would explain in clear, straightforward prose the newsworthy events of the day. This was when The Weekly Reader was born. The newsletter described such events as the Depression, World War II, assassinations, presidential elections, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights struggles, and the Iran hostage crisis.

Eleanor produced the first issue of the newspaper on Sept. 21, 1928, and remained involved in planning its contents until her retirement from the position in 1978, when she was 85 years old. It has been estimated that The Weekly Reader was read by two-thirds of today’s American adults when they were in elementary school.

Sadly, Eleanor Murdoch Johnson succumbed to cancer on Oct. 8,1987, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. She was 94 years old.