Tag Archives: Elementary Teachers

Maryland educator Anne Coleman Chambers created innovative curriculum

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Dedicated educator Anne Coleman Chambers taught in public schools in Maryland before establishing her own school, the Indian Creek School, which offered an innovative curriculum. Photo credit: Pasadena Voice.

Many dedicated educators work hard to provide enhanced learning opportunities and innovative curriculum for students in their communities. One of these is Anne Coleman Chambers, a public school teacher from Maryland who founded a highly successfully private day school in her community.

Anne was born in 1940, although she was raised in Colesville. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. Once she graduated from college, she taught in public schools in Prince George’s County in her home state until 1963.

Anne believed strongly that every student should be provided stimulating educational experiences in a small, nurturing environment in which each student is known and approached as an individual. To create this environment, she founded Indian Creek School, a co-educational Pre-K through grade 12 private school in Crownsville in 1973. Indian Creek School opened its doors in with 33 students in Pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade. Four years later, she opened a middle school that doubled its capacity, and in 2006 she added an upper school.

Anne built a curriculum for her students that offered not only a broad-based education emphasizing the fundamentals, but also stressed the importance of music, art, physical education, drama, clubs, and sports.  She included Spanish, computers, and human development instruction at a time when many schools didn’t offer those as subjects for older students, let alone for kindergartners. In addition, Anne was steadfast in her insistence that her school be a diverse and inclusive community from the start. Anne served as the school’s first Director from its founding until 2010, when she went back to the classroom to teach for one last year before she retired in 2011.

Anne Coleman Chambers passed away on Oct. 12, 2020, in Hagerstown, Maryland. She was 80 years old. She was a true Chalkboard Champion.

 

Mississippi teacher La’Keshia Johnson featured in Time Magazine

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For her work in and out of the classroom, Mississippi kindergarten teacher La’Keshia Johnson was featured in an article by Time Magazine. Photo credit: Okolona Municipal School District.

So many of our nation’s educators have gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide for their students during the pandemic—not just meeting their educational needs, but providing meals for those who needed food, helping with housing, acquiring clothing, and assisting with emotional support. One of these is La’Keshia Johnson, who teaches kindergarten at Okolona Elementary School in Okolona, Mississippi.

For much of last year, teacher La’Keshia made it her mission to ensure her kindergarten students in the rural town of Okolona, Mississippi, received their breakfasts and hot lunches, even in the midst of the pandemic. She never missed a day of delivering meals to them, even though it meant assembling them and riding the bus to deliver them herself. “We wanted to make sure every student was taken care of,” she explained. “You’re so accustomed to seeing their smiling faces up and down the hall. The pandemic kind of took that away.”

Because her students were isolated at home, La’Keshia penned and mailed letters to her kids modeled after the Flat Stanley books. She encouraged them to write back and include pictures with their “Flat Ms. Johnson” cutouts.

When Okolona schools returned to in-person instruction, La’Keshia drew satisfaction from watching her students enter the classroom unable to recognize the letters of the alphabet, but leave with the ability to read a book out loud.

For her outstanding work within and beyond her classroom, La’Keshia Johnson was featured in the Time Magazine article entitled “Educators who Saved a Pandemic Year” published in September, 2021. She truly is a chalkboard Champion.

Fanny Allen: Schoolteacher and reknowned photographer

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Frances Stebbins Allen, popularly known as Fanny Allen, was a Massachusetts schoolteacher and nationally-renowned photographer. Photo credit: Mary Allen

Many excellent educators earn success in fields outside the classroom. One of these is Fanny Allen, an elementary schoolteacher from Deerfield, Massachusetts, who became a nationally-renowned photographer.

Fanny, whose birth name was Frances Stebbins Allen, was born on August 10, 1854, in Deerfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts. She was the oldest of four children born to local farmer Josiah Allen and his wife Mary Stebbins Allen. Deerfield is a small farming town and early colonial outpost founded in the late 1600s in the western part of the state.

As a young girl, Fanny attended the local school, Deeerfield Academy. After she graduated from Deerfield, she enrolled in State Normal School in Westfield, Massachusetts. After earning her degree, Fanny launched her career as a schoolteacher. From 1876 to 1886 she taught in schools in the Massachusetts counties of Greenfield and Worcester. Her younger sister, Mary, also became a schoolteacher.

Sadly, both sisters lost their hearing in their thirties, most likely due to a hereditary condition. Fanny and Mary were forced to leave the classroom, and they needed a new way to support themselves. Together, the former schoolteachers took up a new career in photography. As photographers, they captured images that idealized their town’s colonial history. Many of their photographs depicted Deerfield’s picturesque farms and its one leafy street lined with stately 18th-century houses. The amazing thing is, the sisters were self-taught!

The Allen sisters set up a salesroom for their work in their ancestral home, and were soon supporting themselves with their sales. By 1895, they enjoyed commercial success, and even enjoyed national acclaim. In the July, 1941 issue of Ladies Home Journal, the former teachers were hailed as two of the “Foremost Women Photographers of America.”

Many of the Allen sisters’ photographs were attributed to “The Misses Allen,” rather than to one sister or the other. In 1899, the Allen sisters joined the Arts & Crafts Movement in their home city, and spent their energy documenting the works of the local members. In 1907, Fanny Allen was elected the Director of Photography of the Society of Deerfield Industries. In addition, their work has been added to the collection of the Library of Congress.

Fanny Allen passed away on February 14, 1941. She was 86 years old. She is interred in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Franklin County, Deerfield. To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, click on this link to Deerfield Arts & Crafts.

Idaho’s former First Lady: Teacher, author, and beauty queen

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Former Idaho First Lady Lori Otter is a one-time teacher and administrator, an author of children’s books, an athlete, and a former Miss Idaho USA. Photo credit: Cour d’Alene/Post Falls Press.

Many Chalkboard Champions have earned recognition for successes outside of the field of education. One such educator is Lori Easley Otter, the former First lady of Idaho. This teacher and administrator is married to former Governor C. L. “Butch” Otter.

Lori was born in Pensacola, Florida, in 1967, the youngest of four children in a military family. In the 1970’s, her family moved to Idaho when her father retired from the U.S. Navy. Lori graduated from Kimberly High School, and then enrolled in Boise State University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education and Physical Education, with minors in Health and English. She earned her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. In addition, she completed coursework in Educational Administration from Northwest Nazarene University in 2004.

Lori taught physical education, health, and English at both the elementary and secondary levels for the Meridian School District in Meridian, Idaho. She also coached girls basketball and volleyball at the junior high and high school levels for thirteen years. She spent two years as an administrator. This athletic educator also runs marathons, plays tennis, and is an accomplished equestrienne.

In 1991, Lori entered the Miss Idaho USA Pageant, winning the title and representing Idaho in the Miss USA 1991 pageant the same year. During her reign as Miss Idaho USA, Lori was introduced to Butch Otter, who was then serving as Lieutenant Governor of Idaho. After some time teaching and coaching in Arizona, Lori returned to Idaho in 1995. In 2006, Lori and Butch were married, and later that year, Butch was elected Governor of Idaho on the Republican ticket. She served as Idaho’s First Lady during Butch’s terms, from January 1, 2007 to January 7, 2019

Combining her love of Idaho and her passion for education and literacy, this gifted educator has written three children’s books. She penned Little Clyde – Horsing Around in Sun Valley, and two history books, Ida Visits the Capitol and Ida Tours the 44: A Book of Idaho Counties. Lori’s character Ida Jones is a young barnstorming pilot who seeks adventure and teaches Idaho history to fourth graders as she flies her airplane through the state.

Arkansas teacher Carol Rasco once served as president’s assistant

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Former Arkansas teacher Carol Rasco has spent her entire professional life as an advocate for children, working towards improving education, promoting early literacy, and supporting children with disabilities. Photo credit: Hendrix Alumni Association.

Many excellent classroom teachers also serve in positions in the government. One of these is Carol Rasco, a former elementary teacher and school counselor that once served as an Assistant to the President under President Bill Clinton.

Carol was born on January 13, 1948, in Columbia, South Carolina. Later her family moved to DeWitt, Arkansas. As a young woman, she skipped her senior year in high school and enrolled at Hendrix College in 1965. There she first majored in Drama, although she later changed her major to Psychology. After transferring to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Carol earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 1969. She earned her Master’s degree in Elementary Counseling and Psychology from the University of Central Arkansas in 1972.

Carol began her career in education as an elementary school teacher, and later became a counselor at the middle school level. After she earned her Master’s degree, she used her expertise to set up a psychological counseling program in the public school system.

In 1983, this Chalkboard Champion accepted a position in the Arkansas Governor’s Office. She served Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in this position for ten years. Later, when Clinton was elected to the presidency, Carol followed Clinton to Washington, DC, where she worked as an Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy from 1997 to 2000. She spent the next four years in the US Department of Education in the America Reads Challenge program. During 2001, she worked as a consultant on Government Relations for The College Board, and from 2001 to 2016, she served as the President and CEO of Reading is Fundamental. For the past five years, Carol has worked as a child advocate for Three Boys with Books.

Carol has spent her entire professional life as an advocate for children, working towards improving education, promoting early literacy, and supporting children with disabilities. She is currently 73 years old.