Tag Archives: English Teachers

CA educator Catherine Borek: Her enthusiasm is infectious

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Here is English and Theater Arts teacher Catherine Borek of Compton, California. Her love for her students and for her work with them is absolutely infectious. No wonder she was named one of five California State Teachers of the Year. Just watch this video about her which was made a year ago, when she was selected the 2022 Teacher of the Year by the Compton Unified School District, and you’ll see what I mean.

Catherine teaches Advanced Placement English Literature and Drama at Dominguez High School. It was the Teach for America program that originally brought her into the classroom. Since that first year, she has devoted all 26 years of her career as an educator to Dominguez.

When Catherine first started working at the school, she was dismayed to discover that the Drama program had long been defunct. Believing the performing arts to be very important, she threw her considerable energy into reviving the program. The new program’s first year, 1999, she co-produced the play Our Town with colleague Karen Greene. The efforts were recorded in a documentary which became an award-winning film.

But the teacher credits her students themselves with their successes. “What makes Compton special and what test scores don’t show is that we have some really creative students and some true problem-solvers,” declares Catherine. “That’s something to be celebrated.”

Catherine also coaches the school’s rugby team, which she founded. And as if all that were not enough, the honored teacher has led her students to the completion of the LA Marathon, collaboration with the LA Opera, and starring in a Keurig commercial.

Her hard work has not gone unnoticed. In addition to being named the 2022 Teacher of the Year by the Compton Unified School District and one of five educators named as a Teacher of the Year by the LA County Office of Education, she has also been honored as one of five California State Teachers of the Year.

“To be distinguished as Teacher of the Year is no minor designation in our district,” asserts School Board Member Micah Ali. “It says that you have made an impact in the lives of both students and your colleagues. It means that you have contributed significantly toward our district elevating and opening doors to opportunities for our students,” he concluded.

 

Briana Morales is named the Illinois 2023 Teacher of the Year

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For her work in helping traumatized and underprivileged minority students, high school English teacher Briana Morales has been named the Illinois 2023Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Illinois Public Media

Many excellent teachers deserve recognition for their work in the classroom. And some of them actually receive it! One of these is Briana Morales, an English teacher from Illinois who has been honored by the Illinois State Dept. of Education.

Briana teaches in East St. Louis at Gordon Bush Alternative Center in St. Louis, Illinois. The facility is an alternative school that serves a majority of Black students from low-income families. Briana is passionate about alternative education. “I think alternative education is representative of the underdog in all of us,” she asserts. “They are the kids that you’re rooting for to turn the tide and be who they want to be with the right resources. These are kids who may have unmet needs and lagging skills, but one caring adult can break the chains for so many children,” she continues. “We have a moral responsibility to ensure that every child has access to equitable experiences that allow them to be their authentic selves, especially in alternative education,” she declares. 

Throughout her career, Briana has been recognized for using writing and poetry to help her students process their experiences of poverty, personal loss, and violence. Her use of poetry as a therapeutic device has roots in her own childhood. “In seventh grade, I was struggling with complex life changes at home and I experienced a lot of trauma as a child,” she reveals. “My teacher at the time tried to equip me with the skills to battle everything that I was going through. She taught me how to write poetry as a way to cope,” she continues. “I wrote my first poetry book in her class and I never stopped writing,” she concludes.

In addition to her Teacher of the Year honors, Briana was named an Early Career Educator of Color by the National Council for Teachers of English in 2021. She has served as a policy fellow, senior fellow, and now a national senior research fellow with Teach Plus, where she has worked on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion for students across the state through culturally responsive initiatives. Additionally, Briana serves on the school board for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, School District 428. Her career as an educator spans six years.

Briana earned her Bachelor’s degree in Secondary English Education from St. Ambrose University in 2017 and her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from American College of Education. She is currently pursuing a PhD in education policy, organization, and leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

To learn more about Briana Morales, click on this link to an article about her published by Chalkbeat.

Charlotte Gardner: Educator and former member of the North Carolina House of Reps

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One-time teacher Charlotte Gardner also served in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Photo credit: Summersett Funeral Home

Many excellent educators have also served their community as politicians. One of these is Charlotte Gardner, a one-time high school teacher who also served in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Charlotte was born on Nov. 14, 1931, in Baltimore, Maryland. As a young girl, her family moved to Rockwell, North Carolina. There Charlotte graduated from Rockwell High School in 1949. After her graduation, she enrolled at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in English and French, cum laude, in 1952.

Once she earned her degrees, Charlotte settled in Salisbury, where she lived with her husband. Early in her marriage, Charlotte accepted a position as a teacher in public schools located in both Robeson and Jones Counties. Over time, Charlotte and her husband raised six children.

In 1984, Charlotte was elected on the Republican ticket to the North Carolina House of Representatives, where she represented the 35th District for 16 years, from 1985 to 2001. While there, she served as a member on the Committees for Aging, Appropriations, Education, Financial Institutions, and Judiciary. She also served as Secretary/Treasurer of the Women’s Legislative Caucus from 1999 to 2000. But her greatest passion was working to improving conditions for the mentally ill.

For her work as a legislator, Charlotte garnered many pretigious awards. She earned the Distinguished Service Award from the Rowan County Republican Party; the Appreciation Award from the Rowan Mental Health Coalition; the Valand Award for Outstanding Legislator in the Cause of Mental Health from the North Carolina Mental Health Association; the 1995 Legislator of the Year from the North Carolina Alliance for the Mentally Ill; and the David T. Flaherty Merit Service Award.

Sadly, this teacher and chalkboard politician passed away in Annapolis, North Carolina, on June 10, 2020. She was 88 years old.

Remembering Freedom School teacher Sandra Adickes

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Intrepid New York City English teacher Sandra Adickes spent the summer of 1964 teaching in a Freedom School in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Photo credit: University of Southern Mississippi

The anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington earlier this week gives us the opportunity to think about the courageous and dedicated teachers, both Black and White, who tirelessly worked towards creating a more equal society in our country. One of these was Sandra Adickes, an English teacher from New York City who taught in Mississippi’s Freedom Schools during Freedom Summer.

Sandra was an energetic and idealistic thirty-year-old New York City English teacher in 1964, the year she ventured south into Hattiesburg, 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 educators and Civil Rights activists realized that only through education and participation in the democratic process could African Americans hope to achieve their long-denied American Dream.

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’s fearless students decided—on their own—to integrate the Hattiesburg Public Library in what became, in effect, a graduation trip with an emphasis on civic reform. 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.

Georgia teacher Susan Allgood garners VFW Citizenship Education Award

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Middle school English teacher Susan Allgood of Toccoa, Georgia, has garnered a 2023 Smart Maher National citizenship Education Teacher Award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Photo credit: Veterans of Foreign Wars

As role models for young people, teachers often emphasize the qualities of patriotism and good citizenship in their young students. One teacher who does this exceptionally well is Susan Allgood, a middle school teacher from Toccoa, Georgia. She has been recognized by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) for her excellence in efforts to ensure  her students understand duty to country while honoring the service and memory of America’s veterans. The organization has honored her with a 2023 Smart Maher National Citizenship Education Teacher Award.

Susan teaches seventh and eighth grade English/Language Arts at Stephens County Middle School in Toccoa. She was selected for the honor because she encouraged not only the students in her classroom, but also every student on her campus to participate in the VFW’s annual Patriot’s Pen essay contest. To inspire the young authors, she shared novels and biographies about veterans, the military, and our nation’s history into her curriculum.

In addition to sharing the stories of veterans and promoting the essay contest, the honored teacher organized field trips to New York City to visit the memorial built at Ground Zero. She teaches lessons about the devastation and aftermath of Sept. 11. And she encourages her students to recognize that they can make a difference in the world around them.

It makes perfect sense that Susan would emphasize the role of veterans in her curriculum. She has two sons who are on active duty in the military. Because of this, she understands firsthand how important it is to connect the military and veterans with young people.

To learn more about Susan Allgood and the prestigious award she has won, click on the following link to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.