Tag Archives: History Teachers

Educator Chris Dier named Louisiana Teacher of the Year

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Chris Dier, a high school history teacher from Louisiana, has been named his state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. Now he’s one of four finalists for the national title of Teacher of the Year.

I love to share stories about educators who have earned recognition for their work in the classroom. One of these is Chris Dier, a high school history teacher from Louisiana. He’s been named his state’s 2020 Teacher of the Year. And he’s one of four finalists for the national title of Teacher of the Year.

At one time, Chris planned to become an attorney. However, during his senior year in college, frustrated by a constitutional law course, he accepted his mother’s invitation to observe her teaching a class at Chalmette High School. As he watched his mother, a veteran educator of more than 30 years, Chris was inspired to consider a career in education for himself. “I was immediately taken aback by the atmosphere in her classroom,” he recalled. “Students were learning, discussing, asking questions and developing a sense of self in real time. It was the first time I watched a class from the teacher’s perspective. After that day, I decided to give teaching a go,” he confessed.

St. Bernard Parish School District Superintendent Doris Voitlier cannot praise Chris enough. “His ability to connect with students from various backgrounds and abilities is a true testament to his compassion and professionalism,” declared Voitlier. “Dier’s passion is deeply rooted in providing an equitable education to all students and supporting fellow teachers to be culturally responsive,” she continued.

Chris earned his Bachelor’s degree in History from East Texas Baptist University in 2010. He had moved to Texas in high school after evacuating from Hurricane Katrina. After college, he returned to Louisiana. He completed a Master’s degree in Education 2013 and a second Masters degree in Educational Leadership and Administration in 2018, both from the University of New Orleans.

After he earned his degree, Chris inaugurated his career as a Special Education teacher at Trist Middle School. He taught there for two years. He also taught at St. Bernard Middle School for three years. Currently, Chris teaches World History and AP Human Geography at the Chalmette High School in St. Bernard Parish. He’s taught there for the past five years.

To read more about Chris, see this link from the University of New Orleans.

AP History teacher Kevin Wagner honored by VFW

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Shown above is Advanced Placement History teacher Kevin Wagner of Carlisle High School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Kevin garnered a Teacher of the Year award given by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He earned the honor for his unwavering dedication towards honoring America’s veterans.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, also known as the VFW, named three stellar educators as their Teachers of the Year for 2018-2019. One of these is Kevin Wagner, an Advanced Placement History teacher at Carlisle High School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Kevin earned the distinction because of his unwavering dedication towards honoring the memory of American veterans.

With colleagues, Kevin developed a research project for his students called “Silent Heroes.” To complete this project, the students must research the life and service of a local World War II veteran who perished in the Normandy Invasion. The invasion occurred on the northern coast of France on June 6, 1944. The battle turned the tide of the war in Europe. Once the students complete their research, they create a web page that preserves the veteran’s legacy.

Last year, Kevin expanded his project to identify local Viet Nam War veterans. As a result, his students constructed a Viet Nam Wall of Honor where they display names of more than 213 veterans. The veterans Kevin’s students honor were former students of their school.

Each year, the VFW names one elementary, one intermediate, and one high school teacher for their National Citizenship Education Teacher Award. Bobbie Schamens, a fourth grade teacher at Meadowview Intermediate School in Sparta, Wisconsin, was named the elementary school winner. Anne Martin was named the middle school honoree. Anne is a seventh grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher at Williams Middle School in Tracy, California.

To view some of the projects created by Kevin’s students and other students, click on this link: National History Day Silent Heroes.

Marzell recommends sharing “Harriet” with your US History students

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Last weekend I viewed the movie Harriet, a historical fiction version of the life of Harriet Tubman. Harriet was born into slavery, but she was determined to be free. I loved this film! I would highly recommend that US History teachers share it with their students. The film goes a long way towards helping students better understand this remarkable woman’s life. It also leads to increased knowledge of the workings of the Underground Railroad.

The story line follows the heroine who was faced with her impending sale as a slave, separating her from husband and family. To avoid this, she made a daring and harrowing escape North to freedom. She had some help from the Underground Railroad, but traversed the better part of 100 miles to freedom all on her own. Once she tasted freedom, Harriet determined to lead members of her family and other slaves to freedom, too. Despite the danger of capture and return to slavery, not to mention beatings and other reprisals, this intrepid woman ventured back into the South to accomplish her goal. The movie credits her with engineering and executing the escapes of at least 70 slaves, but I have read historical accounts that place the number closer to 300. The effort earned her the epithet “The Moses of her People.” In fact, Harriet Tubman became one of the most important and most famous conductors on the Underground Railroad.

The production was released by Focus Features on November 1, 2019. Cynthia Erivo stars in the title role. Leslie Odom, Jr., Joe Alwyn, and Janelle Monae perform in supporting roles. The film is rated PG-13, and there are no scenes that I would say are unacceptable for classroom viewing. The movie’s length spans 2 hours, 5 minutes, which is a bit long for classroom purposes. However, I would be hard pressed to suggest which scenes could be cut. I think it would be best to show the film in its entirety.

The trailer above serves as a teaser. You can watch the movie yourself and come to your own conclusions. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.

The inventive Jeremiah Murray uses “meat sweats” to teach history lesson

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US History teacher Jeremiah Murray shows up to class wearing “meat sweats” as a visual assist to teach concepts related to his course material.

Some educators will do anything to teach a lesson in their class. This is certainly true of Jeremiah Murray, a US History teacher at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale, California.

Jeremiah showed up at school this week in a set of Arby’s “meat sweats,” which he says are really difficult to obtain. “This may seem weird, but I have been trying to get these meat sweats from Arby’s for about two years,” confessed the inventive educator. “I have asked Arby’s on multiple occasions from multiple platforms, only to always be denied,” he continued. “I wanted them for when I teach about the Progressive Era and the Meat Inspection Act,” he explained.

Evidently one of Jeremiah’s students reached out to Arby’s, bombarding the company with daily emails until she finally got a response to the request. “It came with a handwritten note from corporate Arby’s thanking me for impacting students, and a gift card,” Jeremiah says. And all the credit goes to the student, the teacher claims. “She literally got me something that cannot be bought,” he said. “And the kicker, the student didn’t even seek credit. She said it was from the whole class,” he said.

“I absolutely love what I do and am incredibly blessed to have all of my amazing students,” Jeremiah concluded.

Veteran and Chalkboard Hero John Ardis Cawthorn

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175px-John_Ardis_Cawthon_(Louisiana_Tech)[1]Many of our nation’s talented educators are also distinguished veterans. This is true about John Ardis Cawthon, a high school history teacher from Louisiana who served in the US Army during WWII.

John was born on March 16, 1907, in south Bossier Parish, Louisiana. As a child, he was home-schooled by his mother. When he entered the fifth grade, he was enrolled in a local one-room schoolhouse. After John completed the eighth grade, his family moved to Doyline in south Webster Parish, where the young man completed high school.

After his high school graduation in 1934, John enrolled at Louisiana Tech where he majored in History and English. There he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education. He earned his Master’s degree from Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge in 1938.

John accepted his first position as a teacher at a high school in Cotton Valley, where he taught from 1934 to 1935. Later he transferred to Sarepta and was employed there from 1935 to 1939. Next he taught at A.E. Phillips Laboratory School on the Louisiana Tech campus from 1939 to 1940. From 1940 to 1942 John was a professor at Northwestern State University, then known as Louisiana Normal.

When World War II erupted, John was drafted into the US Army. He was 35 years old at the time. The former high school teacher served in Europe in the Education Orientation Division. This position took him to the Biarritz American University in France. In 1974, he published an account of his experiences in the armed forces in an article entitled “A School Teacher Gets Drafted,” published in North Louisiana History.

When the war was over, John decided to pursue his doctorate at the University of Texas at Austin. After earning this advanced degree in 1954, he returned to Louisiana Tech University, where he remained until his retirement in 1972. During this time, he published many scholarly articles in North Louisiana History and wrote several books dedicated to regional history.

This talented educator and distinguished serviceman passed away on October 5, 1984. John Ardis Cawthorn: A true Chalkboard Hero.