Tag Archives: Science Teachers

Educator Ben Walker named Alaska’s 2018 Teacher of the Year

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Ben Walker

Outstanding educator Ben Walker of the Anchorage School District named Alaska’s 2018 State Teacher of the Year.

Ben Walker of Anchorage has been named Alaska’s 2018 State Teacher of the Year. Ben teaches science at Romig Middle School in the same classroom where his mother, Karen Walker, also taught school.

Ben is originally from Ketchikan. His family moved to Anchorage, where Ben graduated from Dimond High School in 1996. The honored educator earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. Following his college graduation, he moved back to Anchorage where he worked in the science industry for ten years. Then he decided become a teacher. “I wanted to do something that was a little more meaningful in my life,” Ben confessed. He enrolled at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, where he earned his Master’s degree in Teaching. His teaching career now spans 13 years.

Ben reveals that he works toward making science exciting, integrating hands-on activities into his daily lessons. For example, his students recently collected water from around the city. Then the students examined the samples under a microscope to find various microorganisms and classify them into different kingdoms. “Instead of just saying, ‘This is taxonomy. This is how we classify things,’ ” Ben explained, “we say, ‘Let’s get some real things, let’s bring them in and classify them.’ “

Congratulations, Ben Walker.

Michigan’s Nita Nicholie: Science teacher extraordinaire

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Nita Nicholie

Nita Nicholie, science teacher at St. Joseph High School in St. Joseph, Michigan.

Ever wonder if what you do in the classroom truly makes a difference in the lives of your students? Well, here is a story that proves that it does. This story is about Nita Nicholie, a science teacher at St. Joseph High School, a public school located in St. Joseph, Michigan.

This amazing educator earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics from Michigan State University in 1985. When Nita started inaugurated her career in the classroom, she thought she’d teach for only a few years. That was 32 years ago. “I went into teaching because I love science, but I stayed in teaching because I love the kids,” Nita confesses.

Former student Autumn Roth, who took an Honors Physics with Nita before heading off to college, remembers, “On the first day of class she burst into the room singing show-tunes at the top of her lungs. I knew right then that this was going to be a good class.”

Nita’s influence on the lives of her students extends beyond her classroom. Over the years, this compassionate educator and her family have taken in over 20 students to live with them. “A lot of times they just needed a safe place to sleep, to have a warm shower in the morning and food before they go to sleep at night,” the chalkboard champion remarks. Nita even has an alarm set on her phone to remind her to text some students to make sure they’re awake and heading to school. It’s all part of connecting with her students, and doing whatever she can to help them be successful in school. For her efforts, Nita has earned special recognition. In 2010, she was nominated for Michigan Teacher of the Year.

“There’s no formula about how to be a great teacher,” Nita asserts. “If I really truly love what I do, the kids know it.”

Nita Nicholie: truly an inspiration.

John Fedorowicz: Navy Veteran who now teaches chemistry

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John Fedorowicz

John Fedorowicz, a retired US Navy veteran, teaches chemistry in Virginia.

John A. Fedorowicz is a veteran now retired from the US Navy. He served as a Navy Intelligence Officer from from 1988 – 2013, a total of 25 years. While in the military, John was assigned to the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center (NMITC) where he was initially assigned as the Curriculum/Instructional Standards Officer (CISO). After a year, he also began teaching intelligence-related subjects involving operational intelligence. “During this time, I realized I enjoyed figuring out how to put together information on a topic and how to best explain it to students. I enjoyed the challenge of making topics relevant and interesting to students,” remembers John.

After John retired from his military career, he worked to make his love of teaching a reality. He now teaches high school chemistry at Indian River High School located in Chesapeake, Virginia. “The biggest benefit to teaching is knowing that you have a direct impact in helping prepare your students to succeed in life beyond the classroom,” asserts John. “The impact may come in the form of conveying information, as in my subject of chemistry. It may be in listening to them and maybe providing advice when they have had a bad experience at work, home, or with their peers. It may also be in modeling patience, self-control, organization, or how to treat others with respect,” he continues. “The impact teachers have on students’ lives can never be overestimated,” he concludes.

John earned his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1985. He earned his Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Troy University in Troy, Alabama, in 1996. In addition, John earned a degree in National Security Studies from the Naval War College in 2008, and he studied at Virginia Wesleyan College from 2011-2013.

Thank you for your service, John, both in the military and in the classroom!

 

Missouri’s Jan Alderson: an exemplary high school science teacher

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Jan Alderson

Missouri’s Jan Alderson: an exemplary high school science teacher.

I always enjoy sharing the awe-inspiring stories of exemplary educators. One of these is Jan Alderson, a high school science teacher from Overland Park, Kansas.

Jan earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Central Missouri in 1969 and her Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1973.

Now retired, Jan has taught such courses as life science, earth science, physical science, biology, and human anatomy and physiology. She has worked at both the junior high school and high school levels, teaching at Pittman Hills Junior High School, Raytown South High School, and at Shawnee Mission South High School. In all, her career as an educator spanned an impressive 45 years.

Jan’s work has earned a great deal of praise from her distinguished colleagues. “Mrs. Alderson’s classroom is a carefully designed studio of experiments, research, and meaningful information intentionally organized to educate, not overwhelm,” says School Board member Joan Levens. “She is constantly growing, learning, and mentoring. We are all beneficiaries of her quest to grow the next generation of well-rounded scientists.” Dr. Charles Wurrey of the University of Missouri at Kansas City agrees. “In all of her teaching efforts, she emphasizes ‘hands-on’ and ‘minds-on’ learning by involving student research and ‘learning by doing’ by having her students tutor and mentor others and provide service to the community,” he says.

For her work in the classroom, Jan has earned many accolades. In 1975, she was named Outstanding Missouri Conservation Educator by the Conservation Federation of Missouri. In 1991 she garnered a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching. In 2011, Jan earned the Burroughs Audubon Outstanding Educator Award. She was even named an alternate from Missouri for the NASA Teacher in Space program! In 2014, this chalkboard champion was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Jan Alderson: a truly exemplary educator.

 

Michigan’s Gary Koppelman earns national recognition for his environmental life lab

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Gary Koppelman

Fifth grade science and math teacher Gary Koppelman from Blissfield, Michigan, shows his students some of his favorite creatures that inhabit his Blissfield Environmental Life Lab.

It is always a joy to write about chalkboard champions who have earned national recognition for their hard work in the classroom. One such teacher is Gary Koppelman, a fifth grade science and math teacher from Michigan who established an environmental life lab, and for this work has earned numerous prestigious awards.

Gary attended Eastern Michigan University, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Science in 1973 and his Master’s degree in Elementary Education in 1976. He inaugurated his career in education with Deerfield Public Schools, where he taught fifth and sixth grades from 1973 to 1976. In 1976, he transferred to Blissfield Community Schools, where he taught fourth and fifth grades until 1982. Next, Gary took a position at the New Life School, where he taught kindergarten through eighth grade until 1993. Finally, he taught fifth grade for Blissfield Community Schools in Blissfield, Michigan. In all, Gary has devoted 45 years of his life to the teaching profession.

For his work in the classroom, Gary has garnered numerous awards. Among these are the Michigan State Special Tribute Teacher Award in 2003 and 2012; the Golden Apple Teacher Award from Channel 24 TV in Toledo, Ohio, in 2004; the “Closing the Gap in Education Award” from the Chrysler Corporation in 2008; and the Shell Science Teaching Award from the Shell Oil Company in 2013. In 2014, Gary was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in Emporia, Kansas. That year, he also received a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching from President Barack Obama.

Gary would probably say that his biggest accomplishment is establishing the Blissfield Environmental Life Lab, abbreviated BELL. “Since our school is in a northern climate, it is sometimes difficult for students to observe and experiment year-round with plants and animals and witness all stages of development from young to adult without interruption,” explains Gary. “The BELL has become an arboretum and terrarium, furnished with various habitats and biomes for observation and experimentation, allowing the entire district to use as an extended classroom,” he continued. The BELL contains a 1,500 gallon fresh water pond, a butterfly house, a 1,500-gallon salt water ecosystem, a bird aviary, a herpetile area, and an invertebrate zoo. “Students are now doing experiments and obtaining knowledge as they make predictions about life science and our environment,” says Gary. “Knowledge is deeply set as children invest part of themselves in exploring plants, animals, or various habitats found within the climatically controlled greenhouse,” he concludes.

Rock on, Gary.