Tag Archives: Science Teachers

Lisa Niver Rajna: The Chalkboard Champion Who Teaches Her Students That Science Isn’t Scary

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Lisa_Niver_Rajna[1]Lisa Niver Rajna, an elementary science teacher from Los Angeles, California, is an amazing chalkboard champion. Lisa was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1967, and earned her master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her career as a professional educator, she is also a sought-after motivational speaker, travel agent, and travel writer.

Lisa is well-known in science teacher circles for her instructional strategies that emphasize her students use technology and real world connections to explore their passions and to work towards solving today’s most complex issues. She has also developed a successful summer science camp for students and maintains a science-based web site entitled Science Isn’t Scary. In 2009, Lisa founded the Los Angeles Science Teachers Network (LASTN),  a professional development network that by May, 2012, involved over seventy teachers and forty schools. The effort has been praised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Lisa Niver Rajna has published many articles in online and offline magazines, including National Geographic, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, and The Jewish Journal. She was a 2012 nominee for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching.

Here is a link to her educational web site: Science Isn’t Scary

Here is a link to her travel web site: We Said Go Travel

Science Made Thrilling by Educator Michael Stephen Lampert

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Science is a thrilling experience in the classroom of educator Michael Stephen Lampert, a teacher at West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon. This dedicated educator opens his classroom at least one afternoon each week for students to work on their science projects, which he mentors. He also coaches the school’s robotics team and academic teams, including Science Bowl, Ocean Bowl, and High Five. Twice Michael’s students have won the Toshiba ExploraVision competition for their work developing a prosthetic arm that can sense touch and using bio-sensing technology to treat attention deficit disorder. Also, his students advanced to the finals in the Lemelson-MIT Inventeam contest for their work on a device that evaluates the ripeness of watermelons.

This remarkable educator has quite a professional resume outside of the classroom as well. For example, he has launched weather balloons in Antarctica to study ozone depletion, and he has helped install an infrasound listening station in Africa that can be used to detect a nuclear explosion. When he is away from the classroom working on projects such as these, he shares his experiences with his students through online journals, demonstrations, and community presentations. In addition to his hands-on projects, Michael has helped write curriculum and design the web site for the new PBS show Wired Science. He has written numerous grants to fund innovative projects that explore topics such as airbag physics and sports physics. He has earned more than $250,000 in grants for his students. And he has conducted extensive outreach programs to elementary schools in his home town.

Michael has earned plenty of recognition for his efforts. He was one of forty-five winners of the 2005 Disney Teacher Award. In 2009, he was selected Oregon Teacher of the Year, and the same year he was named the winner of the Science Education Prize for High School Teachers by the American Association for the Advancement of Science Leadership. In 2010, he was one of ten winners of the PBS Teachers Innovation Awards. Additionally, the Society for Science and the Public has listed him as one of ten SSP Fellows.

Michael Lampert graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in physics, and then started work on his doctorate in atomic physics at Oregon State University before deciding to pursue a career in teaching. How greatly is the profession enriched by the contributions of this amazing chalkboard champion!

Braulio Alonso: A Genuine Chalkboard Hero

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0002910439-01-1_06-07-2010[1]When we think about chalkboard heroes, one name that immediately comes to mind is Braulio Alonso. This distinguished educator and World War II veteran can boast of numerous accomplishments during his lifetime.

Born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, in 1916, the son of impoverished cigar makers, Braulio graduated as the valedictorian of his class from Hillsborough High School in 1935. He was also the valedictorian of his college class when he graduated from the University of Tampa in 1939.

Braulio began his teaching career as an instructor of physics and chemistry courses at Henry B. Plant High School in Tampa, but when World War II erupted, Braulio became part of the United States Army in 1941. He was immediately sent to officer candidate school, and later he became part of the 85th Infantry Division in North Africa. The teacher-soldier was promoted to Battery Commander for the 328th Artillery Battalion, taking an active part in the Italian campaign. He was among the first Allied soldiers to liberate Rome. By the time he was discharged from the service, Braulio had earned a Bronze Star with Cluster and a Purple Heart.

After the war, Braulio continued his career as an educator. He was named the director of Adult Education and headed an on-the-job training program for returning veterans. He also taught classes and served as a principal at several schools, including West Tampa Junior High, Jefferson High School, and C. Leon King High School.

Always intent upon improving the quality of education, Braulio became the president of his local teachers’ union, eventually becoming the president of the Florida Education Association, where he led the drive to integrate the organization. In 1967, he was elected the president of the National Education Association, the first Hispanic to hold that office. While NEA president, Braulio worked to persuade teacher organizations throughout Europe to join with NEA for an international conference to combat racism, anti-Semitism and apartheid, and served as its secretary. In 1966 he became an international figure when he was asked to mediate a dispute among teacher organizations and the Bolivian government. This was the first of many missions to mediate disputes, including efforts in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil, the Ivory Coast, Kenya, and Ghana.

This remarkable chalkboard hero passed away of natural causes in 2010. He will be missed, but certainly not forgotten.

Chalkboard Champion Barbara Morgan: Another Teacher in Space

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224af0a0-e295-4c41-88c5-ea08c7c63c04[1]Educator Barbara Morgan is probably best-known for being named as Christa McAuliffe’s alternate for the Teacher in Space Program in 1985. Following Christa’s untimely death in the space shuttle Challenger explosion, Barbara continued her training as an astronaut. She became a mission specialist, becoming a full-time astronaut in 1998, and flew into space in 2007, completing an assignment aboard the International Space Station.

Barbara was born in Fresno, California, in 1951. She graduated from Stanford University in 1973 with her degree in human biology, and earned her teaching credential in 1974 from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. She began her career in education as a remedial reading and math teacher at Arlee Elementary School located on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Arlee, Montana. She has also been a teacher of second, third, and fourth graders at McCall-Donnelly Elementary School in McCall, Idaho.

Barbara Morgan is truly a chalkboard champion. You can read a more about the Teacher in Space program when my new book, tentatively entitled Chalkboard Heroes, is published.

Chalkboard Champion Elsa Salazar Cade

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$RADTRSAElsa Salazar Cade, a Mexican American educator and entomologist, was born in 1952 and raised in the Lone Star State of Texas. After earning her bachelor’s degree in science education from the University of Texas, Austin, she was employed for two years as a fourth grade teacher, and for two years as a reading and remedial math teacher. When she completed her master’s degree in public school administration from Niagara University, she continued her career as a junior high school science educator in the public school system in Buffalo, New York.
Elsa, who has been named one of the ten best science teachers in the United States by the National Science Teachers Association, is credited for developing an award-winning interactive science curriculum. She has also served on the staff of the Buffalo Research Institute on Teaching for Education.
Elsa and her husband, Dr. Bill Cade, have also been honored for their humanitarian efforts, raising money to provide shelter and life-saving equipment to benefit Haitian disaster survivors. Elsa Salazar Cade is truly one the country’s most illustrious chalkboard champions.