Tag Archives: Secondary Teachers

2023 National Teacher of the Year Rebecka Peterson earns congrats from First Lady Jill Biden

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The name of the 2023 National Teacher of the Year was announced last month, and her name is Rebecka Peterson! Congratulations, Rebecka! And we’re not the only ones to congratulate her. First Lady Jill Biden also sent the honored educator good wishes.

Rebecka teaches mathematics to sophomores, juniors, and seniors at Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has just completed her 14th year in education and her 11th at Union High School.

To learn more about Rebecka and see the message from the First Lady, view this eight-minute YouTube video of her April 19, 20223, appearance on CBS Mornings:

Illinois educator Kimberly Radostits garners Teacher of the Year honors

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Kimberly Radostits, a Spanish teacher from Oregon, Illinois, has been selected her state’s 2022 Teacher of the Year and is one of five finalists for the 2023 National Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Oregon Community District 220

It is always my pleasure to highlight exemplary educators who have earned honors for their work in the classroom. Today, the spotlight falls on Kimberly Radostits, a Spanish teacher from Oregon, Illinois. She was selected 2022 Teacher of the Year for Illinois, and is one of five finalists selected for 2023 National Teacher of the Year honors.

Kimberly teaches Spanish to students in grades eight through twelve at Oregon Junior/Senior High School at Oregon Community Unit District 220. She has worked there for the past 15 years.

In addition to her Spanish curriculum, Kimberly serves as the faculty advisor for a freshmen mentoring program known as “Hawks Take Flight.” The goal of the program is to give students the skills and support they need to stay on track for graduation. The program, which flags missing work, absences, and a lack of school connectedness in junior high, allows the school to identify incoming freshmen who are in need of additional support. The numbers prove her program is successful. In 2007-2008, the average number of “F” grades a year for a class of 130 freshmen was 273. By 2019-2020, there were only 16 failing grades in the freshman class.

What inspired Kimberly to develop this program? “In 2011, I left freshmen orientation in tears after having an interaction with a boy who said that he hated school and there was nothing I could do to change that,” she recalls. “The four years I spent trying to prove him wrong have strongly impacted me as a person and an educator and solidified the beliefs I have about education,” she says.

In addition this mentoring program, Kimberly co-directs a New Teacher Academy that provides support and professional development to all new hires in her district. The purpose of this Academy is to promote a connection to the district and achieve teacher retention.

Kimberly’s selection as the Illinois 2022 Teacher of the Year is not the only honor this Chalkboard Champion has earned. In 2015, she was named an Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Emerging Leader.

Kimberly earned her Bachelor’s degree in Spanish Language and Literature from Northern Illinois University in 2007. She earned her a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Aurora University in 2014. She was designated a National Board Certified Teacher in 2011.

Delphine Ferminear Thomas: Educator and community activist

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Educator Delphine Thomas  was nominated for the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in appreciation for her work in the classroom and her dedication to her community.  Photo Credit: The Wiregrass Farmer

Often dedicated educators work tirelessly to make things better in their community. An excellent example of this is Delphine Thomas, a secondary level teacher who was so beloved in her community that she was nominated for the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame.

Delphine Ferminear was born on Oct. 1, 1890, in Bay Minette, Alabama. As a young woman, she graduated in 1910 from Troy State Normal School in Troy, Alabama. Today, the institution is known as Troy University. In addition to this education, Delphine completed extra courses to improve her teaching practice at the University of Alabama in the summer of 1914.

Once she completed her education, Delphine accepted a position as a high school teacher in Pike County, a rural area located in southeast Alabama. In 1913, she was named the principal of a school in the more centrally-located Edgewater, a mining community in Jefferson County near Birmingham.

Throughout her career, Delphine became a vocal advocate to improve benefits for her colleagues. She authored a paper entitled “Homes for Rural Teachers” in 1915. That same year, she was elected the Vice President of the Alabama Educational Association.  To benefit the entire community, she advocated the abolition of poll taxes, and even published papers to advance that cause.

In 1916, Delphine married Albert Thomas, a professor of mechanical engineering at Alabama Polytechnic Institute. The pair were married on the campus of the Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, Tennessee. The union produced two children.

In 1919, Delphine was working as an assistant in the English Department of Auburn University, but by 1930, she had returned to the secondary classroom, teaching junior high school students at the Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education in Fairhope, Alabama. The progressive school, founded by educational reformer Marietta Johnson, was profiled and praised by educator John Dewey in his book Schools of Tomorrow, published in 1913. The school emphasized learning in outdoor environments and offered crafts and folk dancing in addition to traditional academic subjects.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Delphine organized both the first Girl Scout troop and the first 4-H Club programs for girls in Auburn. She was also active in local politics, the Auburn Library Board, the Alabama Congress of Parents of Teachers, and the American Red Cross. From 1941 to 1953, Delphine served on the Alabama State Personnel Board.

For all of her work as an educator and as a community activist, Delphine Ferminear Thomas was nominated for the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 1977. Sadly, this remarkable Chalkboard Champion passed away in a Birmingham hospital on July 22, 1963, following a short illness. She was 72 years old.

 

NYC visual arts teacher Cheriece White garners FLAG Award

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Visual arts educator Cheriece White has garnered a 2022 FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence from the NYC Department of Education. Photo Credit: The 74

Our nation’s students are fortunate that there are so many innovative educators teaching in our public schools. One of these is Cheriece White, a forward-thinking visual arts instructor who teaches at Soundview High School in the Bronx, New York City. She has garnered a 2022 FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence from the NYC Department of Education.

Cheriece inaugurated her teaching career in 2013, when she was hired to design a multimedia program for the newly-built Soundview High. Accepting the position meant creating the program from the ground floor up. Today, the curriculum she developed is the most popular program on her campus. In the beginning, Cheriece recalls, “It was a lot of self-teaching because at that point, social media was starting to boom back in 2013,” she says. “It really transformed content creation… and there was no professional development on it,” she remembers.

To meet the challenge, Cheriece designed a curriculum that includes lessons on elements and principles of design, color theory, and color psychology. Her instruction incorporates such topics as digital storytelling, website design, social media content creation, infographic design, logo design, and movie editing. Students are given opportunities to use digital technology to create commercials, develop movies, and plan future businesses. “It’s my personal belief that art is always changing as technology advances,” observes Cheriece. “So it made sense to create a curriculum that not only engaged the students’ current interest in social media and technology, but also educated them on how to design digital content, videography, and infographics for these platforms,” she continues.

Cheriece earned her Bachelor’s degree in Visual Arts with a double emphasis in Media Communications and Media Design from State University of New York College, Old Westbury, in 2009. She earned her Master’s degree in Art and Art Teacher Education from Long Island University Post in 2012. Prior to her work as a teacher, she worked for one year as a specialist for Apple Inc.

For her innovative work in the classroom, Cheriece earned a 2022 FLAG Award for Teaching Excellence from the NYC Department of Education. The honor recognizes and celebrates extraordinary public school teachers who inspire learning through creativity, passion, and commitment.

To read more about this amazing Chalkboard Champion, click on this link to an article about her published by New York State United Teachers.

Social studies educator Matt Bernstein named Maine’s 2023 Teacher of the Year

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Social Studies educator Matt Bernstein of Portland, Maine, has been honored as his state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Matt Bernstein

It is always a pleasure to write about exceptional educators who have earned recognition for their work in the classroom. One of these is Matt Bernstein, a high school Social Studies teacher from Maine who has been named his state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

Matt teaches ninth grade Humanities and Social Studies at Casco Bay High School in the Portland Public School District in Portland. He has worked for the past nine years. Previously he taught World History and US History at the Greene School, an English Language Education school in West Greenwich, Rhode Island.

In his classroom, Matt says he strives to cultivate meaningful relationships with students through careful listening and offering support. He strives to created daily opportunities for students to experience joy and belonging at school. Clearly, he succeeds. “Mr. Bernstein’s students and colleagues at Casco Bay High School have described him as energizing, empowering, inclusive, a mentor, supportive, patient, and loving,” reports Pender Markin, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education. The honored educator also says recognizing the voices of students and supporting student activism is the major thrust of his curriculum. And he asserts that the purpose of education is to help students find their way to contribute to a more fair and equitable world.

In addition to creating curriculum, Matt serves his school as a team leader, a crew team leader, and a professional learning community coach, where he facilitates ongoing professional learning with his colleagues. He is also a Social Studies Vertical Content Team member, collaborating with local experts and teachers across the district to develop instructional content.

In addition to his State Teacher of the Year honors, Matt has been named  the 2022 Cumberland County Teacher of the Year. He was named a 2022 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholar, participating in a seminar titled “Teaching the Holocaust through Visual Culture.” And he is continuously innovating. For example, he created We Are an Indigenous Land, a study program where students work to create educational materials for elementary school students about Maine’s Native American tribes and nations.

Matt earned his Bachelor’s degree in History with an emphasis in European History from Bowdoin College, where he was also named a Bowdoin Teacher Scholar.

To read more about Matt Bernstein, click on this link to an article about him published by the Maine Department of Education.