Tag Archives: Teacher Authors

New York’s William R. Everdell: Talented classroom teacher and successful author

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William R. Everdell

New York’s William R. Everdell: Talented classroom teacher and successful author.

Some of America’s most talented classroom teachers are also highly successful authors. This is true of William R. Everdell, a high school history teacher from Brooklyn who has published several acclaimed books about history and intellectual history.

William Romeyn Everdell was born in 1941.  As a youngster, he attended St. Paul’s, a private Episcopalian school located in Concord, New Hampshire. Following his high school graduation, young William enrolled in prestigious Princeton University in New Jersey. While a student in college, William was named a Woodrow Wilson Scholar and designated a Fulbright Scholar. Later William earned his Master’s degree from Harvard University and his doctorate in Modern Intellectual History from New York University.

This chalkboard champion is also a veteran. During the Viet Nam War, William served in the United States Marines. However, following his discharge in 1968, he became an outspoken critic of the war and even participated in anti-war marches.

In 1970, William accepted a teaching position at St. Anne’s School in Brooklyn, an arts-oriented private school located in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn, New York. There he taught world history until his retirement in 2016.

For many years William has been a regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review. In addition, he has authored several books and articles on intellectual history and the history of ideas. His books are: Christian Apologetics in France published in 1989; The End of Kings, first published in 1983; and The First Moderns, 1872-1913, first published in 1998.

He has also written about the pedagogy of teaching history, and he has served on the committee to develop tests for the Advanced Placement World History Exams. The former educator has served as the president of the Organization of History Teachers and the East Central American Society for 18-Century Studies. In addition, he is a member of the American Historical Association.

Now 77 years old, William lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Barbara.The couple has two grown sons.

 

Science teacher Greg Craven presents info about climate change

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Greg Craven

Science teacher Greg Craven discusses the topic of climate change with his high school students.

There are many examples of classroom teachers who have made a significant impact on American culture. Science teacher Greg Craven of Oregon is an excellent example of this.

Greg was raised in Silverton, Oregon. After his high school graduation, he attended the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, where he majored in computer science and Asian studies. Once he earned his degree, he accepted a position as a science teacher at Central High School in Independence, Polk County, Oregon, where he teaches physics and chemistry. This talented educator involves his students in using critical thinking skills to tackle questions about science.

In 2007, Greg created an instructional YouTube video that featured the subject of climate change. The ten-minute video, entitled The Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See, instantly went viral. To follow up, this chalkboard champion created 44 additional videos which further explored the topic. “My mission in this is to change the culture,” explained Greg, “so that a policymaker can’t turn around without somebody saying ‘Hey! What are you doing about climate change?’ We need significant changes in the basis of our modern society, which is cheap, easily accessible fossil fuels.” As a follow up to his videos, Greg published a book entitled What’s the Worst that Could Happen? A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate in 2009.

For this work, Greg was named Featured Teacher by WIRED Science in 2007. In 2010, he was invited to address the American Geophysical Union, where he also served as a member of a panel discussion group that addressed the topic of climate change. He has also been named Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Oregon Science Teach­­ers Association.

To learn more about Greg’s book, see What’s the Worst that Could Happen? on amazon. com. To view Greg’s 2007 YouTube video, see below:

English teacher W. E. Blackhurst records West Virginia’s old-time timber industry

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Throughout American history, there are times when a talented educator will earn acclaim as an author and social commentator. Warren Elmer Blackhurst of West Virginia is just such an educator. His novels and nonfiction pieces record the old-time timber industry that flourished in West Virginia at the turn of the 20th century. In his day, he was also known as a conservationist and expert on local wildlife.

W. E. Blackhurst

W. E. Blackhurst, West Virginia educator and author

W. E. Blackhurst was born in Arbovale, Pocahontas County, West Virginia, on October 10, 1904. He was the seventh of eleven children born to Reverend Harry and Lula (Burner) Blackhurst. As a young boy, Warren attended Green Bank High School. Following his high school graduation, he earned his bachelor’s degree at Glenville State Teachers College.

Once he earned his degree, Warren returned to Green Bank High School, where he taught English and Latin from 1932 to 1964. His career as an educator spanned a total of 32 years. In addition, Warren developed and taught the state’s first class in environmental conservation. Every year, as part of the course, he supervised his seniors in planting five acres of seedlings in the Monongahela National Forest.

All his life, Warren collected and wrote stories West Virginia’s early days in the logging industry, conservation, and local wildlife. His work was published in many magazines and newspapers. He also published several novels retold stories of his home town of Cass and the history of the timber boom years in the Greenbrier Valley. The most acclaimed of his novels is Riders of the Flood (1954), which has been reworked into an outdoor play and is performed annually. Warren also wrote Sawdust In Your Eyes (1963), Of Men and A Mighty Mountain (1965), and Mixed Harvest (1970). A collection of poetry and prose entitled Afterglow was published posthumously in 1972. 

Warren passed away on October 5, 1970, in Cass, West Virginia. To learn more about this chalkboard champion, consult West Virginia Encyclopedia.

Acclaimed author Pat Conroy most relished his role as teacher

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Pat Conroy

Educator and author Pat Conroy

Sometimes in history a talented educator earns fame, fortune, and acclaim in the literary world. One teacher like this is Pat Conroy, considered by many the leading figure of Southern literature of the late 20th century. Pat Conroy is the author of two acclaimed novels: The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini. Both these novels have garnered Academy Awards as films. He also penned the successful novel The Lords of Discipline.

Donald Patrick Conroy was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 26, 1945. His father was a Marine Corps fighter pilot, and for this reason his family moved frequently. Pat once said he attended eleven different schools before his sophomore year. Also, he has often described his father as abusive and his childhood as traumatic.

As a college student, Pat attended The Citadel, an all-male military college in South Carolina. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in English in 1967. After earning his degree, Pat accepted a position as an English teacher at Beaufort High School in Beaufort, South Carolina. While there, he wrote his first novel, The Boo, which he self-published using money he borrowed from the bank.

After two years, Pat spent a year teaching at a two-room school on Daufuskie Island off the coast of South Carolina. There he worked to expand the horizons of his African American students, poorly-educated kids who spoke the Gullah dialect and had very little knowledge of the world beyond their island. Pat’s unorthodox instructional methods caused the superintendent of schools to fire him after just one year. Nevertheless, Pat relished his job as an educator. “There’s no word in the language I revere more than ‘teacher,'” Pat said in 1986. “My heart sings when a kid refers to me as his teacher, and it always has. I’ve honored myself and the entire family of man by becoming a teacher.”

This dedicated educator and outstanding author passed away from pancreatic cancer on March 4, 2016. He was 70 years old. He is interred at St. Helena Memorial Garden on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. To read the 2009 interview with Pat Conroy published by Low Country Weekly, click on The Power of Circles.

 

Alan Lawrence Sitomer: Nationally recognized educator, public speaker, and novelist

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Alan Lawrence Sitomer

Alan Lawrence Sitomer

You know, sometimes teachers make the best authors. One educator who proves this is true is high school English teacher Alan Lawrence Sitomer. Alan has earned a reputation nationally for his success in engaging reluctant readers and his aptitude as an engaging motivational speaker. He is also the celebrated author of children’s books, young adult fiction, and books about teaching pedagogy.

Born in 1967, Alan earned his Bachelor’s degree from University of Southern California, his teaching certificate through San Diego State University, and his Master’s degree from National University. He has taught English, creative writing, speech, debate, and AVID at Lynwood High School, an inner city school located in Lynwood, Los Angeles County, California. He has also worked as a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Alan’s published novels for kids include The Hoopster, Hip Hop High School, and Homeboyz. He has also authored Hip-Hop Poetry & the Classics, a text that is currently being used in classrooms throughout the United States to teach classic poetry through hip-hop. The approach is intended to engaged reluctant students in both poetry and academics. Other titles published by Alan are a teacher’s methodology book entitled Teaching Teens & Reaping Results: In a Wi-Fi, Hip-Hop, Where-Has-All-The-Sanityh-Gone World and The Alan Sitomer BookJam.

Recently, Alan has been working on a series of “BookJams.” These projects are designed to raise test scores by promoting his standards-based activities and lesson plans, hands-on learning projects, useful grading rubrics, differentiated assessments, and award-winning literature. See more about this at The Alan Sitomer BookJam.

This amazing teacher was named California Teacher of the Year by the California Board of Education in 2007. You can find his books on amazon.com and his website at www.alanlawrencesitomer.com.