Tag Archives: Veterans

Teacher and Revolutionary War hero Timothy Bloodworth

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Timothy BLoodworth

Teacher and Revolutionary War hero Timothy Bloodworth


Chalkboard Champions have been as much a part of American life as any other hero since the very beginnings of our country’s history. One such historical figure was North Carolina educator, patriot, and statesman Timothy Bloodworth.
 
Timothy was born in New Hanover County, North Carolina, in 1736. He was named after his father, who had migrated to North Carolina from Virginia in the early 1700’s. As a young man, Timothy had little formal education, but he pursued a variety of careers.  Although  he spent most of his adulthood before the Revolutionary War as a teacher, he also farmed, kept a tavern, operated a ferry, practiced medicine, and preached occasionally. He also worked as a wheelwright and watchmaker, but he was probably best known as a blacksmith.
 
This talented educator eventually emerged as a leader in the movement for independence from Great Britain. When war broke out in 1776, Timothy began making weapons such as muskets and bayonets for the Continental Army. According to legend, he even saw combat as a sniper in fighting around Wilmington, North Carolina.
 
In 1778 and 1779, he served as a member of the state legislature for North Carolina. After the war ended, he held a number of political posts until serving as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1786. Timothy was elected a member of the House of Representatives of the First United States Congress, a position he held from 1790 to 1791. After his tenure in the House ended, he returned to the North Carolina State Legislature. In 1794, Timothy was elected to the United States Senate, where he served from 1795 to 1801. From then until 1807, this chalkboard champion served as collector of customs in Wilmington.
 
Timothy Bloodworth passed away on August 24, 1814. During World War II, the liberty ship SS Timothy Bloodworth was named in his honor.

 

History teacher and US Air Force veteran Darrell Jones

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Darrell Jones

Teacher and US Air Force veteran Darrell Jones as seen on his tour of duty in Kirkuk, Iraq, in 2006. 

On one special day in November, the entire country pauses to express appreciation to our nation’s heroic veterans for all they have done, including laying their lives on the line, to protect our American freedoms. One such veteran is Darrell Jones, a middle school history teacher in Mississippi.

As a younger man, Darrell served in the United States Air Force for 20 years. On active duty from 1991 to 2011, he was deployed over two dozen times, including stints in war-torn Iraq. During his years of service, the now-retired Technical Sergeant worked as a crew chief and as an aircraft mechanic.

Darrell grew up in Buffalo, New York. After he graduated high school in 1988, he enrolled in college, where he completed three years of study. He interrupted his studies to join the military, but once he retired from the Air Force in 2011, he used his GI benefits to complete his degree. He earned his Bachelor’s in Secondary Education from Mississippi State University in 2014.

This valiant veteran now works as a 7th grade history teacher at Armstrong Middle School in Starkville, Mississippi. “People ask me all the time why I became a teacher after working hard in the military for 20 years,” says Darrell. “I say…I want to continue to serve my country and take care of our children.” He is as dedicated to his work with students as he was to his work in the military. “My goal is to show my students the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day, without taking the joy away from the holiday,” asserts Darrell. “I want them to remember we can honor those who have given their lives for our country and appreciate what they have done while also cherishing the fact that we get to spend the day with friends and family.”

Here is the American hero and Chalkboard Champion with some of his kids. Thank you for all your service, Darrell!

Teacher and US Air Force veteran Darrell Jones here with some of his students.

Educator and US Army veteran Brian Thompson of Washington, DC

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Brian Thompson

Educator and US Army veteran Brian Thompson of Washington, DC

There are many heroic servicemen and women who are now serving our students in classrooms. One of these is Brian Thompson, a high school social studies educator from Washington, DC.

Brian earned his Bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication and Rhetoric from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. He completed the requirements for his Master’s degree in Secondary Education and Teaching from American University in 2011.

But before he became a teacher, Brian was a member of the US Army. During his sting as a serviceman, he was stationed for 13 months along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border in 2007 and 2008. While there, he was in charge of a mortar squad with the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. As the story goes, one day Brian received a care package from his mother. Inside was a paperback copy of Teacher Man, the third in a series of memoirs by Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes. “You would make a terrific teacher, just like Mr. McCourt,” Brian’s mother wrote inside the book, “Especially making kids laugh with that sarcastic humor.”

Since 2009, Brian has taught history at Cardozo High School in Washington, DC. Cardozo is a combined middle and high school in northwest Washington, DC, in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. He taught there five years.

In 2014, Brian was hired as a leader of the Military Affairs Team at the US Department of Education. There he works as an advocate for service members, military-connected students, veterans, and their families. He coordinates the Department’s internal and external efforts to address their needs and fosters access to high-quality and affordable educational programs and services.

Brian Thompson: a true Chalkboard Champion.

 

Veteran Heatheranne Bozeman continues to serve as a teacher

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What does a committed and hardworking veteran do once their military career has concluded? With the assistance of Troops to Teachers (TTT), they can continue their years of service as a classroom teacher, like retired US Army Captain Heatheranne Bozeman. She is a strong believer in Troops to Teachers, because she has personally benefited from the program. After she concluded her military service, the program helped her prepare for and gain a job as an educator. She retired as a military police officer in 2012, and now works as a television production instructor at Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola, Florida.

“I’m that person when I was in uniform and they would thank me for my service, it just seemed like ‘No way, I’m so grateful for the military and for the service they gave me’ and it’s kind of the same with teaching,” confesses Heatheranne. “They’re the ones (the students) that keep teaching and growing me. So, if you look at your time in the military as what it’s brought to you, then teaching is gonna be the same way,” she continues.

To learn more about Troops to Teachers, click on https://proudtoserveagain.com/. To learn more about Heatheranne, view the video below:

Colonel Francis Wayland Parker: Educator and Civil War Veteran

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Francis Wayland Parker

Colonel Francis Wayland Parker: Educator and Civil War Veteran

At the turn of the of the 20th century, one of the most celebrated pioneers of the progressive movement in education was Colonel Francis Wayland Parker.

In a time when modern ideas were not popular, this innovative educator promoted a philosophy that education should not emphasize standardization, rote memorization, and isolated drill. Rather, he advocated a curriculum that addressed the development of the whole student, including the child’s intellectual, physical, and moral growth. He created a model program that was strong on language development and geared towards teaching students to think and make decisions independently. Today we would recognize his strategies as teaching critical thinking skills and creative problem-solving.

Francis Parker was born on October 9, 1837, in Bedford, New Hampshire. At the tender age of 16 he became the village teacher, and when the Civil War broke out seven years later, this young educator enlisted as a private in the 4th New Hampshire Volunteer Army. It wasn’t long before he was promoted to lieutenant, then to lieutenant colonel, and then to commander. In May, 1865, Colonel Parker was captured by Confederate forces and held as a prisoner of war in North Carolina.

When the war was over, this Civil War veteran resumed his teaching career, first as a teacher, and then as a principal. In 1872, the continuously evolving educator traveled to Germany to study pedagogy at the Humboldt University of Berlin. When he returned, he became the coordinator of a highly-acclaimed teacher-training institution In Chicago, Illinois.

Colonel Parker is an American hero in so many ways, and is undoubtedly a chalkboard champion in the truest sense of the word. You can read more about this remarkable historical figure in my second book, Chalkboard Heroes: Twelve Courageous Teachers and Their Deeds of Valor, available from amazon.