Recognizing Extraordinary Teachers

It’s not easy being a teacher, but they are vital to our society at large. We should really thank our teachers every day, but, in case you forget, you can take advantage of Teacher Appreciation Week coming up May 4 – 10. To honor the occasion, btw would like to highlight the notable accomplishments of just a few of our finest educators.

Out of This World 

In 1984, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) created the “Teacher in Space” program. More than 11,000 educators applied for the chance to be a crew member on the Shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986.

• Christa McAuliffe, a middle school history teacher from Maryland, was chosen after a rigorous interview and testing period and became the first private citizen passenger in the history of space flight. She had prepared a lesson to be broadcast from space and was said to have called the mission, “the ultimate field trip.”

• Barbara Morgan, an elementary school teacher from Idaho, was the backup candidate. She trained with McAuliffe at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. After the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, Morgan continued to work with NASA as a consultant and, in 1998, became a full-time astronaut.

NASA continued its focus on education with the Educator Astronaut Project in the 1990s.

Life Changers

• Anne Sullivan was just twenty years old when she went to work for the Keller family as a governess to their deaf and blind seven year-old daughter Helen. Over the years, Sullivan taught the unruly and socially isolated child to communicate by spelling out words in Helen’s palm. Both Sullivan and Keller went on to earn college educations and spent their lives writing, giving lectures and earning awards and accolades for their work with the seeing and hearing impaired.

• Temple Grandin is a Ph.D. and college professor who has autism. Her insights into how she perceives the world have made her a well-respected advocate for both animal rights and those with autism. She has written a number of best-selling books, many of them aimed at helping people better understand the disorder. 

These women have had movies made about their lives and work. Check them out and see what you think.

Community Builders

While there are a lot of passionate and talented educators out there dedicated to helping impoverished children gain access to a quality education, few have been as successful as these two.

• Geoffrey Canada is the head of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), a nonprofit organization in New York City that provides a wide-range of both educational and social services to more than 12,000 children living within 97-blocks of the Harlem neighborhood. Canada started HCZ in 1990 because he was both upset by the crack cocaine epidemic and frustrated by the failure of traditional social programs. He has been credited for major reforms in the area, including higher test scores, lower drop-out rates and the fact that several participants went on to enroll in college.

• Michelle Rhee runs her own nonprofit organization called StudentsFirst. After graduating from college, she taught for three years through the the Teach for America corps in a low-performing class in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1997, she founded the New Teacher Project that trained teachers to be better equipped for urban school districts. Ten years later, Rhees was made chancellor of the Washington DC board of education where she has been both hailed and highly criticized for her bold reform decisions (including closing schools, firing principals and adding new programs).

Canada and Rhee were both featured in the film, Waiting for Superman. Check it out.

What Do You Think? What do you think it takes to be an extraordinary teacher? Why do you think the biggest challenges are facing educators today? Discuss your answers with your classmates.