"Explore, Experiment, Discover"

Barbara Morgan, Astronaut, Teacher in Space, NEA Member

Photo: NASA

Nearly twenty-two years ago, Barbara Morgan, NEA member and elementary school teacher from Boise, Idaho, was selected to train as back-up to her friend and colleague Christa McAuliffe—also an NEA member—NASA's pioneering Teacher in Space. On January 28, 1986, 78 seconds after launch, Space Shuttle Challenger's mission ended in a fiery explosion, and with it, the Teacher in Space program.

Morgan returned to the classroom but continued to work with NASA, and when the Teacher in Space initiative was revived in 1998, she entered the astronaut program full time, training at Johnson Space Center in Houston. After a delay following another Shuttle disaster—the explosion in 2003 of Space Shuttle Columbia—she is finally ready for launch.

On Wednesday evening, August 8th, Morgan departed for space as a full-fledged astronaut, crew member, and Education Mission Specialist on Space Shuttle Endeavor, mission STS-118. In addition to operating the Shuttle's robot arm during three planned space walks and helping to transfer cargo, she participated in an educational interactive video broadcast with students on Earth, as well as filmed "teachable moments" to be used post-flight in lesson plans.

During the 14-day mission, Morgan also had responsibility for 10 million basil seeds that were exposed to microgravity in on-board growth chambers. These seeds will then be distributed to K–12 schools on a first-come, first-served basis as part of NASA's Engineering Design Challenge that encourages students to develop their own designs for moon- or Mars-based plant growth chambers.

"There's a little bit of a metaphor there, it's really planting the seed to get them going," Morgan said of the student challenge. "It's getting something physical in their hand that they can go and do what we do—explore, experiment and discover."

NEA salutes Barbara Morgan, who exemplifies the qualities of dedication, courage, and perserverance that are hallmarks of those who choose the teaching profession, and wishes the entire crew of Space Shuttle Endeavor a successful and productive mission.

More Links

• Interview: "Ready to Fly," NEA Today, January 2001
• Interview: "Reach for the Stars," NEA Today, October 2002

Identical twins Adam and Clinton Seal have shared everything from a womb to a dorm room, but in September they began sharing something more—a work place.

Students at Challenger Elementary school in Everett, Washington, often have to stop and ask them, “Are you the real Mr. Seal?” Before Clinton joined Adam at Challenger Elementary, he substituted for his brother. On one day, as students began coming in, he pretended to be Adam, but some of them didn’t buy it, saying he didn’t have the typical wild spiky hair or untucked shirt. Although they may look very similar, Adam and Clinton have very different personalities in the classroom. Adam, is more outgoing and energetic.

Clinton describes himself as more reserved. Although they would prefer to teach the same grade level, the brothers wouldn’t change anything about choosing to work together.

“Having Adam at my school, I’m now able to see that he’s made the right choice in becoming a teacher,” says Clinton. “I get to see him now as a caring and responsible professional. I’m sure he sees me the same way.”

 —MELISSA KEY

Two Oregon members went up a mountain as teachers— and came down with national headlines heralding their return.

Just a few weeks after their rescue, Bryant, who trains and mentors special education teachers, and Hanlon, an English teacher, returned to the classroom.

“It was very emotional at first,” Bryant says. “I cried a lot when I saw friends and colleagues, realizing how much of an impact this incident had on so many people.”

The duo and Velvet spent time visiting classrooms, talking about mountain safety and the volunteers from Portland Mountain Rescue, whom Bryant calls “incredible.” Also incredible? Velvet, whom rescuers credit for helping save the climbers as she lay across them during the frigid night. The certified therapy dog, whom Bryant found wandering in the desert outside of Las Vegas on a hike years ago, will continue to work with students with behavioral issues. (She reinforces lessons on positive and negative behavior.) Bryant runs Velvet’s new Web site—www.missvelvet.net —detailing the Mount Hood trip and raising money for the search and rescue groups that helped bring him and Hanlon home.

—MELISSA KEY

A New Jersey retiree aids in the recovery of a war-torn nation, one student at a time.

The thought of teaching in a country ravaged by war would turn most stomachs, but it’s where retired history teacher Charles “Chuck” Reinhardt (New Jersey Retirees’ Education Association) feels in his element. Since 2001, the former Highland Lakes educator has been teaching sociology, American pop culture, ethics, and conflict resolution in Bosnia.

“It was just horrible, the ethnic cleansing that went on there,” Reinhardt says. “I wanted to help these people and prevent it from ever happening again.” His classes at Zavadovi´ci School blend Serbian, Croatian, and Muslim students in the hopes of stifling the hate and prejudice that claimed lives in the Bosnian War of the mid-1990s.

After teaching for 30 years in U.S. public schools, Reinhardt noticed major differences between American students and his Bosnian pupils. “After school there you sit down in the café, they sit down [and] converse, ask you questions,” he says. “There, socializing with your elders is acceptable, encouraged. You really get a good insight into the kids.”                           

 —NATALIE MCGILL

A California math teacher learns that rap is a quick way into his students’ memory banks.

When middle school students buy your music on iTunes, you know you’re cool. Alex Kajitani, of Mission Middle School in Escondido, might not be topping the radio charts, but he’s doing something potentially harder: making algebra cool for preteens. Kajitani says his rapping mathematician “was born out of survival,” at a time when he struggled to motivate students. “At the same time, I noticed a rap song would come out on the radio on Monday, and on Tuesday they’d have it all memorized.” He says his pupils probably considered him an unlikely candidate for local rap star status. But after he performed the first song one morning in class, he found them singing it later that day in the cafeteria.

His songs spread throughout the school district and he made a professional studio recording of his tracks. The CD has sold more than 1,000 copies across the United States, Canada, and Australia, and he’s performed at a dozen venues. Not all of the songs are about math; some focus on character development. Kajitani hopes his music spreads and that students will convert “gettin’ low” into getting math.

Find more information about his CD at www.mathraps.com.    

—NADINE SIMPSON

There’s no better way for this Ohio guidance counselor to relax than by winding up reeds.

A-tisket, a-tasket, not many guidance counselors weave baskets. But Carolyn Abbey of Wellington High School in Ohio “fell in love with the art” after seeing a basket a friend had made. “I have knitted, cross-stitched, done some physical activities,” she says, “and I have never done anything I’ve enjoyed more than this.”

Her hobby has put her in connection with fellow basket makers and instructors from all over the world, through weaving classes and conferences. Abbey teaches the occasional class, too, for middle school students, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, and even steel workers at a local plant. Some of her creations are small enough to be worn as necklaces and earrings, and others are so large, “you could probably sit down in one,” she says. Typically, Abbey uses reed and cane, although her favorite basket is a mixed media artwork made of reed, copper wire, and handmade paper. Delicate materials aside, the baskets are far from flimsy. “Unless something’s done to destroy them, they should last a person’s lifetime or even through generations,” she says.                 

—NADINE SIMPSON

It’s up hills and into caves—all while wearing a famous hat—for this Utah teacher.

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Every summer, Jody Kyburz used to hike through Utah’s Timpanogos Cave National Monument just for fun. But in the summer of 2001, the elementary school science teacher had an idea. “On my way down it suddenly hit me—maybe I should volunteer here,” she recalls. “So I did.”

The National Park Service assigned her to trail patrol, where she helped visitors and occasionally accompanied rangers on tours. She enjoyed volunteering so much that she applied to become a ranger. Since getting the job, she’s worked every summer since 2003, interpreting the cave for people “so that they can make sense of what they’re seeing.”

Last summer Kyburz took her fifth-grade students on a hike to the cave, a field trip she plans on repeating. “It’s one thing to show them videos and make them read articles about erosion or faults,” she says. “But when they actually see it and go ‘Oh, that’s what a fault is,’ that’s when they really get it.”

Students are also impressed to see her as a ranger, Kyburz says. “I think that rangers make excellent role models for children and more importantly, I think it opens their eyes to the fact that women can be rangers, too.” What else impresses them? “My uniform, the badge, and the Smokey the Bear hat.”

—MISHRI SOMESHWAR

From building a school to competing in ultra-marathons, this Alaska retiree
isn’t slowing down any time soon.

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After serving in two noble professions—firefighting and teaching—what do you do in retirement? Jerry Dixon, a former smokejumper who parachuted in to fight forest fires and a teacher of gifted students in Alaska, learned about a village in Afghanistan named Kak Ear Tak Jar. The Taliban had forced village residents to flee, and when they returned, there was no school to educate the village’s 150 children. Dixon decided to help build one, a mission that began by fundraising $18,000 and ended with the school’s November 2004 completion. “The school was built using local labor and materials, so the dollars went a much longer way,” Dixon, of NEA-Alaska/Retired, says.

The school is one of many projects that Dixon is working on. He has established 10 other endowments, including a philosophy lecturer position at his alma mater, the University of Utah. “I get a good idea, put up some money, and get some really smart people to put money in as well,” he says.

He’s also pursuing his passion for sports, ranging from skiing to ultra-marathons—races longer than 26 miles, frequently over harsh terrain. In 2004, he was the first person in 85 years to go from Seward, Alaska, to Yukon, Canada, in an ultra-marathon.

Dixon has no intention of slowing down. “I just keep living my dreams,” he says. “That keeps me going.”

—MISHRI SOMESHWAR

A Mississippi teacher goes from unhealthy to cover model.

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When Janene Campbell makes a resolution, she sticks with it. The teacher at Southwest Career and Technology Center in Memphis has the January 8 People magazine cover to prove it. Campbell was featured in the issue for her extraordinary achievement—losing more than 200 pounds since 2004. She now weighs 159 pounds—just nine away from her goal.

After her father died of heart failure at 62, the 371-pound Campbell knew she had to change her eating habits. In December 2004, she joined a national weight loss program and crafted a nutrition plan. Anything loaded with sugar—her weakness—was out, replaced by healthy meals and snacks.

Starting during the holiday was tough, but the break let her strategize how she would deal with job-related obstacles like the long hours and prevalence of snacks and vending machines. She began chasing her children around for exercise. “I feel better, my confidence is better,” says Campbell. “I can match my students’ energy.”

Even before the People cover, fellow staff and students sought her input in their own weight struggles. “I use my experience to teach students to work hard to reach their goals.”

This Connecticut educator sometimes floats through life, to his and his students’ delight.

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High school teacher Jim Benini has building hovercrafts down to a science. He and his principles of technology students at Parish Hill High School have built six working hovercrafts. Benini’s inspiration for the unique hobby-meets-lesson plan came from a 1990s issue of Popular Mechanics. The craft and instructions in the magazine were too complicated, but “I never forgot about it,” he says.

After a friend bought a hovercraft and gave him a lift in 2001, Benini knew it was time to try building one. The ride is “initially, a lot like flying a bar of soap over a frozen lake,” he says. “Your first time out is usually scary for the first minute or so, then you start to get a feel for how the craft handles. A few minutes after that you start to have so much fun you don’t want to head back to shore.” He says his students agree. “After their first ride, they also can’t wait to get back in and go again.”

The craft flies about six inches high, at up to 28 miles per hour. But the vehicles aren’t cheap or easy to build. Each hovercraft costs around $1,000 and construction typically takes 10 or 11 weeks, with more tinkering to follow. Last June, Benini and his students raced in the National Hoverally on Ohio’s Scioto River. “We plan to do the same this year,” he says.

—NADINE SIMPSON

March 2007

People

Comic Relief

Several NEA members are finding themselves in unique new roles: superhero and comic strip star.

For a group of dedicated, serious professionals, there’s an awful lot of funny business going on with NEA members around the country lately. Sixth-grade Cherry Hill, New Jersey, science teacher Hermann Hoffmann is hanging out with the Thing and Spiderman on the cover of Marvel Comics’ “Brain Drain!” special edition. The Oregonian’s new comic strip Adams’ Apples is penned by art and music specialist Jim Adams. And in Minnesota, the creator of the Schoolies and Mr. Woodhead comic strips is a social studies specialist.

Hermann Hoffman found his way into the ink after a student nominated him for “Superhero Teacher of the Year.” Rachel Benigno’s essay about Hoffmann’s classroom dedication and his work with the environment club and girls basketball team at Beck Middle School beat out 4,000 other entries in the Teachers Count/Office Max competition. Four other NEA members were finalists for superhero status: Mario Guerrero, Kathryn Pariseau, and Tony Pavlovich of California, and Karen Yingling of Ohio. In the comic, they battle Dr. Doom as he and his Doombots try to sap students’ minds. (To read the comic online, see http://www2.nea.org/mediafiles/neatoday/braindrain/braindrain.pdf.

“As an elementary school student I liked to read Batman and Superman and classic comic books,” says Hoffmann. “It’s just amazing to look and see that you’re on the cover of a Marvel comic book.” He says the likeness—created from photos he submitted after winning—is good. “Everybody who sees it says ‘That’s Mr. Hoffmann,’” he says. Now former students, fellow teachers, and family members from as far away as Germany congratulate Hoffmann on his superhero debut. “[They are] telling me it’s really neat to see teachers put in such a good light,” he says.

It’s a similar, but funnier, spin that Jim Adams puts on the school, students, teachers, and support professionals who appear in his Adams’ Apples comic strip. “Like most teachers, I found frustrations in the job and I had to put them somewhere,” he says. “It’s therapy.” Finding material is easy. “It’s like picking fruit every time I walk into the classroom.” Many of his strips are inspired by exchanges with the 400 or so students he sees weekly in his art and music classes at Marshall Elementary in Vancouver, Washington.

Like Hoffmann, Adams made it into print as the result of a contest. At the urging of his father, when The Oregonian asked for new comic submissions, Adams sent in the handful of strips he’d drawn. Until then, his only audience had been his peers in the staff lounge. When the newspaper’s editors asked readers to vote for comic strips to be added to the paper, 25 percent of the vote went to Adams’ Apples—enough to vault it into second place, behind a formidable opponent: classic Peanuts strips.

In his classroom, Adams has students create their own cartoons. The public success of Adams’ Apples has been a boost, and he hopes to see the strip syndicated in the upcoming year.

Seeing much of their own careers is what resonates with readers of John Woods’ comic strips Schoolies and Mr. Woodhead and his monthly humor newsletter Learning Laffs. A recent issue of the newsletter—which chronicles the fictional Fuddle River School District—featured a list of approved esoteric educational jargon, including “assessmentalizing” and “whatsoeverables” and such banned terms as “learning” and “teaching.”

“Most of the humor is for teachers,” he says, “not for students or for parents.” Woods—a social studies curriculum specialist in Minneapolis—refers to the comic strips as therapy. “Humor is so important, especially when you’re doing work that’s really important,” he says. “You have to find things to laugh at. You have to find the silliness, just for mental health.”

—NATALIE McGILL

February 2007

People

Love Fest

This Indiana teacher knows the quickest way to students’ (and a special lady’s) minds can be through their hearts

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Marty Irwin can honestly say he’s written the book on love. Irwin, a guidance counselor at Greene Intermediate School in Indiana, has had two books of poetry published: Words from Within and The Celestine Poet: A Journey of Love. His gift for verse blossomed as a child in the south side of Chicago. “A lot of kids teased me about writing poetry but I really enjoyed doing it. I always dreamed that I’d write a book of poetry someday,” Irwin says.

Back in 1978, when Irwin was first dating his wife Jacinta, he decided to write her a poem for  her birthday. The following year he wrote her another poem for her birthday, using techniques he learned in a poetry writing class. “The second poem was so much better,” he admits. “So much so that she told me ‘I’d much prefer a poem for my birthday rather than spending a lot of money to buy me something.’” So every July 3, Irwin gives his wife a poem for her birthday.

This time of year, Irwin catches our eye for his melding of his passion with the pen and his work in schools. He’s been a guest speaker in a number of classes to talk to students about writing poetry, and sees it as a tool to get them to get in touch with their inner selves. “It’s a good way of letting out bad and good feelings.” Irwin has also organized an event called “Love Fest” on Valentine’s Day. Students either recite a poem or sing a song. “The idea was for them to express something that promoted unity, love, and brotherhood, in other words, something positive and uplifting,” he says. “With poetry, when students saw that I was willing to step up, share personal things and step out of my comfort zone, some of them were willing to do the same.”

  —Mishri Someshwar

February 2007

People

A Beard With a Message 

In Washington state, an educator makes national news with his unusual refusal to shave.

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Washington state teacher Gary Weddle says he won’t shave until suspected 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden is captured. He was so glued to TV in that first week following the attacks that he simply didn’t shave. Now it’s become a personal cause. Although he didn’t lose anyone on 9/11, Weddle says he empathizes with victims’ families.

At the start of every year at Ephrata Middle School, Weddle explains the beard to his students. “I tell them that I just look scary, but I’m the same nice guy inside. I want them to know that the world is more connected than we realize.”

Weddle says that he has not faced any opposition from the school administration. “In fact, everyone has been very nice and supportive about this,” he says.

Although it has been more than five years, he has no intention of shaving prematurely. “I’m tired of the beard, but I’m not tempted to cut it.”

 —Mishri Someshwar

February 2007

People

Patience, Grasshopper

Pennsylvania music teacher-turned-treasure hunter helps locate a $50,000 antique jewel in a nationwide search.

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It was a fairy tale ending for Fred Pacolitch, courtesy of a best-selling fairy tale book. The music teacher from Hanover Middle School in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, found one of 12 jewels hidden around the country as part of a nationwide treasure hunt associated with the popular children’s book, A Treasure’s Trove. The book, written by former banking software entrepreneur Michael Stadther, tells the story of a forest whose creatures are crystallized each night by a mysterious cloud of dust.

Clues to the jewels’ locations are woven into the pages, meaning that kids aren’t the only ones studying the whimsical illustrations and text closely. Adult devotees like Pacolitch account for many of the 400,000 copies sold and its former spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Pacolitch’s search took him from the William Penn statue in Philadelphia to New York City, hoping to find the tokens for the jewels Stadther hid in a cross-country trip in 2004. 

Last summer, the teacher and a New Jersey couple he’d traded clues with in an online forum about the book found the $50,000 grasshopper jewel’s token nestled in the notch of a dogwood tree in Poughkeepsie, New York. Stadther later presented them with the actual jewel—a 19th-century piece set with 85 green demantoid garnets and 25 diamonds. Once the contest officially concludes, they can sell it and split the proceeds.

For more on the treasure hunt, including a free, downloadable teachers guide with classroom activities, head to www.atreasurestrove.com for English, social studies, math, science, art and music classes

February 2007

People

A Historical Landmarker

A former World War II Japanese internment camp is now a designated historic site, thanks to a Colorado teacher.

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 What was once a symbol of oppression and hatred is now one of reflection, thanks to the efforts of social studies teacher John Hopper and his Granada High School students. The Amache Japanese internment camp was one of 10 U.S. government holding facilities for Japanese-American citizens forced from their homes after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Hopper knew of the camp since childhood because his mother used to work for a woman forced to live there. After first assigning his students 16 years ago to interview those held there, he realized both he and his students had much more to learn about its history. “What was more interesting was when I got more into it and listened to more experiences,” Hopper says. “I felt deeply moved.” The more firsthand accounts Hopper heard, the more he wanted to advocate for the movement to make Amache a National Historic Landmark.

Hopper created Granada High School’s Amache Preservation Society, where he and his students wrote letters to Colorado congressional members. With their backing and the support of the National Park Service, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and other local organizations, Amache was finally dedicated as a National Historic Landmark last year. “It’s an extremely important lesson to be learned about American citizens losing their rights in this country,” Hopper says.

Granada High now even offers an elective course on Amache’s preservation, and students travel across the region to speak about the camp.                         

 —Natalie McGill

February 2007

People

Stocking the Shelves

An Alabama retired member turns a new page for one community of book lovers.

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Jimmie Felder grew up with a rich supply of stories. She was one of seven children, the daughter of a substitute teacher and a blacksmith. “At night,” she recalls, “we used to pull the mattress off a bed and sit on it, and one of us would tell a story that they had read in school. That way, we all got to hear six stories every week that we had not read.”

She also read anything she could get her hands on and was promoted from the second grade after just two weeks because she could already read all the second-grade books.

That was in the days before school desegregation came to her home town of Hayneville in rural Lowndes County, Alabama. There was a White school four blocks away, but she and her siblings walked a mile to the Black school and had to stay home whenever heavy rains flooded a bridge on the way. For high school, she had to move in with relatives in Montgomery, some 25 miles away.

Felder went on to college and became an English teacher and high school librarian in Montgomery. When she retired in 1990, she persuaded the Lowndes County commissioners to commit the resources needed for a public library.

A retired member of the Alabama Education Association, Felder is still guiding the development of the library, where children enjoy and learn from stories like those she read and heard growing up. The library boasts 22,000 volumes. Felder earns a small salary as director, “but I put it all back buying books. If a college student comes in and needs a book we don’t have, I just call a bookstore and buy it.”

Ironically, the library is across the street from the formerly all-White school, now predominantly African-American, that she couldn’t attend as a child.                            

 —Alain Jehlen

Just being a mom has landed this California high school teacher in the newspapers.

Finally, those extra-long twin beds, ubiquitous in college dorms, will be put to good use. Deborah Ledford’s twin sons Brook and Robin Lopez are 7-foot freshmen basketball players attending Stanford on full scholarships this year. Even if you’re not a basketball fan, you’ll likely see these guys by the time March Madness rolls around. (Brook suffered a herniated disk last summer but was expected to recover by tournament season.) Says USA Today in its pre-season report: “The Lopez twins will be excellent.”

To hear mom—herself a 6-foot-plus Stanford alum—tell it, there’s nothing unusual about raising twin basketball stars and two other boys as a single parent while teaching high school math and German.

“I don’t consider what I do special,” says Ledford. “It’s normal. Millions of other parents are providing opportunities and good values, bringing their kids to sports, museums, national parks.”

Now that Ledford is done reading bedtime stories, playing math and geography games, and managing the intense sports scheduling for her sons, she plans to take road trips in Canada and Europe. And of course to Stanford. “I’m going to see as many of my boys’ basketball games as I can.”                 

 —REBECCA l. WEBER

January 2007

People

Rocket Man

He soars through the air with the greatest of ease, he’s a teacher released from the force of the g’s.

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When offered the rare chance to experience the feeling of being weightless in space, Virginia high school teacher Alex Turner (shown upside down) seized the opportunity. Last fall, about 240 lucky fliers from in and around Washington, D.C.; Huntsville, Alabama; San Diego; and Cleveland boarded specially modified Boeing 727s for Northrop Grumman’s inaugural Weightless Flights of Discovery program.

Designed to get educators excited about teaching science or touting science careers, the program included pre-flight workshops in which they crafted experiments for the flight. Then came the main event: Following the path of a parabola—think of an upside-down U—the flying educators became weightless for approximately 25 seconds at a time. The aircraft rose and fell 15 times over two hours.

Turner teaches government at Reston, Virginia’s, South Lakes High School. Because he volunteers at the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in nearby Chantilly, Virginia, program organizers thought he was a natural for the trip. His experiment required fastening a clear plastic bag filled with materials to the side of the aircraft and filming its movement amid intense 1.8 g-forces and during weightlessness.

“When you went weightless, you didn’t realize it until there was no floor below you,” Turner chuckles. “When I stood up, it was more than enough force to bounce my head against the ceiling.” 

—NATALIE McGILL

January 2007

People

Entrepreneurial ESP 

This Missouri warehouse employee knows a thing or two (or 3,000) about sales. Just ask him about the wedding dresses.

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At a Kansas City clothing boutique liquidation sale a few years ago, John Stamp had an epiphany. He was there to buy the defunct store’s shelving, but they were also selling $3,000 wedding dresses for a few hundred dollars. “I decided to buy a couple of hundred dresses,” he says. He sold them out of his house for a profit. “Two years later, people still knock on my door asking if I have more dresses,” he says.

Although that was his most unique salvage-turned-sale, it was not the first such experience for Stamp, a school district warehouse employee. He began when he was 13. “There’s something so exciting about taking things that are undervalued and reselling them to people who want them,” he says. He has sold everything from tools to lingerie, and used the money to repair his car and pay for his children’s college education. 

Stamp’s salvaging philosophy is to keep it small. “I’d rather sell 10,000 roller springs to some painters I know than hold out and sell them on a larger market, like eBay.” Although it’s a fun hobby, Stamp says that he has no plans to turn salvaging into a full-time job. “It’s a tough way to make a living, and I’m just having more fun this way.”                        

 —MISHRI SOMESHWAR

January 2007

People

Where in the World Is Joan Price?

The itinerary: 23 cities, 12 countries, and six continents—all in only five months.

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While teaching, Joan Price knew it was important to expose her special education students to different cultures and lands, so she took her third-graders at Ohio’s C.R. Coblentz School on virtual trips around the world with international literature, food, and art projects. Once she retired, Price (Ohio Education Association-Retired, shown at right) and fellow teacher Bev Bartczak decided to put that theory into practice, visiting the countries they had been teaching about for years.

“We both love to travel and experience other cultures, and we wanted to stay connected with children after our retirement at the end of the past school year,” Price says. The two designed a Web site where students can follow their journey, which took six months to plan. “The rule was to travel in one direction and to cross each ocean only once,” Price says. “We chose places where we had teacher contacts, places that sounded interesting or exotic, and places we had visited and wished to see more of.”

Their journey kicked off in Italy. Eleven other countries followed in quick succession, including India, Australia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Tibet, and Tahiti. Homecoming is planned for January 29 in Cleveland.

And it wasn’t enough to just buy plane tickets for those far-flung locales. Price and Bartczak also had to plan the itinerary within each country. Eschewing large tours, they opted instead for staying in homes and private tours. They’re also mixing in school visits in Uganda, Egypt, China, Vietnam, and Peru, among others. An Italian primary school was their first visit. “It was very small—one teacher, 10 students,” Price says. “The teacher spoke no English, but showed us a very basic classroom and well-equipped computer lab.”

As they travel, they’re e-mailing stories and photos back to their former Sandusky, Ohio, school district, where staff upload them to their travel diary Web site. It has classroom resources, including historical and geographical information, a video of dancing students in Uganda, and activities to help students learn about each country. Check it out here!  

—MISHRI SOMESHWAR

January 2007

People

Mom Helps Twin Stars Shine

Just being a mom has landed this California high school teacher in the newspapers.

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Finally, those extra-long twin beds, ubiquitous in college dorms, will be put to good use. Deborah Ledford’s twin sons Brook and Robin Lopez are 7-foot freshmen basketball players attending Stanford on full scholarships this year. Even if you’re not a basketball fan, you’ll likely see these guys by the time March Madness rolls around. (Brook suffered a herniated disk last summer but was expected to recover by tournament season.) Says USA Today in its pre-season report: “The Lopez twins will be excellent.”

To hear mom—herself a 6-foot-plus Stanford alum—tell it, there’s nothing unusual about raising twin basketball stars and two other boys as a single parent while teaching high school math and German.

“I don’t consider what I do special,” says Ledford. “It’s normal. Millions of other parents are providing opportunities and good values, bringing their kids to sports, museums, national parks.”

Now that Ledford is done reading bedtime stories, playing math and geography games, and managing the intense sports scheduling for her sons, she plans to take road trips in Canada and Europe. And of course to Stanford. “I’m going to see as many of my boys’ basketball games as I can.”                 

 —REBECCA l. WEBER

January 2007

People

Crowning Achievement

NEA student member to take a shot at the Miss America title in January

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When the Miss America Pageant airs this month, the hand-off of the crown could also signal the back-to-back coronations of NEA student members. Amanda Kozak, 22, was crowned Miss Georgia in June, making her eligible to strut her stuff in this year’s Super Bowl of scholarship pageants. The reigning Miss America, Jennifer Berry, is a University of Oklahoma elementary education major and NEA student member.

Kozak, a Warner Robins, Georgia, native, graduated last year from Valdosta State University with a degree in early childhood education. But fame and glamour weren’t the driving forces behind entering the pageant. “It started with scholarship money,” Kozak says. “I worked my way through school and I needed financial help. I’ve received more than $30,000 and that’s not even counting awards I’ve received.”

Raised by a single mother who recently retired from the military, Kozak bounced from city to city during childhood. That prepared Kozak for frequent travels associated with pageants. “In a typical week I may be in Valdosta one day speaking to three schools, and the next day in Atlanta at a NASCAR event, then it’s on to my trainer in Vienna (Georgia),” Kozak says. She’s also been a Big Brothers Big Sisters mentor for the past five years. Even with new pageant responsibilities, she still finds time to keep in touch with her little sister. “I think sometimes you want to make sure you’re doing something for someone else in life, and the sure way to do it is to help a child,” Kozak says. “Everyone has their calling, and teaching is my calling,” Kozak says. “I just think it’s made for me.”

Update: Amanda wowed the judges with her talent at tap dancing and placed second runner up.

—Natalie McGill

The 2007 Miss America Pageant airs January 29 on CMT.

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He Will (Try To) Survive

Rattlesnakes? 220-mile runs? That's nothing for Bruce Kanegai, who has been outwitting, outlasting, and outplaying on CBS' hit show.

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Bruce Kanegai on the set of CBS' reality television series, "Survivor." —photo by MONTY BRINTON/CBS Copyright 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved

Thirty-nine trips to the emergency room and appearances on television shows titled Worst Case Scenario and It’s a Miracle should have proven that Bruce Kanegai, 58, is a survivor. But he recently set out to claim that exact title on the popular reality show, Survivor: Panama—Exile Island.

Aside from his numerous brushes with death (including a bite from a four-and-a-half-foot rattlesnake), Kanegai has also survived the classroom for the past 34 years as a visual arts teacher at Simi Valley High School in California. As a student, “I didn’t enjoy high school and I thought education should be more enjoyable and inspiring,” Kanegai says. “I thought I could do better and touch young people’s lives.”

Armed with a black belt, Kanegai has instructed more than 7,000 students in the art of karate, and he is writing a book about American Shotokan Karate. He’s set the record for running the 220-mile John Muir Trail from Mount Whitney to Yosemite National Park.

Throughout his childhood, “I was no athlete,” Kanegai says. “I was always the smallest person in my class [and] the last one picked.” High school friend Steve Becker calls him “a giant man packed into a little guy’s body. He’s got this warrior spirit.” Although he is the oldest participant on Survivor this season, his physical condition and competitive spirit made him a contender.

No word by the time this went to press if Kanegai had been exiled or was in it for the long haul. And his CBS contract keeps him mum on his Panama adventure. But he did hint that he has a secret weapon: the support of his wife, also a teacher, who’s endured all 39 emergency room trips since they met 28 years ago.        

—CAITLIN HICKEY

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Climb Every Mountain

Colorado teacher Matt Tredway heads to the top of the world and plans to do a little research while he's there.

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Matt Tredway braves an icy climb. —photo by ROB GRANTHAM/VINCENT PHOTOGRAPHY

Ever wish you could get away from it all? This month, Tredway, a Steamboat Springs High School science and math teacher, will take a leave of absence and mount an intense vertical journey up the south face of Mt. Everest in Nepal—a climb of 29,035 feet. (And you thought your stack of assessment tests was high.)

Tredway began climbing as a boy. By the time he was in high school, he had scaled many of Colorado’s highest peaks. In the early 1980s, he became an instructor, specializing in climbing, backpacking, and winter mountaineering. Tredway translated his enthusiasm for climbing into teaching outside of the classroom, too, founding and directing Everything Outdoors Steamboat, an outdoor education and recreation program.

After a roughly 23-hour flight to Kathmandu, Tredway and the five other members of his team will begin a week-long hike to Mt. Everest’s base camp. They plan to make various climbs and descents to base camp at first. Then, May 8–13, they’ll attempt one of the most coveted climbing goals among extreme athletes: Mt. Everest’s summit. Hypoxia and unpredictable weather—common impediments to extreme altitude climbing—will be constant worries.

While on the mountain, Tredway and his teammates will research the effects of high altitude on the blood, in collaboration with the University of Alabama School of Medicine. They are also using the climb to raise money for the American Lung Association.

Follow along with Tredway and his team , as they plan to share written and audio dispatches and photos from the Mt. Everest climb.          

—JEANNE BEYER

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Back for the Future

Mark Armato of Missouri brings history to life for his audiences one costume change at a time.

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Mark Armato leads his eighth-grade social studies class —photo by MARK TADE/GAZETTE COMMUNICATIONS

On an ordinary day, Armato heads into his eighth-grade social studies class, takes roll, and begins the lesson. But on special days he doesn’t show up to class at all. A substitute in an oversized buckle belt, jacket, and wide-brimmed cowboy hat evocative of the 1800s does. Jesse James, the infamous outlaw, is taking over for the period. “I understand folks can’t make up their minds about me,” says James, and for the next half-hour a different teacher and a different history class are under way.

Armato is a 26-year veteran of the Maple Park Middle School in Kansas City, Missouri. When he’s not teaching history, he’s acting it out, at school and in the community.

An advertisement calling for Civil War re-enactors first drew his interest in the 1970s. "[I've] always been a history buff," Armato says, before confessing, "I guess I'd be what you call a Civil War nerd." He's amassed a period clothing and memorabilia collection worth thousands. Civil War photographer Mathew Brady, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere are among his most popular roles. It's not just about the clothes, either; Armato uses historically accurate speeches and motivations to breathe life into the figures.

Would he like to live in the past? "I'd really like to visit but not to live," says Armato. "I enjoy modern life."

—ALAN McCOMBS

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Digital Grandma, Version 6.6

Iowa retiree Susan Wakefield can talk technology and teach it to her peers, too.

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Susan Wakefield at a computer station with friends. —photo by MARK TADE/GAZETTE COMMUNICATIONS

Susan Wakefield is not the kind of senior citizen who has to ask her grandchildren for help programming her VCR. In fact, she teaches people how to use far more sophisticated equipment.

The 66-year-old Wakefield (below at right), first became interested in video and television production toward the end of her career as an elementary language arts teacher.

“I’d had some experience videotaping classroom lessons, and I learned that a local cable company could provide the equipment and training so we could make and broadcast student productions,” says Wakefield, a member of the NEA/ISEA-Retired Program. She pursued the idea and quickly caught the video bug—earning money in retirement by videotaping weddings and producing a professional video on warehouse safety.

Three years ago, Wakefield got involved with the Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center, which operates its own TV studio, Senior Center TV. Assisted by graduate students from the University of Iowa, volunteers learn every aspect of television production and create their own programs, which air on local cable and cover everything from studio interviews to videotaped shows of the senior center’s band and choir. Sometimes Wakefield does the teaching.

“I love the variety of work,” says Wakefield. “Most of all, I love watching our TV staff volunteers active in something that allows them to age creatively.”

—MATT SIMON