Seventh grade students in Jane Elliott’s Language Arts class at Walnut Springs Middle School got to Skype live with NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. on January 24.
Walnut Springs Middle School Language Arts teacher Jane Elliott believes that leaders are readers. “Middle school students need to see adults read,” she says. “They need to understand that adults read for pleasure or information throughout their entire life. They don’t stop reading just because they no longer have a teacher asking them to read.” Elliott told her students that leaders are intelligent people and one way to gain intelligence is through reading. She calls the silent reading time in her classroom “Leadership Training.”
To prove her point, Elliott created a “Leaders Are Readers” program in all of her Language Arts classes this year. She sent letters and e-mails to more than 100 local, state and national leaders, asking them to come into her classroom and read to her students. The list of those who have taken her up on the offer and shown up in her classroom is impressive:
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Commander of Space Command Retired Four Star General Lance Lord
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CBS Analyst and NBA player Clark Kellogg
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Blue Jackets General Manager Scott Howson
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OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith and Assistant AD Heather Lyke
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Westerville Police Chief Joe Morbitzer
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Representative Anne Gonzales
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Columbus Crew Forward Aaron Schoenfeld
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EPA Environmental Administrator Terrie TerMeer
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Otterbein Athletic Director Dawn Stewart
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National BASS Fishing Club Advisor Gary Brusco
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Westerville Superintendent Dan Good
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University of Kansas Athlete Monte Cozzens; and
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Youth Minister Bev Pancoast
Last week, Elliott’s seventh grade students enjoyed a live Skype session with NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, Jr. Nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, retired Marine Corps Major General Bolden began his duties as the twelfth Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on July 17, 2009. He leads the NASA team and manages its resources to advance the agency’s missions and goals. His 34-year career with the Marine Corps included 14 years as a member of NASA’s Astronaut Office. He traveled to orbit four times aboard the space shuttle between 1986 and 1994, commanding two of the missions. His flights included deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope and the first joint U.S. – Russian shuttle mission, which featured a cosmonaut as a member of his crew. Bolden’s many military decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He was inducted in to the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in May 2006. And he values reading. So much, in fact, that he took time out of his busy schedule to Skype with sixth graders at Walnut Springs Middle School on the afternoon of January 24.
“This program, though time consuming to organize, has been wonderful,” reflects Elliott. “Each leader has had a positive impact on my students’ lives by emphasizing the importance of lifelong reading.”