National Teachers Hall of Fame
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NATIONAL TEACHERS HALL OF FAME

1997 INDUCTEES

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larry baran

Overland Park, KS | YEARS TAUGHT: 1970 - Present

Larry has been a classroom teacher for a quarter of a century. His goal is to make his students life-long learners by teaching survival academics during the teachable moments of job skills training. Baran has produced champions among his disabled students by getting those special education students involved in production of materials for many national events including presidential inaugurations, remembrances of Pearl Harbor and Desert Storm. Larry Baran is nicknamed Captain Rainbow because he has been able to achieve the impossible for himself and his students. He exemplifies his simple philosophy that “The Impossible Dream Isn’t” to all those people whose lives he’s touched through his many years of teaching and involvement with the community.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 2008      The Diamond Award – Secretary of Veterans Affairs
  • 2008      The Department of the Army Commanders Award for Public Service – Arlington
    ​                National Cemetery
  • 1997      The George Washington Honor Medal – Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge
  • 1996      The Readers Digest American Heroes in Education
  • 1996      The Golden Apple Teacher Award – Golden Apple Foundation of Chicago
  • 1996      Dr. Dresser Cancer Award
  • 1996      Clinton Presidential Visit
  • 1995      Pentagon recognition WWII Anniversary
  • 1995      Marine Corp Recognition Iowa Jima 50th Anniversary
  • 1994-1995      Subject of Pentagon Documentary film
  • 1995      American Heroes in Education by Readers Digest
  • 1995      Chicagoland Metropolitan Area Golden Apple Teacher of the Year Award
  • 1994      American Horticultural Society Award
  • 1993      Valley Forge Freedoms Foundation
  • 1991      President Bush Points of Light
  • 1989      VP Quayle Visit
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robert bruesch

Buhler, KS | YEARS TAUGHT: 1966 - Present

In 1974, Robert organized KIDPOWER (Kids Interested in Diligently Preserving Our World’s Environmental Resources), an outdoor education program which culminated in a free four-day campout for sixth graders and which earned the State Environmental Merit Award three times. In response to the Los Angeles riots, Bruesch wrote The Shape of Things to Come, an anti-gang and graffiti musical that also promoted student community service. Bruesch organized the Rosemead Boys and Girls Club out of his garage until the school district offered a room in 1981. He raises $5,000 annually for the club, has served as its president for 10 years, and personally took almost 500 boys and girls to summer camp in the High Sierras free of charge. And Bruesch established the Rosemead Organization in Support of Youth (ROSY) which buys computers students whose families cannot afford them and which awards grants to teachers to start community service programs with students.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 2002-Present      National League of Cities Taskforce on Children, Families and Education
  • 2002      PTA Honorary Life Service Award
  • 2000      National Child Labor Committee’s Lewis Hine National Friend of Youth Award
  • 1999      Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award
  • 1992      Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award
  • 1992      State Teacher of the Year semifinalist
  • 1992      Elected to city council
  • 1988      Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award
  • 1988      Elected to city council
  • 1985      UCLA Summer Study Grant
  • 1984      Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award
  • 1984      PTA Life Membership Award
  • 1984      Elected to city council
  • 1983      UCLA Summer Study Grant
  • 1982      UCLA Summer Study Grant
  • 1977      Optimist Man of the Year
  • 1975      Optimist Man of the Year
  • 1975      PTA Life Membership Award
  • 1974      ​Optimist Man of the Year
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thomas fallon

blackwood, nj  | Years Taught: 1977 - Present

Thomas and his students have preserved precious records and fostered an awakening in the community’s past with a renewed pride by mapping, recording, and analyzing vital information retrieved from headstones of local church yards and cemeteries. As a result of his students’ efforts and publicity concerning their reclamation efforts, students have been contacted by descendants inquiring about their ancestors. Fallon is featured in the U.S. Department of Education’s video to educate teachers and the general public about Goals 2000. He sees the need to empower and foster apprentice educators and so encourages and promotes teaching career choices to high school and college students through the Beginning Teacher Induction Program at Rowan College. Fallon developed, wrote and delivered curriculum presentations to serve as intervention and reduction of drug use by inner-city school children through the Army National Guard of New Jersey.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 1997      Head of New Jersey delegation to an education conference in Beijing, China
  • 1995      New Jersey Teacher of the Year
  • 1993      New Jersey Teacher of the Year/History
  • 1988      Governor’s Teaching Award
  • 1985      Glouster Township Outstanding Teacher
  • 1985      New Jersey Medal of Honor
  • 1974      Kodak National Film Maker Award
  • ​1973-75      ​New Jersey Filmmakers Award
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alan haskvitz

walnut, ca | Years Taught: 1973 - Present

In Alan's first year teaching, the students’ standardized state test scores were at the 22nd percentile level. By using his methods and curriculum, student test scores went into the 94th percentile, the largest gain in history. His students routinely engage in activities that utilize their studies. They have a “Feed the Homeless” garden that utilizes all recycled materials and water, prepare a daily newsletter, On the Day You were Born, for the the local maternity wards; have drafted and passed state laws, rewritten and accepted the voting poll rules for the County of Los Angeles; and devised a plan to save 23 million gallons of water a year for their community. Haskvitz’s students have also developed plans that ended graffiti in schools and the community, sponsored seeing eye dogs and educated the public about the history of their community. Haskvitz is one of the few teachers in America who has served as a city commissioner and worked as a volunteer in two cities — where he lives and where he works. His students have corresponded with world leaders on matters of concern as divergent as the Queen of England and General Noriega. 
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 2013      Shell Science Teaching Award - National Science Teachers Association/Shell Oil Company
  • 2012      Special Tribute Teacher Award (State of Michigan)
  • 2009       Great Lakes Green Energy Award
  • 2008       Walter P. Chrysler Co. “Closing the Gap in Education Award”
  • 2004       Golden Apple Teacher Award (Channel 24 TV, Toledo, Ohio)
  • 2003        Special Tribute Teacher Award (State of Michigan)
  • 2002        Educator of the Year Award (Phi Delta Kappa, Lenawee Chapter #1460)
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dorothy lorentino

Corpus Christi, TX | Years Taught: 1938 - 1974

Dorothy, a woman of Comache heritage, has served for over thirty years as a classroom teacher. Lorentino’s teaching career was inspired by events in her childhood. It took a court action on the part of Ms. Lorentino’s parents to allow Dorothy to attend public schools in Oklahoma in 1918, a landmark decision for all Native American children at that time. It also was the first major test of the 1924 Citizen Act. Dorothy Lorentino seized the opportunity to go to a public school and in turn spent her career of 34 years teaching in special education. She has given back many times over to the same system that tried to her a free and equitable education. Dorothy Lorentino’s story spans almost a century examining how policy makers denied her and all Native American children from attending public schools – and how Lorentino provided leadership in the struggle to overcome educational barriers for Native American children.
ADDITIONAL RECOGNITION:
  • 1996      Dorothy Lorentino Leadership Award
  • 1996      Outstanding Woman of Comache County (Oklahoma)
  • 1995      Delta Kappa Gamma Society Lifetime Award
  • 1995      National Indian Elder of the Year, National Indian Education Association
  • 1973      Recognition Service Award Tillamook Education Association
  • 1969      ​Delta Kappa Gamma Society Initiation
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  • Home
  • NOMINATE A TEACHER
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