Nationally recognized teacher to share secrets of success
Ron Clark, a fifth-grade teacher at Harlem’s Public School 83 and the 2000 Disney American Teacher of the Year, will speak at Wake Forest University Feb. 11.
Clark’s talk, “Teaching through Adversity—Facing Challenges and Making a Difference,” will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Brendle Recital Hall of the Scales Fine Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Featured on “Oprah” and invited three times to the White House, Clark has gained national recognition for his innovative teaching. Oprah Winfrey chose him as Oprah Magazine’s first “Phenomenal Man.” ABC is turning his life story into a Sunday Night Movie of the Week. Clark’s new book, “The Essential 55” will be published in May.
Clark taught for five years in rural, eastern North Carolina where he worked with minority students in a low-income area. When he saw a television show about low test scores and the lack of teachers in inner-city New York, he transferred to Harlem. After being warned by the principal that the class was the worst she had seen in terms of discipline, he prepared himself by visiting the home of each student before the first day of school. By the end of the year, his “low achievers” had begun to excel and their test scores dramatically improved. To help connect with his students, he learned how to rap and how to double Dutch jump rope.
As a class project, Clark’s students worked to help hundreds of Harlem residents understand the importance of voting. The students were honored guests at the debates between former presidential candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley. In North Carolina, one of his classes raised $12,000 to place an ad in USA Today about the dangers of tobacco use.
When Clark found out he was selected from more than 80,000 nominees for the Disney American Teacher Award, he raised $25,000 to take his entire class with him to attend the awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
Clark is a graduate of East Carolina University. His talk is sponsored by Wake Forest’s education department and is supported by the university’s Fund for Ethics and Leadership.
For more information, call 336-758-5990.
