Photo Credit:
Pete Coleman |
Sharon Draper, 1997 National
Teacher of the Year, is a professional educator, as well
as an accomplished writer. She was selected as Ohio's
Outstanding High School Language Arts Educator, was chosen
as a NCNW Excellence in Teaching Award winner, and Ohio
Teacher of the Year. She received the Excellence in Education
Award, is a Milken Family Foundation National Educator
Award winner, and was the Duncanson Artist-in-Residence
for the Taft Museum. She is a YWCA Career Woman of Achievement,
and is the recipient of the Dean's Award from Howard University
School of Education, the Pepperdine University Distinguished
Alumnus Award, the Marva Collins Education Excellence
Award, and the Governor's Educational Leadership Award.
Last year she was named Ohio Pioneer in Education by the
Ohio State Department of Education. She holds the degree
of Doctor of Humane Letters from the College of Mount
Saint Joseph and the Doctor of Arts Degree from Cincinnati
State University.
After becoming one of the first teachers in the nation
to achieve National Board Certification in English/Language
Arts, she was elected to the Board of Directors of the
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
She served in that capacity from 1995 to 1999. She has
served on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement of Teaching, and is currently on
the Board of the National Commission on Teaching and
America's Future. Her award-winning essay on education,
"The Touch of a Teacher," was published by
the National Governor's Association in What Governors
Need to know about Education.
Actively involved in encouraging and motivating all
teachers and their students as well, she has worked
with teachers, students, schools and educational organizations
all over the United States, as well as in Russia, Ghana,
Togo, Kenya, and Ethiopia, spreading the word about
the power of accomplished teaching and excellence in
education.
Her literary recognition began when, as a challenge
from one of her students, she entered and won first
prize in a literary contest, for which she was awarded
$5,000 and the publication of her short story, "One
Small Torch." She has published numerous poems,
articles, and short stories in a variety of literary
journals. She is the published author of
She is the published author of:
Tears of a Tiger (Simon and Schuster, 1994)
Forged by Fire (Simon and Schuster, 1997)
Romiette and Julio (Simon and Schuster, 1999)
Darkness Before Dawn (Simon and Schuster, 2001)
Double Dutch (Simon and Schuster, 2002)
The Battle of Jericho (Simon and Schuster, 2003)
Teaching from the Heart (Heinemann, 1999)
Not Quite Burned Out But Crispy Around the Edges
(Heinemann, 2001)
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs (Just Us Books,
1994)
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs: Lost in the Tunnel
of Time (Just Us, 1995)
Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs: Shadows of Caesar's
Creak (Just Us, 1997)
Let the Circle Be Unbroken -- Childrens Poetry
Buttered Bones -- Adult Poetry
Tears of a Tiger has received numerous awards,
including the American Library Association/Coretta Scott
King Genesis Award for an outstanding new book, and
was also honored as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.
It has been recognized as one of the best of the year
by the Children's Book Council, the New York City Library,
Bank Street College, and the National Council for Social
Studies. It was also named as Best of the Best by VOYA
and the American Library Association as one of the top
100 books for young adults. Forged by Fire ,
the sequel to Tears of a Tiger, is the 1997 Coretta
Scott King Award winner, as well as the winner of the
ALA BEST Book Award and the Parent's Choice Award. Darkness
Before Dawn, the third book in the trilogy, is an
ALA Top Ten Quick Pick, and has received the Children's
Choice Award from the International Reading Association.
Romiette and Julio is also listed as an ALA Best
Book and has been selected by the International Reading
Association as a 2000 Notable Book for a Global Society,
and by the New York Public Library in their 2000 Books
for the Teen Age.
Sharon Draper spent more than thirty years teaching
junior high and high school students how to appreciate
the beauty of literature and how to communicate their
ideas effectively. Each year her students received their
own rewards in donning the class-designed "I Survived
the Draper Paper" tee shirt commemorating the legendary
research project that all her seniors had to complete
to graduate.
She is an active member of the National Council of
Teachers of English and the International Reading Association.
She is also a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, the Honor
Society for Women Educators, and Phi Delta Kappa, Education
Honor Society. Ms. Draper travels extensively and has
been a guest on television and radio programs throughout
the country, discussing issues of literature, reading,
and education. She is an accomplished public speaker
who addresses educational and literary groups of all
ages, both nationally and internationally, with entertaining
readings of her poetry and novels, as well as enlightening
instructional presentations. She lives in Cincinnati,
Ohio, with her husband and a golden retriever named
Honey.
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