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The National Educator of the Year 1998 The CEAI National Educator of the Year
It's not as if Clara Ruffin, recently chosen by Christian Educators Association International as National Educator of the Year hasn't done some strange things in the classroom. By her own admission she has. "I'll do anything," she says, "to excite and stimulate my students. I want them to know I care enough about them to insist that they learn. I try to take advantage of every opportunity." This was evident thirteen years ago when she and her students turned thesir classroom into a tropical paradise when the thermometer exceeded the ninety degree mark even when there was snow on the ground. Dressed in beach wear, they sipped Hawaiian punch from plastic champagne glasses, and ate refreshments provided by the school's PTO. A parent had generously donated a palm tree from his green house and a younger brother had loaned them a kiddie pool. It was during that same time that Ruffin came to school dressed as an old school marm and ran her class accordingly. Reminiscent of that time, or perhaps due to the Marva Collins Seminar she attended that summer, her students stand when to recite in her classroom.
Tired by May, both teacher and students knew they needed to overhaul their attitudes. Together they planned a funeral, got a guest speaker, borrowed a real casket from an area mortician, and loudly lamented the death of a familiar buddy that kept them from achieving greatness, Mr. Negative Attitude. In 1998, as part of Black History Month, Clara encouraged her class to adopt the Thompson quintuplets of Washington, D.C., the first Afro-American couple to have six babies without the use of fertility drugs. Lyndon and Jacqueline Thompson received almost no help when the babies were born. Students made pictures of bibs, bottles, diapers etc....to show the needs in order to raise money to buy necessary items. Soon, the entire school took part in the project. More than $1300.00 was raised, $1100.00 in a two week period. Local media followed the story and the successful results were posted on Internet sites. Clara was selected from among 7,000 CEAI members as an educator who displays "educational excellence in the classroom, love for students and a committed Christian walk before fellow staff members, students, and parents." Ruffin sees her position as a calling, not an assignment to a particular classroom. She believes each student who enters her class has been placed there by God. She says, "Look for untapped qualities in your students and try to cultivate those qualities in much the same way a gardener skillfully grows a plant to reap a later harvest." In addition to her innovative teaching, Clara has written two volumes of poetry to encourage the Christian who serves in public education. She and her husband, Richard, began the Open Door ministry in 1984 to invite the homeless and poor into their home for a time of fellowship followed by a meal. Since the work began, they have faithfully served meals 50 Sundays of the year. Clara Ruffin may be scheduled for appearance and/or interviews by contacting: Judy at Christian Educators Association Int'l at (626) 798-1124. |
Her
ingenuity was also evident three years ago when she and her students
hosted the burial of a Negative Attitude.
It came amid a
time of exasperation. Ruffin had started the school year, she recalls,
after having surgery which delayed the beginning of the school year
for her. What awaited her were students who had grown used to the
substitutes who had worked in Ruffin's absence. "Were they energetic!
They were a nice bunch of students but they demanded a lot of energy,
something I didn't have after surgery." Ruffin, who writes inspirational
and educational poetry, remembers writing a lot of poems that year.