Soledad O'Brien discusses Buzz Bissinger's WSJ opinion piece in which he calls for college football to be banned.
Steve Perry explains why he thinks that the MIT and Harvard's "edX" online education program is "revolutionary."
The NBA superstar Shaquille O'Neal received his doctorate in education from Barry University in Florida. Fredricka Whitfield speaks with him about the importance of education. O'Neal says, "If you have education, you'll always have something to fall back on."
By Katherine Dorsett Bennett, CNN
Editor’s Note: In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week this week, we’re asking our colleagues at CNN to share their stories of teachers who have inspired them. Katherine Dorsett Bennett is a copy editor at CNN.com.
"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." – quote by William Arthur Ward, American scholar.
As an elementary student, I enjoyed reading the newspaper and watching the news on TV. I had a natural curiosity about current events. I grew up in LaPorte, Indiana, and was interested to learn all I could about my small town and the big world outside of it.
My curiosity about news turned into a passion the day I stepped into Mike Flagg's fourth-grade class at Door Village Elementary School in 1981. Some of his lesson plans included classroom time to discuss current events and how they impacted our lives. He explained to us, for instance, how significant it was for Sandra Day O'Connor to be appointed as the first female member of the U.S. Supreme Court that year. He put in context this great achievement for women and got me excited about government and how journalists reported about it.
Mike Flagg opened my eyes to a news report about the introduction of the Boeing 767 – a plane that made its first flight in 1981 and could carry a large amount of people to places all over the world. Little did I know back then that I would one day write about travel destinations and many other types of stories about places around the world for CNN.
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by Tomeka Jones, CNN
Editor’s Note: Monday marks the start of Teacher Appreciation Week and some of the cast from “Dancing with the Stars” stepped away from the dance floor to help honor educators around the world.
CNN asked the stars to put the spotlight on their favorite and most inspirational teachers. Here’s what they had to say:
Maria Menounos, TV Host, Extra: Mrs. Brunner actually taught me how to speak English so I always start there…
Roshon Fegan, Actor, "Shake it Up!": I'm going to have to give the biggest coach, teacher, mentor award to my father. He is a teacher in every way of life.
Chelsie Hightower, Professional Dancer: My mom is amazing. She's been through so, so much and she's always been so strong for her kids, and always been such a good mom.
Menounos: But, then there's Mrs. Dudley who taught me to love Shakespeare.
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