His Story
Ronald Blanchard is a Lake Charles native who earned a bachelor’s degree (1977) and a master’s in education from McNeese State University. He says his teaching grew from the storytelling of his ancestors, including a great-great-grandmother born into slavery who held visions for her descendants’ education, and from his belief that children are “slaves to ignorance” until they are free to learn. He calls teaching “the most significant profession in the world.”
He has taught more than 5,000 students in three programs at once: 32 years as a regular science teacher, more than 20 years with the McNeese State University Upward Bound college-preparatory program, and more than 20 years helping develop and run the Calcasieu Parish P.M. School, which helps adults earn high school diplomas. He taught biology at Washington-Marion High School and now teaches eighth grade earth science at Ray D. Molo Middle School. He has taught nearly three generations of children, and many of his students are the children of his former students. Half of his groomsmen at his wedding were former students.
His honors include the Louisiana Middle School Association Award of Excellence (2007), the Martin Luther King Coalition Teacher of the Year (2003) and a runner-up for Calcasieu Parish High School Teacher of the Year (1997).
Beyond the Classroom
Assessment Team and mentors teachers in the Teacher Advancement Program. Nearly twenty-five years ago he founded a troupe of at-risk and disadvantaged high school students who wrote and performed original plays about teen pregnancy, substance abuse and self-esteem for schools, nursing homes, universities and theatres across the state. The troupe once opened for Maya Angelou at the Lake Charles Civic Center.
He has written grants for classroom technology and supplies, and collaborates with schools in Houston, Atlanta and beyond, with visitors from Ghana, Canada and Mexico sharing photos and lessons. A Rhode Island composer and music teacher, Georgette LaBreche, flew to Lake Charles at her own expense for a week to bring classical and jazz music to his students.
Philosophy Into Practice
Before school opens, Blanchard gets his class rosters at least a month ahead and visits his future students’ homes, knocking on doors in the neighborhood to meet families and see where his students live. He says this lets him adjust his lessons to each child.
His classroom is full of technology, from a Promethean Board to digital camcorders and virtual labs, and a former student plays morning radio greetings to his classes. Many lessons happen outside: students filmed sports to explain Newton’s laws, compared metric units at local groceries, and after Hurricane Rita surveyed the damage and made hurricane-readiness brochures for local elementary students. In 2006–07, when he took over the eighth grade science classes, the share of Molo Middle students failing the science part of the state LEAP test fell from more than 50 percent to 20 percent.
“Our children are slaves to ignorance.”— Ronald Blanchard
“Technology integration meshed with the dedication of quality teaching will be part of the solution to an endless number of educational challenges.”— Ronald Blanchard
In His Own Words
“My students and their families are extensions of my family.”— Ronald Blanchard
“The physical attributes of the classroom have been purposefully designed to create elements of “home.””— Ronald Blanchard
“Assessment is an instructional strategy for evaluating both teaching and learning.”— Ronald Blanchard
“My classroom environment is not limited to four walls.”— Ronald Blanchard
What Others Said
“He is not only compassionate about what he believes in but driven to accomplish these ideas.”— Georgette C. LaBreche, nominator and colleague
“Students go to his class to work, to problem solve, to answer the “what if” questions, and to produce a product.”— Fredman Hardy, District 2 Representative, Calcasieu Parish School Board
“Mr. Blanchard led by example with the way he conducted his life.”— Kenneth W. Lloyd, former student, President, South Coast Paper
“A zeal that is unsurpassed by any educator that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.”— Stella Miller, Director, McNeese State University Upward Bound Program
“I don’t call on you, as much, because I know you are prepared.”— Erica Papillion-Posey, former student, quoting Mr. Blanchard
“Lessons rich with relevance, reality, and innovation.”— James Wilson, Principal, Ray D. Molo Middle School