Her Story
Suzanne Ransleben was called to teaching by her mother’s example. Her mother taught her to “never underestimate the ability of a child,” to see every student as an individual, and to teach every lesson as if her own child were in the classroom. She teaches Pre-AP English to ninth and tenth graders at Carroll High School in Corpus Christi, where she also leads the Laureate Program, serves on the National Honor Society faculty council and mentors first-year teachers.
She earned National Board certification in 2004 and was named to the 2005 USA TODAY All-USA Teacher Team. She received the U.S.–Eurasia Award for Excellence in Teaching from the U.S. Department of State, which took her to Yerevan, Armenia, in 2004 to teach teachers how to build engaging classrooms, and she has won more than twenty other local, state, national and international teaching awards.
Her school’s results are strong: last year nine of her students were among 16 National Merit semifinalists from her 13-school region, every one of her freshmen and 99 percent of her sophomores passed their state exit exams, and one of her students finished second in the nation in a national competition.
Beyond the Classroom
Her students interview historians and experts on their research topics, present Yom HaShoah programs, publish their research and present projects to community groups. Her sophomores recently formed the Carroll Historical Society, and students attend World Council events to hear scholars and diplomats. As Carroll’s National History Day sponsor, she has helped students interview ambassadors, consuls, soldiers and professors.
Ransleben has led in-services for her district, the Texas Council for the Social Studies, the Arkansas Conference for Teachers of the Holocaust, the Texas State Historical Association and the Holocaust and Resistance seminar in Washington, D.C. She mentors new teachers and student teachers, and has helped move her district to reward National Board certification: in the last year eleven teachers there were certified. She also raised money from her classroom and community so that students could take AP exams and attend summer leadership programs.
Philosophy Into Practice
Ransleben describes her classroom as a “web,” with walls covered in student paintings, desks in a U shape and a reading area with a couch and overstuffed chairs where her teacher’s desk used to be. Students and teacher exchange email addresses and phone numbers, and she avoids sarcasm and holds back her own opinion until students have shared theirs, because “there is no pat answer in analysis; I value what they can prove.”
Her lessons connect English with history, art and music. Students play a game she invented called grammar football, receive new identities to experience the human behavior in Night, and draw for their social class before a team-taught film of Romeo and Juliet, with the rich served by teachers in costume and the poor eating bread and water on the floor. Students choose topics and products, from videos and web pages to performances, and enter their work in competitions so they can see exemplars from across the state and nation. Each student sets improvement goals for one, two and three years.
“My duty is not to teach them what to think, but rather to teach them how to think.”— Suzanne Ransleben
“To be a part of their lives each day is every teacher’s opportunity to save the world, one child at a time.”— Suzanne Ransleben
In Her Own Words
“A great teacher is a stable guardian in a student’s life.”— Suzanne Ransleben
“Students do not arrive as blank slates, but as pools of information and experiences.”— Suzanne Ransleben
“I know that I am successful when they leave my classroom with the life skills they need to be productive, grounded human beings in a complex world.”— Suzanne Ransleben
“The most productive relationship I can have with students is the partnership we build in the web of learning.”— Suzanne Ransleben
What Others Said
“Phenomenal, dedicated, knowledgeable and caring are key words to describe a teacher who has made a real difference in the lives of hundreds of her students.”— Nomination form
“Mrs. Ransleben is a role model for our District.”— D. Scott Elliff, Superintendent, Corpus Christi Independent School District
“In many ways, Mrs. Ransleben is at the pinnacle of her profession.”— Dr. Robert M. Templeton, Principal, Carroll High School
“She taught me to think for myself.”— Douglas Ansel, former student
“What’s mine is yours!”— Jeffry Hagen, Carroll High School teacher, quoting Mrs. Ransleben
“In Mrs. Ransleben I have found not only an excellent teacher, but a leader, advisor, mentor, and friend.”— Ian P. Tuttle, student