Draper, Sharon M. 1952–

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Sharon M. Draper 1952–

Educator, writer

All I ever Wanted to do was Teach

The Draper Paper

The Teacher as Writer

As an author, poet, and master educator named 1997 U.S. Teacher of the Year, Sharon Draper has introduced thousands of children and young people to the world of words. Draper says teaching is her “calling and vocation,” describing herself as a teacher who “teaches because I must. It is in my heart and soul; part of the definition of me. I end up teaching wherever I am.” As a teacher who is also a writer she has testified to the value of story and the power of words to generations of students. Her published work, including two young adult novels, a series of juvenile fiction, and two collections of poetry are grounded in the conviction that books can and must speak to the lives and dreams of young readers. Choosing African American male characters is Draper’s way of giving the power of words to African American young men.

Born to Victor and Catherine Mills in Cleveland, Ohio, Draper was eldest of three children raised in a close-knit neighborhood. Her father worked as a hotel manager and her mother as an administrator at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Theirs was a family where education was a given. The question was not “would you attend college, it was where and to study what,” Draper said. In her home, books were part of everyday life. Reading and the learning that naturally flows from written words surrounded Draper and her siblings. Schools and schooling were always considered an open door through which the three Mills children were expected to walk with success.

All I ever Wanted to do was Teach

Sharon Draper’s vision, in the classroom and as she writes, is to challenge young people to embrace learning without limits and without hesitation. She credits her family and early schooling with giving her the gift of unlimited love of learning. Draper entered Cleveland Public Schools in the 1950’s from a home where she had grown up surrounded by books. Her mother read stories, poems, fairytales, and nursery rhymes to Draper and her siblings from the time they were very young. She recalls a teacher who once “gave me O’s for outstanding, saying an A wasn’t good enough.” A fifth grade teacher gave Draper and her fellow students poetry by Langston Hughes and Robert Frost. They read and loved Shakespeare. “We didn’t know we weren’t supposed to be able to do that in fifth grade. She gave it to us and we

At a Glance…

Born 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio; daughter of Victor Mills (a hotel manager) and Catherine Mills (newspaper administrator); married Larry Draper, educator, 1971; Education: Pepperdine University, 1967-71; Miami University of Ohio, 1972-74.

Career: Cincinnati Public Schools, 1970-97.

Selected awards: Coretta Scott King Genesis award for Literature, 1995; American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults award, 1995; Ohio State Teacher of the Year, 1997; U.S. National Teacher of the Year, 1997; National Board Certification, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 1995; Board of Directors, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 1997; National Council of Negro Women’s Excellence in Teaching Award, 1997; Delta Kapa Gamma Honor Society for Women Educators.

Addresses : National Teacher of the Year Program, One Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20001-1431.

loved it,” Draper said. “It was part of making me the teacher I am today.”

Draper completed secondary school in the Cleveland public school system, taking advanced and AP course-work. She attended Pepperdine University as a National Merit Scholar, majoring in English. Upon graduation in 1971, Pepperdine offered the then-20-year-old a teaching position and opportunity to pursue a master’s degree. She declined, returning instead to Ohio where she married and assumed a teaching position in Cincinnati Public Schools where she still spends each day on the educational frontline. Draper knew even then that teaching at the high school, not the university level, was where she belonged.

The Draper Paper

In the classroom Draper soon became known among students as a challenging and no-nonsense educator likely to recite selections from Canterbury Tales from memory or launch into discussion of issue-laden contemporary books. Nearly half her senior English students have gone on to become teachers themselves. As an educator who sees joy and challenge as partners in the learning process, Draper looked for ways to capture and challenge her senior students, wanting them to stride away from high school with a sense of confidence and accomplishment. She assigned a lengthy, demanding research paper due last quarter of her students’ senior year. Designed as a test and challenge of skills in writing, analysis, and research, the assignment soon was dubbed “The Draper Paper.” Within a few years t-shirts were designed to be doled out only to those hardy survivors of Draper’s literary challenge. She once spotted a former student at the airport in London. Who else would dare to sport an “I Survived the Draper Paper” t-shirt? Juniors “start to tremble just hearing about it,” Draper said. This master-teacher is as respected as she is in demand among students at Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati. She would not have it any other way.

The Teacher as Writer

Draper’s first personal venture into writing came when a student handed her a writing contest application and said, “Why don’t you write something?” The resulting short story “One Small Torch” was chosen from 20,000 entries as winner of the 1991 Ebony Magazine Short Story Contest. That first success was impetus for Draper to combine her love of teaching with her love of words and story as an author and poet. Her first novel, Tears of a Tiger grew out of Draper’s recognition that powerful, once-timely works by authors like Dickens were missing the mark with her students. She wanted to create a contemporary book of literary quality to reach the cultural, ethnic, and daily realities of students in today’s high school classrooms. Her novel’s main character is the drunken driver in an accident that kills his best friend. Draper encourages young writers by telling the story of rejection by 24 of 25 publishers to which Tears of a Tiger was sent. Once published, this book was affirmed as “strong, vivid and ringing true” in School Library Journal. It was embraced by young readers and received the 1995 American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and Coretta Scott King Genesis awards. A 1997 sequel, Forged by Fire is her second novel. Her first volume of poetry for children has been accepted by Boyd’s Mills Press.

Writer as Teacher

As a classroom teacher and mentor to novice educators, Draper knew that even the best contemporary titles often failed to draw young boys into the world of reading. Fewer books still were written with young African American boys in mind. Her next venture, the Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs series was written for those young readers. “I know what interests kids,” Draper said. “I know what will catch them and make them readers in spite of themselves.” In Lost in the Tunnel of Time, Ziggy and his fellow clubmates the Black Dinosaurs discover a tunnel once used as a station on the Underground Railroad. Always the teacher, Draper filled the book with history, knowing students would absorb the information effortlessly because of the strong, interesting story. “I tell my students that if they learn nothing else in my class, I want them to understand that a powerful connection exists between historical and cultural events and the literary creations of the time,” Draper told the Ohio Department of Education upon her selection as Ohio Teacher of the Year in January of 1997.

Teacher of the Year

Being named 1997 U.S. Teacher of the Year brought diverse facets of Sharon Draper’s life and personal gifts together. As a master-teacher and mentor of other educators, Draper was an able spokesperson for her profession. As creator of fiction of interest to hard-to-reach students, Draper was an able model for high standards and innovative teaching. As a teacher “by calling and vocation” she was a spokesperson for the value of teachers and teaching to every child and every community.

As Teacher of the Year, Draper spoke to and on behalf of educators across the country. “I was singled out, but there are thousands of teachers doing a wonderful job who receive no recognition,” she said. “Teachers who work all year with a class of 25 or more. At the end, every child is confident, loves school, and is ready to move on to the next grade. Does that teacher get her picture in the paper? Is he invited to speak because of an excellent job done? My privilege and challenge as Teacher of the Year is to speak for and about those teachers. The ones teaching in every school and every community who are ’just doing their jobs.”

As spokesperson and master-educator, Draper encouraged school systems and communities to re-think the place and contribution of teachers. “Teachers need affirmation and validation,” Draper said. “They deserve respect and support. They need space... time to think and reflect... and to learn.” Draper called the teacher-student connection a spark where true education happens. “We must find that spark, wherever it occurs and fan it into a flame. We need to ask ourselves where and why true education is happening and try to duplicate those conditions, increasing the probability of its happening again and again.”

Ready, Set, Goal

Teachers and students in every state in the U.S. meet each fall for Ready, Set, Goal conferences. Evaluation of past achievement is discussed. Goals for that and subsequent years are set. What are Sharon Draper’s goals? Having long-since completed a master of arts degree in English from Miami University of Ohio, Draper engages in ongoing post-graduate study. Completion of doctoral studies is in her ten-year plan. Personal and professional goals also include making time to write more poetry and add to her Ziggy and the Black Dinosaurs series. Draper is interested in further literary experimentation with the goal of reaching African American students, especially boys.

Touring and meeting with teachers as Teacher of the Year has sparked a dream to find ways to mentor and encourage teachers and quality teaching. “When a studentsasks, “Should I teach?’” I say, “Yes. Absolutely,” Draper said. “Some young people thinking teachers don’t make enough money and don’t get enough respect. I tell them I’ll never make as much as Michael Jordan, but neither will you. I tell them if you want to make a difference in somebody’s life, then go into teaching.”

As a member of the National Board for Teaching Standards, Draper works with colleagues within the educational community, business and community leaders, and government to develop standards by which teachers and teaching may be quantitatively and actively measured. Professional development for teachers is a personal priority which Draper addresses by writing for professional publications and speaking to educators.

”During my tenure as Teacher of the Year I have communicated the importance of creating a nurturing environment for teachers. Teaching is such a difficult, challenging job. I’d like to find ways to develop planning strategies that come not from the administration down, but from teachers up.” Spending 1997 touring the country as Teacher of the Year provided Draper with a forum for speaking—and teaching, of course, about the critical need for cooperation and bridge-building between communities and schools. Her work with the National Board for Teaching Standards challenges educators wary of accountability outside the educational community and challenges business and government to join schools as team members rather than outside critics.

Finally, Draper’s goal as education enters the twenty-first century is to spend decades, day in and day out, in school classrooms teaching students. She will measure her success in the names of students graduating with a deep sense of accomplishment and confidence in their own abilities and skill. Her legacy will be generations of students entering colleges and universities armed with a love of learning—and wearing t-shirts declaring “I Survived the Draper Paper.”