Employment History:

Published Works:
Ms. Johnson is working on a book titled “Turning the Pages” about the history of the town of DeWitt.

Public Speaking Experience:

Why F is an Expert:
American History (particularly local history), and how to love and nurture children.

Best Advice:
I would never hold a job I didn’t like and, as I got stale a couple of times over the years, I told myself, ‘You can’t do that.’ You have to continue to like it or you’ve got to get out. I think part of it is an art.

Passionate about:
History, my faith and the future of this country.

Biography Excerpt:
Eleanor L. Johnson is a retired American history teacher who taught at Jamesville-DeWitt High School. Throughout the course of her more than 55-year career, she lectured about American history to seventh- through 12th-grade students. Ms. Johnson became involved in her profession taking after her mother, who was also a teacher. She had an illustrious career enriching youth, taking extra steps to help children with learning disabilities. Additionally, she was involved in writing the New York State Regents Examinations, which enabled her to provide useful hints and tips to students preparing to take the test. Noting that schools nowadays are very test-oriented (especially with the No Child Left Behind act), she recounts how she always strove to help her kids overcome learning obstacles. “We don’t save them all,” she notes, “but the schools are the first and last institutions to get their hands on them.” Her commitment to students entailed giving second and third chances when learning a particular lesson when most other teachers would have given up.

     

Cambridge Who's Who: What makes you a valuable resource in your industry?  
ELEANOR L. JOHNSON :  In New York State, we have the Regents Exams; my kids always did very well on that. I discovered how to teach them how to take a test: create cause and affect [relationships], tie things together and build one topic on the previous topic. I have written the Regents Exams and know what they cover.

What advice can you offer people aspiring to work in this profession?
Be alive and exciting; also, make the courses exciting. There are always methods – not matter – to what you teach. Make it relevant to today so that there is a purpose of learning and your students can apply it to the present time.

How did you get involved in your profession?
This is going to surprise you, but my mother was a teacher and I knew she liked it. When I went to college, a woman could be a teacher, a nurse or a sales clerk and I picked the right one of the three. This shows how much society has changed