Social Studies Educator

Leo S. Ricketts

PO Box ** • Happy Camp, CA ***** • 862-***-**** • **********@*****.***

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Social Studies & English Language Arts Teacher

Happy Camp Union Elementary School Happy Camp CA August 2025

● 7’th & 8’th Grade United States & World History Class and English Language Arts Class

● Taught 38 students aged 10 to 14 in two classes teaching subjects like music theory and physical education. Lead Counselor

Happy Camp Community Day Camp Happy Camp CA June-August 2025

● Supervised 30 children (ages 5–13) in outdoor activities, educational games, and team-building exercises

● Planned and executed logistics of child/camper experience with executive administration with a team of 7. Social Studies Teacher

Hawaii Board of Education Waimea HI August 2024-January 2025

● 6’th Grade Career Explorations & Computer Technical Digital Literacy

● Taught 130 students aged 11 to 12 across five classes covering subjects like career planning, keyboarding, computational data entry, word processing, slideshow presentations, spreadsheets, and budgeting, and finances. Social Studies Teacher

Newark Public Schools Newark, NJ June 2023-May 2024

● Taught five 40-minute classes with 17-28 ninth grade students each, 90% of whom came from disadvantaged backgrounds, resulting in high pass rates and student success.

● Organized and analyzed classroom data, including pass rates, class sizes, demographic group performance, and quarterly student outcomes, to identify trends and inform instructional strategies.

● Analyzed Federal Reserve data on housing discrimination and redlining, created visualizations through maps, and used these to teach students the history and present-day legacy of housing discrimination, resulting in improved concept retention.

Social Studies Teacher

Hawaii Board of Education Waianae HI June 2022-June 2023

● 11’th & 12’th Grade Economics, Psychology, Civics, & Modern Hawaiian History courses

● Taught 120 students aged 16 to 18 across four classes and eight sections, covering subjects like economics, personal finance, credit, banking systems, and budgeting, leading to improved learning outcomes for students. Social Studies/Science Teacher

Guilford County Schools Greensboro, NC Aug 2019-May 2020

● 8’th Grade United State History and Science courses

● Maintained the established classroom routines and procedures of the school

● Designed and implemented lesson plans based on work of Zinn Education Project, Stanford’s Read Like A Historian, American Conference on Diversity and STEMScopes Science for classroom educational content Substitute Teacher

Guilford County Schools Greensboro, NC March 2018-Aug 2019 Swing Education Newark, NJ Sep 2018 –June 2022

South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education South Orange, NJ Jan 2018 – Dec 2018

• Maintained the established classroom routines and procedures of the school

• Implemented lesson plans while ensuring the integrity of academic time and classroom content Teaching Assistant, RU Ready 4 Work, Rutgers University Newark, NJ Jan 2017-Aug 2017

• High school job readiness program in cooperation with Rutgers University-Newark, the City of Newark, and Newark Public Schools

• Designed curriculum with direct instruction strategies for class of 24 students targeting positive self concept, healthy relationship building, stress management, study skills, time management, personal learning strategies, and financial literacy

Intern, Weequahic High School Newark, NJ, Feb 2016-May 2016

• Taught and provided individual support to 25 students in inclusion classroom

• Created and taught social studies lessons in African American and World History

• Utilized direct instruction teaching methods and assessed by student work with guided peer and student self assessment strategies

RELATED EXPERIENCE

Corps Member, Teach for America Waianae HI/Newark NJ May 2022-May 2024

● Maintained the established classroom routines and procedures of local Hawaiian public schools

● Designed and implemented lesson plans based on work of Nearpod, Teach for America, EVERFI, iCivics, Youtube & Project Citizen for classroom educational content

● Attended and coordinated professional development workshops and activities Education Department Coordinator, Democracy Now! Productions New York, N.Y. July 2017-July 2018

• Designed media literacy, social justice and historical analysis curriculum using Democracy Now! Broadcast media

• Coordinated discussion around current news stories, exploring independent media and investigative journalism with students

• Coordinated outreach and professional development with New York City Public School educators Delegate Lead, Lead for Diversity, American Conference on Diversity Poconos, PA, Aug 2016

• Organized and lead small and large group activities such as games, outdoor activities, discussion group and, opening and closing ceremonies

• Identified and resolved delegate behavioral issues, and reported concerns to program leadership

• Facilitated week long series of discussions in systematic oppression workshops discussing racism, class disparity, gender and religious discrimination, ability status, sexual orientation, and nationality bias Co-Chair, Operation X Youth Mentoring Program Newark, NJ, Oct 2013-June 2015

• Mentored small groups of minority male students on leadership and character development

• Designed and facilitated weekly lessons in team building and problem-solving activities for 12 students EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS

North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro, N.C. Masters in Science in Education, History Education: Expected Dec 2025 Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J.

Bachelor of Arts in History: Dec 2017

Rising Tide Capital, Community Business Academy, Newark, N.J. Certificate of Completion: Dec 2017

Colorado State University, Semester at Sea

Certificate of Completion: Mar 2017

Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Senegal, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Panama Board of Education, State of New Jersey

CEAS, Social Studies, Issued April 2024

Hawaii Teacher Standards Board, Hawaii Board of Education Provisional License, Social Studies, Valid Aug 1 2023-June 30 2027 PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA

• Seton Hall University Magazine, “An Ode to Resiliency” Spring 2018

• Seton Hall University Homelessness Panel

Nov 2017

• “Student Homelessness: A Panel Discussion”, College of Education & Human Services, Seton Hall University

“Seton Hall Event: Formerly Homeless College Student Will Speak” The South Orange Patch

• Seton Hall University “13th Annual Servant Leader Awards Honors Students for Service around the World” Apr 2017

• Semester at Sea “IMPACT Program Helps Rebuild after Salvador Cultural Center Fire” Nov 2016

• The Setonian, Seton Hall University, “Saxophone: An Instrument to Help the Homeless” Oct 2015

• South Orange-Maplewood Public Access TV (SOMA TV), “Interview with Martin Luther King Leadership Program Scholars”

Oct 2014

• NJTV, “Junior Achievement of NJ Teaches Young People to Succeed” Oct 2014 AWARDS & HONORS

• Senior Leadership Award, Class of 2017, Dr. Martin Luther King Scholarship Association May 2017

• Fred Shuttlesworth Servant Leadership Award, Dr. Martin Luther King Scholarship Association May 2017

• Community Impact Award May 2017

• University Servant Leadership Award April 2017

• Martin Luther King Scholarship Association (Four-year award) June 2013-Dec 2017

• Educational Opportunity Program (Four-year award) June 2013-Dec 2017

• Phi Delta Kappa Annual Scholarship (Four-year award given to prospective educators) June 2013-Dec 2017

• IMPACT Scholar, Semester at Sea (Servant leader award for conducting service projects abroad) Sep 2016

• Nicholas R. Scalera Scholarship (Awarded to high achieving students with financial need) Jan 2014 OTHER CURRICULUM & LESSON PLANS

Democracy Now!

• “COINTELPRO: Dissent, Discovery, & Legacy of Government Surveillance & Whistle-blowing” March 2018

• “The Black Panther Party: Inspiring Communities of Revolution, Resistance, & Freedom” Feb 2018

• “Marcus Garvey Inspiring African Nationalism & Civil Rights” Dec 2017

• “Newark & Detroit Uprisings: The Rebellions That Changed U.S. History: Looking Back at the 1967” July 2017 Seton Hall University

• “Gaining and Retaining Males of Color”, College of Education & Human Services, Seton Hall University July 2017

• MLKSA Operation X Youth Mentoring Program Oct 2014- May 2015 SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & CONFERENCES

Guest Presenter

• “#SocialJusticeMedia Is All We Got” NY Coalition of Radical Educators (NYCORE) Annual Conference, March 2018

• “The Importance of Intercultural Communication” Seton Hall Univer Student Leadership Conference April 2016

• Mandela-King Human Rights Symposium, Martin Luther King Scholarship Association, Seton Hall University, Nov 2014

Guest Panelist

• "Meeting the Needs of Students and Families Experiencing Eviction and Homelessness: Opportunities for Improved Coordination among Schools, Law Enforcement & the Community" Seton Hall University Nov 2017

• Sustainability and Empowerment Conference Newark Science & Sustainability March 2017

• American Conference on Diversity Ramapo College Nov 2015 Host, Organizer, & Co-Chair

• “How Mankind Often Erases Their Stories” Homelessness Awareness Event Martin Luther King Scholarship Association Seton Hall University Oct 2015

Host

• New Jersey Business Hall of Fame Annual Gala New Jersey Business Hall of Fame Oct 2014

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