CATALyST
to Yield Scientific Thinking
Mary Helen Blanchard Biographical Sketch
Mary Helen Blanchard taught in Ouachita Parish for twenty-two years. During that time she taught special education and regular education students in grades K-9 teaching all subjects. She spent the last 15 years as a fourth grade teacher. During her tenure with the public school, she served as La. State Assessor and Mentor, supervisor of ULM student teachers and was the representative from Woodlawn Elementary for the Ouachita Parish Cadre for professional development within the school system. She was chosen as Ouachita Parish Elementary Teacher of the Year in 1989 and Kappa Delta Pi NLU Graduate Student of the Year in the College of Education in 1991. During the last 7 years of her teaching career, she participated in 5 La Sip projects including Project LIFE Leadership.
Upon her retirement in 2001, Ms. Blanchard worked for Ventures Education Systems Corporation as a trainer in at-risk schools as well as a trainer of trainers for the company. As a trainer, she facilitated over 40 professional development workshops and over 90 days of on-site classroom coaching in grades K-12 in all subject areas. The focus of the training was on process skills including constructive communication skills, structured thinking skills and moving from teacher-centered approaches to student-centered approaches.
