Twin Cities teaching vet gets his call to the Hall

A Twin Cities teacher is among five being inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Scott Charlesworth-Seiler teaches at the Fine Arts Interdisciplinary Resource (FAIR) School in Crystal. He has been with the since 2000 and taught in the Robbinsdale district for 16 years .

Kevin Bennett, principal for FAIR's schools in Crystal and downtown Minneapolis, said Monday that Charlesworth-Seiler was nominated for the award by a former student.

"That speaks volumes," Bennett said. "You must be making a real impact on kids to make that happen."

Bennett added that Charlesworth-Seiler, teaching fifth grade this year after spending last year with sixth-graders, stands out because "high expectations and academic rigor are things he expects in the classroom. He pursues that day in and day out."

The school was notified a few weeks ago of the selection, but the news was kept under wraps until Thursday so a surprise assembly wouldn't be spoiled.

"We had all the fifth-graders there, and former students and his two daughters, who were his students in sixth grade," said Bennett, who received his own honor in January as the state's middle school principal of the year by the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals.

"I went to Scott's graduation party last year," said Charlesworth-Seiler, who said Hood was his student in fifth and sixth grades. "His years in my classes were turning points for him. He would say that school wasn't for him, and he wasn't going to try very hard. But being in my class for a couple of years changed his mind."

Teaching runs in Charlesworth-Seiler's family. His parents taught in the Robbinsdale schools, and his wife teaches at Meadowbrook Elementary in the Hopkins district.

As for his daughters, Charlesworth-Seiler said, the younger one says "absolutely not" to joining the family tradition, while his older daughter is more resigned and has said, "'I suppose, maybe I will be a teacher.'"

Other inductees this year into the hall, located at Emporia State University in eastern Kansas, are David Brock of Baltimore; James Brooks of Millers Creek, N.C.; Glenn Lid of Maywood, Ill., and Deborah Tackmann of Eau Claire, Wis.

The inductees will be honored May 8 at the Washington headquarters of the National Education Association.