About Marilyn Foote-Kragbé
Ms. Foote-Kragbé is an active member in church where she has dedicated most of her life serving the Lord. With a servant’s heart, she holds dear this Psalm:
“Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” Psalm 100: 1 – 4 Amen! Marilyn Foote-Kragbé is the daughter of Lonnie Charles and Mary Ellen Foote. She is the fourth of eight children, born and raised in Buffalo, NY. She attended Public School 53, Woodlawn Junior High, (presently School of Performing Arts) and East High School in her former years. She earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education from Rosary Hill (Daemen College) and was awarded the honor of “Who’s Who in All Colleges and Universities in 1974. She received the Masters Degree in Elementary Education from SUNY at Buffalo, 1989. Her career as an educator started in the private programs while she was earning her BS in college. She worked full time for 6 months and part time for 6 months all 4 years of study as a pre-kindergarten teacher with the YMCA pre-school program. After graduating, she worked at Guardian Angel Day Care in Buffalo, NY for two years as a kindergarten teacher. Then, she traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and lived for 12.5 years in the Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa. There, she became fluent in French. She taught at the International Community School of Abidjan as a teacher in the K – 3 grades. She raised her daughter, a son, and 6 extended family members during this time. Later, Ms. Foote-Kragbé also foster cared her great nephew, when she returned to the United States. Ms. Foote-Kragbé commenced working for the Buffalo Public Schools in 1989 completing 26 years and retiring in 2015. Under her fine tutelage, many of her students have distinguished themselves in local, statewide and national poetry competition. In addition, she is an accomplished poet whose works have appeared in both national and local publications. The Buffalo Public School Board awarded Ms. Foote-Kragbé twice the “Teaching Excellence Award” for her work with her students. |
She was a contracted author with Tate Publishing to publish her faith based children’s realistic fiction novelettes called the, “Puddinhead Series.” Currently, Ms. Foote-Kragbé has published 6 children’s books. Her 4th book, Puddinhead and the Christmas Poem won a top 10 finalist placement with the International Book Award in 2012.
She was selected from a nationwide pool of teachers to be a panelist in Boston, Massachusetts, to do a videotaping entitled, “Biological Diversity of Leaves,” with WGBH Public Television. In September, 2001, Ms. Foote-Kragbé composed a “learning experience” entitled, “Multiple Intelligence a Science Inquiry” and was accepted into the Academy of Teaching and Learning of the State of New York. Her current Learning Experience called, “Seeing with Scientific Eyes” is presently posted on Daemen College’s website. In November, 2002, 2003 and 2005, she presented her research on science journal writing at the Science Teachers Association of New York State Conference. She has published an article on, “Science Journal Writing, a Link to Science Literacy,” April, 2003, in the STANYS Bulletin and a second article on developing a rubric for science journals was published in the fall of, 2004 in the STANYS Bulletin. February, 2006 a journalist, Ron Watson of the Buffalo News wrote an article about her sixth grade class’s project on honoring the fallen African American sailors of Port Chicago, CA during WWII. In, November 2016, she was a featured author at the Western New York Children’s Book Expo and the 2018 Rochester Black Author Expo. She is currently an active member of storyteller groups as well. For her dedication and contributions to the education of children, she was awarded the “SHERO” Award, Making a Difference, One Life at a Time . . . Empire State Federation of Women’s Clubs. Inc. 95th State Convention, July, 2003. She was also awarded the “Apple of the Teacher Award, November, 2004 with the IOTA PHI Lambda Sorority, Inc, BETA PHI Chapter. Marilyn is now retire from a 45 year teaching career and looking forward to an authorship experience with her books and poetry. |