Mary Duerksen Sklar

Mary Duerksen Sklar has lived on two continents and has taught and worked with educators and students on three. Having absorbed a broad range of teaching approaches and experiences she returned to the US over a decade ago eager for a challenge. She found it at a juvenile detention facility near Denver, Colorado. Teaching social studies to teenagers ordered by the court to live and attend school in the facility put her theories to their most demanding tests. The impact of her reaching techniques...See more

Mary Duerksen Sklar has lived on two continents and has taught and worked with educators and students on three. Having absorbed a broad range of teaching approaches and experiences she returned to the US over a decade ago eager for a challenge. She found it at a juvenile detention facility near Denver, Colorado. Teaching social studies to teenagers ordered by the court to live and attend school in the facility put her theories to their most demanding tests. The impact of her reaching techniques has resulted in countless students showing greater interest in learning and has reduced the numbers of young people who are determined to disrupt classrooms and interrupt or end their own education. Her unique strengths and talents are influenced by her Midwestern upbringing. Her father was dean of the School of Fine Arts at Wichita State University, and her mother opened their home to frequent guests that included educators, musicians, and cultural leaders. Conversation was rich and stimulating. Her solid grounding in traditional values gives her the confidence and resourcefulness to work creatively with a juvenile prison population. The three Rs in Mary Sklar's classroom-relationship, relevance, and respect-work wonders with kids whose lives are fraught with loss, chaos, and failure. See less