Watch CBS News

10th Grade History Teacher Writes Trilogy Of Novels

By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Inner city kids need positive role models. So says a high school history teacher who's mounted an unusual outreach.

Daniel Blanchard says he tries hard to engage his 10th graders in history with the stories of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. He also tries to motivate them with the value of hard work, perseverance and going the extra mile.

"I always tried to, like, inspire my students through my lessons in history and then I always tried to lead by example, and I guess it's working. My students do seem to be inspired and they tell me I'm the most inspirational teacher they've ever had, and I guess they do inspire me back."

So Blanchard wrote the Granddaddy's Secrets trilogy, kind of codifying the same things he'd been telling the students in coming-of-age stories following a young man whose grandfather slips into an out of his life long enough to impart the Gospel of the Winner.

For more information, visit: http://granddaddyssecrets.com/

You may also be interested in these stories:

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.