Category Archives: Education

Michigan’s Laura Osborn: Teacher, campaigner for school reform, and suffragist

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Laura Osborn was a teacher, campaigner for school reform, and suffragist from Detroit, Michigan. Photo Credit: Detroit Historical Society

Many fine educators have also made significant contributions to their community. One of these was Laura Osborn, a teacher, campaigner for school reform, and suffragist from Detroit, Michigan.

Laura was born in 1866 in Huntington, Indiana, and raised there. As a young woman, she taught mathematics and civics in public schools in Huntington until her marriage in 1891. Later, she served many years as a member of the school board for Detroit Public Schools during the early decades of the 20th century.

Laura was first elected to the school board in 1917, the first woman elected to a citywide office in Detroit. She served on that body until 1955. For many of those years she was the school board’s president. In all, her service on the school board spanned 38 years. During her tenure, Laura worked tirelessly for school board reform, advocating specifically for non-partisan school boards within her state.

Laura was responsible, in part or in whole, for innovations which are now considered standard practice, including school lunch rooms supervised by trained dietitians, special instruction for handicapped children, health education, classes in manual and domestic arts, and courses for gifted and talented students. She devised better business methods for school administrators and insisted upon fire-proof school buildings as well as classes for children in custody at the Juvenile Detention Home. In fact, because of Laura’s innovations, Detroit schools became the model for best practices all over the state.

In addition to her work in the public schools, Laura is also credited with having mobilized women into the causes of women’s suffrage and temperance.

Sadly, Laura Osborn passed away in 1955. She was 89 years old. After her passing, Detroit name their newly-built Osborn High School in her honor. In 1995, this Chalkboard Champion was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.

 

Celebrate Chalkboard Champions who are also veterans!

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When celebrating our nation’s veterans today, I like to remember that many of them are also Chalkboard Champions. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 2% of teachers in our nation’s classrooms are military veterans.

The call to service is something that many service members don’t lose once they are discharged. That’s one of the reasons that so many veterans gravitate towards the teaching professions once their military service is complete.

Military veterans have many personality traits that make them particularly suited for a career in teaching. When entering the profession, veterans are typically older and have had more varied life experiences. In addition, veterans can bring a wealth of leadership qualities to the classroom. An understanding of the importance of discipline, an appreciation of the value of education, the ability to adapt, and the capacity to work well, even highly stressful circumstances, are some of the qualities that veterans can bring to the classroom. Also, often veterans possess the ability to persevere, which is a trait that is especially needed in a profession that has a high turnover rate.

Another valuable characteristic that many veterans possess is their potential to connect with students from ethnically diverse neighborhoods or lower-economic backgrounds, because many veterans themselves come from such circumstances. They understand from firsthand experience how challenging some school environments can be, and therefore may be more invested in helping to make a difference in such school systems. Furthermore, veterans have been especially trained to accomplish tasks collaboratively.

For these reasons, and many more, veterans are invaluable as Chalkboard Champions. So, today and every day, let’s celebrate our nation’s teachers who are also veterans!

 

Daphne Fulson named Virginia’s 2022 Teacher of the Year

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Elementary school teacher Daphne Fulson named Virginia’s 2022 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Coastal Virginia Mag

I always enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Daphne Fulson, an elementary school teacher from Virginia who has been named her state’s 2022 Teacher of the Year.

Daphne teaches bilingual second-grade at Portlock Primary School in Chesapeake, Virginia. In a career that has spanned 12 years, she has spent the last six of them in Chesapeake. Daphne genuinely enjoys her work with young people. “Teaching brings beauty and joy to the world,” she asserts. And she has a wonderful reputation among her colleagues. Leslie Russell, Principal of Portlock Primary School, describes Da[hne as a “caring, inspiring, and compassionate educator who has a natural gift for touching the lives of her students.”

In addition to teaching at Portlock, Daphne has worked as an  instructor of English as a Foreign Language at Via Lingua in Peru.  And every summer, Daphne works as a facilitator of content and pedagogy for Teach For America. In this role, her priority is to facilitate an environment where culturally responsive practices are used to deliver anti-racist, high rigor, instruction that promotes moral values, self-confidence, and self-esteem in students, guiding them to collaborate, communicate, think critically, and act independently as productive, problem-solving citizens of society.

In 2013, Daphne earned her Bachelor’s degree from Old Dominion University (ODU) with a double major in communications and Spanish Education, and a double minor in Social Welfare and English. In 2022, she earned her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership with a concentration in administration and supervision, also from ODU. In addition, Daphne has completed courses at La Universidad Veritas in Costa Rica, where she served as an international global ambassador.

In addition to her recognition as Virginia’s Teacher of the Year, Daphne has earned many other honors. She garnered the Sue Lehmann Teaching and Learning Fellowship for the Rio Grande Valley Texas region in 2015, and the Good to Transformational Teaching Fellowship in McAllen, Texas, in 2017. She was also named the recipient of the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award in 2017.

Teacher Anne Burnes McDonald also served in the Connecticut State House of Reps

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Former sixth grade teacher Anne Byrnes McDonald served in the Connecticut State House of Representatives. Photo Credit: Boston.com News

Many fine classroom teachers are also distinguished politicians. One of these is Anne Byrnes McDonald, an elementary school teacher from Connecticut who also served her community in the State House of Representatives.

Anne was born in 1933 in Syracuse, New York. As a young woman, she attended Le Moyne College, a private Jesuit college located in DeWitt, New York. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics. Later she earned her Master’s degree in Education from Syracuse University.

Once she earned her degrees, Anne accepted a position teaching sixth grade, first in Syracuse and then in Ardsley, New York. In addition to teaching children in public schools, she instructed adult learners who were learning English as a second language. After she relocated with her family to Stamford, Connecticut, Anne was elected to the Stamford Board of Education, where she served from 1979 to 1986.

Anne inaugurated her career as a politician in 1990, when she was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Connecticut House of Representatives. There she represented District 145 from 1990 to 2003. In addition to representing the Cove, Glenbrook, and East Side of Stamford in the General Assembly, the former educator also served as the House Chairman of the Public Health Committee and the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding Committee.

Throughout her life, Anne volunteered for a number of local and statewide organizations. She served eight years on the City of Stamford Commission on Aging; three years on the Connecticut Advisory Board on Aging; four years on the Stamford Housing Authority; and four years on the Housing Development Fund Board. She also served four years on the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.

In 2003, Anne was forced to resign from her position in the State House and withdraw from her philanthropic positions because of failing health. Sadly, she succumbed to cancer on Oct. 3, 2007. She was 74 years old.

Patricia Morehead-Morris: Nebraska teacher and state Senator

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Many talented educators have also served their communities in public office. One such teacher is Patricia Morehead-Morris, a public school teacher who also served in the Nebraska legislature.

Patricia was born July 21, 1936, in Falls City, Nebraska. As a young woman in 1954, she attended first MacMurray College, a private college located in Jacksonville, Illinois, and then the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in 1958.

Once she earned her degree, Patricia moved to Beatrice, a small town located about 45 miles south of Lincoln, Nebraska. There she taught in elementary and secondary schools, both public and private.

In 1982, Patricia was elected on the Democratic ticket to serve in the Nebraska Legislature. She represented District 30, which covers Gage County and southeastern Lancaster County, between the years from 1983 to 1988.

In addition to her work in the legislature, Patricia was involved in many philanthropic organizations. She belonged to the Gage County Democratic Women; the Philanthropic and Educational Organization; the Blue Valley Home Economists; the American Trap Shooting Association; and the sorority Upsilon Omicron, Chi Omega.