Category Archives: Education

Lydia Aholo taught traditional language to Native Hawaiian students

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Lydia Kaonohiponiponiokalani Aholo taught courses in Native Hawaiian language and culture. Photo Credit: Kamehameha Schools Archives

I always enjoy sharing stories about educators who have worked with indigenous groups of students. One of these educators was Lydia Kaonohiponiponiokalani Aholo, a Native Hawaiian teacher who taught aspects of the traditional culture to other indigenous Hawaiian students.

Lydia was born on February 6, 1878, in the little town of Lahaina on the island of Maui. She was the third child born to mother Keahi Aholo, who died when Lydia was only six years old, and father Luther Aholo, the Secretary to John Owen Dominis, who was serving as the Governor of Maui at the time. Dominis was the husband of Queen Liliuokalani, the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Islands. The royal adopted Lydia, even over the strong objections of her husband and other members of her family.

As a young girl, Lydia attended first Kawaiahao Female Seminary, and then Kamehameha School, a private school for Native Hawaiian girls. In fact, she was a member of the first graduating class for girls in 1897. She then studied Music and Secretarial Sciences at Oberlin College, a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music located in Oberlin, Ohio.

Once she returned to the Islands, Lydia accepted a teaching position at her alma mater, Kamehameha School for Girls. She worked under Principal Ida May Pope. There Lydia taught the Hawaiian language. As a teacher, former students and family members described her as very strict about matters of etiquette and the proper way to conduct oneself in public. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Lydia performed secretarial services as a stenographer and accountant, and she also worked for the Hawaiian Homes Commission and for the Federal Credit Union as a Secretary-Treasurer. She retired from the teaching profession at the age of 75.

All of her life, Lydia’s talent for. music was well-known, particularly in the area of traditional Hawaiian songs. She served as a mentor to her grand-nephew, Alfred Apaka, Jr, and instructed him in the proper enunciation, phrasing, and interpretation of traditional Hawaiian songs. In addition she became the Director of the Liahona Glee Club, which had been organized in the 1920s.

Lydia Aholo never married or had children of her own. She passed away on July 7, 1979. She was 101 years old. She is interred at Nuuanu Memorial Park. To learn more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this link to Kaiwakiloumoku Indigenous Institute.

Author William H. Armstrong was a distinguished educator

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Distinguished educator William H. Armstrong earned acclaim as an author of novels for young adults, including the novel Sounder, and numerous study guides and self-help books. Photo credit: Godine Publishing

Many teachers are familiar with the classic young adult novel Sounder, and William H. Armstrong, the author of this long-time favorite. But did you know that he also had a long and distinguished career as a teacher?

William was born on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley in Lexington, Virginia, on Sept. 14, 1911. He had a difficult time in school as a youngster, since he was small for his age, wore glasses, stuttered, and suffered from asthma. As a teenager, he attended Augusta Military Academy in Fort Defiance, Virginia. After his high school graduation in 1932, William enrolled at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, where he wrote for the school newspaper and edited the literary magazine. He graduated cum laude in 1936, and then completed graduate courses at the University of Virginia.

Once his education was complete, William moved to Kent, Connecticut, where he established himself as a farmer, carpenter, and stonemason. In 1945 he accepted a position as a teacher at the prestigious Kent School, a private, co-ed, college prep boarding school. There he taught courses in the classics, ancient history, and general studies to high school freshmen. His career as an educator spanned 52 years.

William inaugurated his career as an author in 1956 when he published his first study guides. In the years that followed, he published numerous self-help books for students. His books were so highly regarded, that in 1963 he garnered the National School Bell Award from the National Association of School Administrators for his distinguished service in the interpretation of education. In 1986, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters from his alma mater, Hampden-Sydney College.

In 1969, William published his first young adult novel, Sounder, a story about an African-American family of sharecroppers. Praised by critics, Sounder won the John Newberry Medal and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1970, and was adapted into a major motion picture in 1972 starring Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield. Over the course of his writing career, he published 14 more novels for adult and young adult audiences.

Sadly, William Armstrong passed away on April 11, 1999, at his home in Kent. He was 87 years old.

The valuable contributions of school libraries

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Most educators would agree that school library programs are extremely valuable to students. But did you know that, according to recent studies, strong school libraries help to increase standardized test scores? Statistics show that public schools with strong school library programs outperform those without such programs on high-stakes standardized tests. This is true regardless of parent education, poverty levels, ethnicity, or the percentage of English language learners found in the population of the school. Increases in library program elements correspond to standardized test scores at all grade levels, including elementary, middle school, and high school.

Library elements that contribute to increased test scores include the total number of hours the library is open, the total amount of technology available in the library, the total services provided by trained library staff, the presence of a program of curriculum-integrated information with literacy instruction, the informal instruction of students in the use of resources, providing teachers with information about new resources, and providing reference assistance to both teachers and students.

A strong school library program is described as one that provides a full-time teacher/librarian, a full-time paraprofessional, a robust and up-to-date collection of digital, print, and media resources with a budget to support it, and abundant access to the library’s facilities, technology, and resources. How well does your school’s library program meet the criteria?

To learn more, read the report, Remodeling Literacy Learning: Making Room for What Works, which details key findings from a nationwide survey of more than 2,400 educators representing all grade levels and subject areas. The report investigates the connection between professional learning, educator collaboration, and student learning.

Mary Tsukamoto: The teacher who spent WWII in a US internment camp

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Mary Tsukamoto

Japanese American teacher Mary Tsukamoto was incarcerated in a US internment camp during World War II. Photo credit: Mary Tsukamoto Elementary School

At the start of World War II, Mary Tsukamoto was living a quiet life as the wife of a strawberry farmer in a diminuitive Japanese-American community in Florin, Northern California. Then Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Empire of Japan on December 7, 1941. That event, “a day that will live in infamy,” suddenly turned Mary’s quiet life upside-down.

Mary was one of 120,000 other persons of Japanese descent living on the West Coast. Most of them were American citizens. Mary and the many others in the Japanese American community were forced into a relocation camp by the US government because their loyalty to our country was questioned. Evicted from their home, Mary, her husband, their five-year-old daughter, her elderly in-laws, her teenaged brother and sisters, and other members of her family wound up in a camp in Jerome, Arkansas. There they were incarcerated until authorities were convinced this family of farmers posed no threat to national security.

While detained in the camp, Mary became part of a prisoner-organized effort to provide meaningful educational opportunities for the imprisoned children. Mary taught speech courses for the high school students and English language classes for the elderly. Once she was released from the camp and the war was over, Mary enrolled in college. She completed her degree and became an elementary schoolteacher. In fact, she was one of the first certificated Japanese American teachers in the United States.

This intrepid teacher’s remarkable story is told in her autobiography, We the People, a volume which unfortunately is now out of print. However, with some effort, it can be found through second-hand book sellers or in some libraries (check WorldCat), and it is well worth the hunt. You can read also read her story in my first book, Chalkboard Champions, available through amazon.com.

The very plucky Chalkboard Champion of Arizona, Eulalia Bourne

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I love to share stories about plucky teachers, and in the short You Tube video below I share some information about a really plucky teacher from the American Southwest: Eulalia Bourne. I wrote about her in my first book, Chalkboard Champions.

This daring educator, whose career spanned more than four decades, taught elementary school in rural areas, mining camps, and Indian reservations throughout Arizona during some of our country’s most challenging periods: World War I, the Depression, and World War II. This women’s libber was ahead of her time, becoming one of the very few women in her day to own and run her own cattle ranch.

Watch the video below to learn more about this amazing Chalkboard Champion.