Category Archives: Education

US suffrage schools helped to win the vote for women

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Educator and suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt established suffrage schools that helped women in the United States earn the right to vote.

When I read about remarkable teachers, I often come across terms that describe varieties of schools I have never heard of before. One such example is the term “suffrage schools.” These schools were first developed in 1917 by suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt, a trained and experienced teacher. Her purpose in establishing theses schools was to train women volunteers to become politically effective in their efforts to win the vote for women.
For the suffrage schools, Carrie developed innovative courses that focused on theories of government, political institutions, and practical applications. She also encouraged women to study state laws, identifying those that were unfair to women, and working to change them. The curriculum also included such topics as public speaking, the organization of the US government, the history of the suffrage movement, how to develop a good relationship with the press, and how to use the press for influencing the electorate. Eventually the lessons taught in these schools paid off, for women won the right to vote with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919.
You can read more about Carrie Chapman Catt and her suffrage schools in my second book, Chalkboard Heroes, available on amazon.

Emancipation schools educated newly freed African Americans

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Emancipation schools were organized by the US Freedman’s Bureau to educate newly freed African Americans. (Photo credit: New Georgia encyclopedia)

When enslaved African Americans were finally freed by the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, an entire group of people who had been previously been denied the opportunity to go to school were suddenly in need of education. (Before the Civil War, it had been declared illegal to teach a slave to read and write in many Southern states.) The schools that were created to meet this need were referred to as emancipation schools.

The United States government and the African American community realized that education was critical to advancement as free individuals in society. It wasn’t just the children, individuals in every age group from grandparents to toddlers needed educational opportunities, and they needed these opportunities right away.

The need was met in a variety of ways. Many intrepid educators from the North traveled to the South to establish schools under the auspices of northern aid societies. These educators were both liberal-minded, abolitionist white teachers and civic-minded, educated Black teachers. Some African Americans were offered educational opportunities in schools created by the army during the Civil War. In these schools, Black soldiers could learn to read and write through the army. In addition, the US government established the Freedmen’s Bureau, and this department was responsible for organizing many educational opportunities for newly freed slaves.

For a more informative discussion about emancipation schools, see this link to the American Experience.

 

Chicago teacher Olga Quiroga succumbs to Covid-19

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Elementary bilingual education teacher Olga Quiroga of Chicago, Illinois, succumbed to Covid-19 on Oct. 1, 2020. Photo credit: New York Post

We are sad to report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Olga Quiroga, a bilingual education teacher from Chicago, Illinois, succumbed on October 1, 2020, after a three-week battle with the disease. She was 58 years old.

Olga’s career as an educator spanned three decades. At the time of her passing, she taught bilingual education to first graders at Funston Elementary School. The school offers a comprehensive bilingual/monolingual academic program for students in grades Pre-K through 8th grade.

This compassionate educator said she deliberately chose teaching assignments at schools in lower-income neighborhoods because she believed that is where she was needed most. “My mom [would tell us] … ‘Those are the families that appreciate a good education … If I’m going to make a change,’ that’s where she wanted to start,” remembered Olga’s daughter Giovanna Quiroga.

Colleague Lois LaGalle agreed. “She was never intimidated by authority or school policy,” La Galle recalled. “When she saw a wrong being done to a child or a child’s family … whenever she would see an injustice being done that could be fixed and should be fixed, she never hesitated for a moment to advocate.”

Olga’s patience and passion for helping immigrant students came easy to her, because she herself was an immigrant. She came to the United States with her husband from Tamaulipas, Mexico, in 1985. Once she arrived in this country, Olga took job cleaning houses for $50 per week. She also enrolled in night classes to learn English and to earn her GED. Over time, she earned her Associate’s degree, and then she enrolled at Chicago State University where she earned her Bachelor’s degree.

Olga inaugurated her career in the Chicago Public School system in 1991 as a Reading Instruction Assistant. She served in this role for ten years. In 2001, she earned her certifications in English as a Second Language.

To read more about Olga, see her obituary published in the Chicago Sun Times.

 

Maggi Parker: Teacher, Hollywood celeb, and businesswoman

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New Hampshire elementary teacher Maggi Parker, in her role on Hawaii Five-0.

Many American educators have also earned fame in the entertainment field. One of these is Marjorie Parker, also known as Maggi Parker, an elementary school teacher from New Hampshire who, in her heyday, also earned some notoriety in Hollywood.

Maggi was born in 1927 in Nashua, New Hampshire. As a child, she attended elementary schools in Merrimack. After her 1944 graduation from Nashua High School, she enrolled in Keene State College. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education. She earned her Master’s in Education in School
Administration from Boston University. She also completed some doctoral courses the University of Southern California

Once she completed her education, Maggi taught in elementary schools in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Then she was hired by the US Air Force, and through them she continued her career as an educator in schools in Tokyo, Madrid, and Mallorca. Later Maggi relocated to Hawaii, where she provided educational services to emotionally disturbed children and adults.

In addition to pursuing her career as an educator in Hawaii, Maggi also accepted roles in various television shows. She appeared in The King Family Show, I Dream of Jeannie, and a Kellogg’s cereal commercial. She also appeared in uncredited roles in Paradise, Hawaiian Style; I Sailed to Tahiti with an All Girl Crew; and Hawaii. In addition, she was cast in Hawaii Five-0. She appeared in 14 episodes of that show in 1968-1969.

Not only is Maggi an excellent educator and a talented actress, but she has also proven to be adept in business ventures as well. She served as the publicity officer for the Friends of the Iolani Palace, the former official residence of Hawaiian royalty. She was instrumental in acquiring palace furnishings. She also worked for the royal family for many years.

Maggi, who is now 93 years old, currently lives in the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu in Hawaii.

To learn more about this amazing educator, see this link to New Hampshire’s History Blog.

Wisconsin Special Ed teacher Koren Jackson earns top state honors

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Koren Jackson, a high school Special Education teacher from Milwaukee, is one of five educators selected for their state’s top honors as Wisconsin Teacher of the Year. (Photo credit: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction)

I always enjoy sharing stories about excellent teachers who have been recognized for their work in the classroom. One of these is Koren Jackson, a high school Special Education teacher from Milwaukee, who is one of five educators who have earned their state’s honors as Wisconsin Teachers of the Year.

Koren has been employed at Milwaukee Transition High School in the Milwaukee Public School District since 1999. She works with post-expulsion or adjudicated students.To help her students succeed, Koren created a project-based curriculum which gives them multiple opportunities to earn credits towards graduation. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Koren does volunteer work for the Milwaukee Hunger Task Force and the Wisconsin Special Olympics.

Koren has earned other accolades in addition to her state’s top honors. She has been recognized as one of 86 stellar Wisconsin educators to earn a place in the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation’s Teacher Fellowship Program. The program honors and supports teaching excellence and innovation across the state. The honorees were selected by a diverse committee to represent voices, contexts, and perspectives as educational leaders throughout Wisconsin.

Koren earned her Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and Health at Carroll College in Milwaukee in 1996. She completed the requirements for her post-baccalaureate certification in Special Education (learning disabilities and emotional behavioral disabilities) from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2002. She earned her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Special Education from Concordia University in 2012. In addition, in 2018, Koren earned an alternative education certification from Concordia University.

In addition to Koren, the other four who were selected as Wisconsin Teachers of the Year were Trisha Kilpin, Brooke Kintzle, Derrick Meyer, and Susan Richardson.

To learn more about Koren, see this link to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.