Category Archives: Education

Michigan’s Maxine Berman: English teacher, politician, and women’s health care advocate

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Maxine Berman: Former high school English teacher and elected member of the Michigan State House of Representatives.

Many talented educators leave the classroom to go on to successful careers in politics. One of these is Maxine Berman, a high school English teacher who was elected to the Michigan State House of Representatives.

Maxine was born on April 17, 1946. She grew up in Oak Park, Michigan, and attended Oak Park High School. After her high school graduation, she enrolled at the University of Michigan. Once she earned her degree, Maxine returned to her alma mater, Oak Park High School, to teach English.

After several years, Maxine left the teaching profession to run for political office. She won election to the Michigan State House of Representatives on the Democratic ticket. She served there from 1983 to 1996. During her 14-year political career, the former teacher worked tirelessly as an advocate for women’s rights and other social justice issues. Representative Berman successfully pushed for mammography facilities in Michigan to be accredited, and then lobbied the federal government to require accreditation nationwide. She was a member of the House Bi-Partisan Team, which developed a new strategy for funding pubic schools. She also served on the House Elections Committee, where she created an expedited system for voter registration. Maxine also accepted the post of Chairperson for the Michigan Women’s Campaign Fund, a bi-partisan organization that raises money to assist women who run for political office.

Once Maxine completed her terms in office, she established an advocacy and consulting firm she named Capitol Strategies, Inc. She also became the leader of the Women’s Health Network of Michigan. In 2008, Maxine returned to her roots as a professional educator when she accepted a  position as the Griffin Endowed Chair in American Government at Central Michigan University. She was the first woman to ever be named to the position.

Maxine retired in 2013. Two years later she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. More about this at www.michiganwomen.org.

Sadly, Maxine Berman succumbed to lung cancer on March 2, 2018. She was 71 when she passed away. She is interred in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

Elementary school teacher Lela Lee Williams of Texas

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Elementary school teacher Lela Lee Williams of Dallas, Texas.

Over the years, the state of Texas has produced many exceptional educators. One of these is Lela Lee Williams, an elementary school teacher from Wills Point, Texas.

Lela was born in July, 1883, in Wills Point. Her family greatly valued education, and both her father and grandfather were elected trustees of the local school board multiple times.

Lela earned her teaching certificate at Sam Houston Normal Institute located in Huntsville, Texas. She inaugurated her teaching career at Wills Point Elementary School. During her summers, she taught primary methodology and speech in normal schools and other teacher training schools in eastern and northern Texas.

In 1907, Lela moved to Louisiana to become the acting principal and a primary teacher of an elementary school there. When she learned that the Dallas Board of Education selected her to a position on their Board of Education, she relocated to Dallas. She remained there from 1908 until her retirement in 1953.

During the years she was teaching, the exceptional educator was continuously honing her professional skills. She earned a Bachelor’s degree at North Texas State Normal College. She earned her Master’s degree from the Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley. In addition, she completed graduate courses in primary methods and speech at the University of Chicago, the University of Colorado, and Teachers College in Columbia University in New York City.

Throughout her long career, Lela also participated in many educational organizations. In 1917 she was elected the first president of the newly-formed Dallas Grade Teachers Association. In 1919 she was instrumental in organizing the Texas Grade Teachers Association, and she was elected the group’s first president. In 1920, she was elected president of the Texas State Teachers Association. It was while serving in that capacity that she met Dr. Annie Webb Blanton, who was then State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The pair became two of the original founders of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International (DKG) in 1929. DKG is an organization which still endeavors today to promote the professional development of women educators.

Sadly, Lela Lee Williams passed away on Feb. 19, 1974, near Dallas, Texas. She is interred at Sparkman Hillcrest Memorial Park in Dallas.

To read more about this chalkboard champion, see her biography on DKG’s web page at Lela Lee Williams.

Raymond Teller of Penn & Teller: He used to be a teacher

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Former teacher Raymond Teller, right, during a performance of the famous illusionist duo Penn and Teller.

Many people are familiar with Raymond Teller of the popular duo of illusions, Penn and Teller. But did you know that Teller was once a teacher? Long before he became a magician, illusionist, and comedian, this oft-honored celebrity taught high school Greek and Latin at a public school in New Jersey.

Raymond Joseph Teller was born on Feb. 14, 1948, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a teenager, Teller attended Central High School. Following his graduation in 1965, he enrolled in Amherst College. He completed the requirements for his a Bachelor’s degree in the Classics in 1969.

The new graduate inaugurated his career as an educator when he accepted a position teaching Greek and Latin at Lawrence High School in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He lent his talents to the classroom for six years.

Teller’s yearbook photo from his days as a Greek and Latin teacher at Lawrence High School in Lawrenceville.

As a former teacher and a performer with 40 years of stage experience, Teller has advice for professional educators. “The first job of a teacher is to make the student fall in love with the subject,” asserts Teller. “That doesn’t have to be done by waving your arms and prancing around the classroom. There’s all sorts of ways to go at it, but no matter what, you are a symbol of the subject in the students’ minds,” he continued. “As that symbol, the teacher has a duty to engage, to create romance that can transform apathy into interest, and, if a teacher does her job well, a sort of transference of enthusiasm from teacher to student takes place,” he says. “The best teachers, find a way to teach content while keeping students interested,” he concluded.

To read more about Teller’s experiences as a teacher, click on this link to The Atlantic.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren: The presidential candidate who once taught Special Ed

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Former Special Education teacher Elizabeth Warren, now serving as a US Senator from Massachusetts. She’s also a candidate for president.

Many people who are paying attention to the upcoming presidential election may be surprised to learn that one of the candidates was once a Special Education teacher. The candidate I am speaking of is Elizabeth Warren, who in addition to serving as a US Senator from Massachusetts, is also running for president.

Elizabeth was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on June 22, 1949. She is the fourth child and only daughter of a middle-class salesman and a homemaker. At her political rallies, Elizabeth tells audiences she was in the second grade when she decided to become a teacher. Unfortunately, when young Elizabeth was only 12 years old, her father was debilitated by a heart attack. Then her mother had to take a minimum-wage job to support the family. Her mother was able to save the home they lived in from repossession, but there was no money left over for college tuition.

When she was a teenager, Elizabeth attended Northwest Classen High School in Oklahoma City. While there, she excelled at debate. Her exceptional skills earned her a state championship and a scholarship to George Washington University. At the time she was only 16 years old. After one year of study, she dropped out of college to marry her high school sweetheart. Later she completed her degree at the University of Houston, a commuter college in Texas. There Elizabeth earned a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology in 1970.

Once she earned her diploma, Elizabeth inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position teaching children with special needs at a public elementary school. She lost her job at the end of her first year when her principal learned she was pregnant.

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, back in the days when she was a teacher.

After moving to New Jersey, Elizabeth returned to college to earn a law degree. She graduated with her Juris Doctorate from Rutgers Law School at Rutgers University, Newark, in 1976. But she never lost her love for the classroom. She became a college law professor, instructing courses at a variety of institutions of higher learning, including Rutgers, the University of Houston, University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University. She taught classes on commercial law, contracts, and bankruptcy. In fact, Elizabeth is ranked one of the nation’s top experts on the effects of financial pressures faced by middle class families.

In 2012, Elizabeth was elected on the Democratic ticket to represent Massachusetts in the US Senate. She has served in this capacity since 2013. In the Senate, she is a member of the Special Committee on Aging; the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee; and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. In 2019, the former Special Education teacher announced her candidacy for the 2020 US presidential election.

To read more about the life story of this chalkboard champion, you can examine her website at Elizabeth Warren.