Category Archives: Education

Former teacher Peter Tork: He doesn’t Monkee around

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Peter Tork

Musician and actor Peter Tork of the Monkees also worked as a teacher.

Former teacher Peter Tork doesn’t Monkee around. But there was a time in his life when he did.

In the mid-1960s, a pop band known as the Monkees hit the music scene with a few songs and a zany television show aimed at American teens. The band became, literally, an overnight sensation. Peter Tork, who played bass guitar and keyboards, was a member of that band. The other three members were Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Michael Nesmith.

Over the next five years, the group attempted to keep up with a whirlwind schedule that included weekly television sitcom episodes, studio recording sessions, national and international concert tours, and a full-length feature movie. The hard work paid off. Since they first hit the scene, the Monkees have sold more than 75 million records worldwide, making them one of the biggest selling groups of all time. Their best known songs are “I’m a Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Daydream Believer,” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”

But the work schedule, creative differences with producer Don Kirshner, and infighting among the band members left Peter exhausted. In December, 1968, he bought out the remaining four years of his contract and left the Monkees. For the next few years, Peter drifted from one gig to another and spent or gave away all his Monkees earnings. By 1975, he’d hit rock bottom.

That’s when, even though he had dropped out of college, Peter accepted a position as a teacher at Pacific Hills School, a private secondary school in Santa Monica, California. He was hired to work there by Dr. Penrod Moss, the school’s director, because Moss was so impressed by Peter’s interview. “I like to hire people who are independent and creative,” Moss explained. “I was impressed by his personality and his ability to talk.” For Peter, a career in the classroom is not so odd when you consider that his father was an economics professor at the University of Connecticut for many years. At Pacific Hills, Peter taught many subjects, including English, math, drama, history, and music. He also served as a baseball coach at several schools. In all, Peter’s career as an educator spanned three years.

In 1986, the Monkees got together again to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band. The following year they released a new studio album which earned measured success. Since then, Peter participated with fellow Monkees in numerous reunion shows and tours, until band member Davy Jones passed away in 2012.

In March, 2009, the former teacher was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, and later that year underwent extensive surgery. In September, 2009, he was declared cancer-free. Now age 76, Peter Tork resides in Mansfield, Connecticut.

 

 

Dr. Patricia Jordan inducted into the 2015 National Teachers Hall of Fame

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Patricia Jordan

New York’s Dr. Patricia Jordan inducted into the 2015 National Teachers Hall of Fame

It’s always gratifying to learn that a fellow educator has been singled out for special recognition. This happened to Dr. Patricia Jordan, a high school math teacher from New York who was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in 2015.

Patricia earned her Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Psychology African Studies from New York’s Vassar College in 1972. She earned her Master’s degree in Special Education from City University of New York in 1974. She completed the requirements for her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Long Island’s Hofstra University in 1991.

Patricia inaugurated her career as an educator in 1972, when she accepted a position at New Haven Public High Schools. There she taught courses in consumer math and algebra. The next year she taught individualized math instruction at Park East Alternative High School, and the two years following that she taught general math at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., High School. From 1976 through 1980, Patricia taught general math, algebra, and geometry at Malverne High School, and from 1980 to 2001, she taught all math levels at Roslyn High School. In all, Patricia served 29 years as a professional educator before her retirement.

For her outstanding work in the classroom, Patricia has earned many honors. In 1993, she won the Humanitarian Award from the NAACP, she earned the Disney Teacher Award, and she was named the New York State Teacher of the Year. In 1995, she garnered the National Council of Negro Women Achievement Award, and in 1998, she was named a Tandy Corporation Technology Scholar. In 2004, Patricia was given the Chasing Rainbows Award from the Dolly Parton Foundation. And in 2015, this remarkable chalkboard champion was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Since her retirement from the teaching profession, Patricia has been a practicing clinical psychologist. She has also served as a volunteer tutor, and she is actively involved in alumni programs, professional organizations, and parent associations. With her sister, she established the Juanita James Memorial Scholarship Foundation in memory of their mother. This organization provides college scholarships to students from housing projects in the Bronx.

Feel free to view this short YouTube video that depicts the moment Patricia learned she had been honored by the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Alaskan teacher Etta Schureman Jones: WWII Prisoner of War

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There are times when extraordinary circumstances of history present already gutsy teachers with unexpected challenges. This is certainly true of the intrepid Etta Schureman Jones, an elementary school teacher and trained nurse from originally from Vineland, New Jersey.

Etta Schureman was over forty years old when she and her sister, Marie, ventured into Alaska Territory to teach Native American Eskimos in primitive rural schools. After one year, Marie  returned to the Lower 48, but Etta, who had met the love of her life and married, settled permanently in Alaska. The picture here is the happy couple on their wedding day.

Etta Schureman Jones

Alaskan teacher Etta Schureman Jones: WWII Prisoner of War, with  her husband on the day they were married.

Eighteen years later, Etta and her beloved husband, C. Foster Jones, were working together  in the remote Aleutian island of Attu when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Empire of Japan on December, 7, 1941, “a day that will live in infamy.” The couple and their students had been slated to be evacuated by the U.S. Navy when the island was invaded by Japanese troops. Although the couple were in their sixties, Japanese soldiers killed Foster and removed Etta to an internment camp in Japan, where she was incarcerated with a small group of Australian nurses who were also prisoners of war. The Attuan natives, about three dozen of them, were also taken to Japan, with the apparent intention of assimilating them into the Japanese population. Although Etta was rescued by American troops after the war, and she and the surviving Attuans were eventually repatriated after the war, Etta never saw her students or their families again.

I have also included a chapter about this courageous teacher and her intriguing tale of survival in my book, Chalkboard Heroes: Twelve Courageous Teachers and their Deeds of Valor, available at amazon at this link: Chalkboard Heroes. Also, Etta’s story is told brilliantly by Mary Breu in her book Last Letters from Attu: The True Story of Etta Jones: Alaska Pioneer and Japanese POW.  A fascinating read, to be sure. You can find this book, also at amazon, at the following link: Last Letters from Attu.

Teacher Leonard Covello, the immigrant who developed progressive educational reforms

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Leonard Covello

Teacher Leonard Covello, the immigrant who developed progressive educational reforms.

Leonard Covello was just nine years old in 1896 when he immigrated to New York City with his family from the little village of Avigliano in southern Italy. But he grew up to become one of America’s greatest educators, developing and instituting progressive community-centered educational programs. These programs are characterized by close links between the school, the home, and the community, and are still a model for today’s educational institutions.

As an immigrant student himself, Leonard understood the unique needs of this particular group of students, and, as an Italian immigrant, he recognized the specific conflicts between the home and the family experienced by most Italian immigrant children. Drawing from his personal experience, Leonard was able to develop innovative school programs that allowed Italian immigrant students to succeed in American public schools in ways they had never realized before. His observations and solutions are still applicable to certain groups of students we find in today’s classrooms.

You can read more about this innovative teacher and principal in my book, Chalkboard Champions: Twelve Remarkable Teachers Who Educated America’s Disenfranchised Students, available from amazon at the following link: Chalkboard Champions. You can also learn more about this remarkable educator in Teacher with a Heart: Reflections on Leonard Covello and Community by Vito Perrone. This volume is available from amazon at the following link: Teacher with a Heart. In addition to analysis by Perrone, the book contains lengthy excerpts from Leonard Covello’s autobiography, now out of print.

Missouri’s Jan Alderson: an exemplary high school science teacher

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Jan Alderson

Missouri’s Jan Alderson: an exemplary high school science teacher.

I always enjoy sharing the awe-inspiring stories of exemplary educators. One of these is Jan Alderson, a high school science teacher from Overland Park, Kansas.

Jan earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Central Missouri in 1969 and her Master’s degree in Biology from the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1973.

Now retired, Jan has taught such courses as life science, earth science, physical science, biology, and human anatomy and physiology. She has worked at both the junior high school and high school levels, teaching at Pittman Hills Junior High School, Raytown South High School, and at Shawnee Mission South High School. In all, her career as an educator spanned an impressive 45 years.

Jan’s work has earned a great deal of praise from her distinguished colleagues. “Mrs. Alderson’s classroom is a carefully designed studio of experiments, research, and meaningful information intentionally organized to educate, not overwhelm,” says School Board member Joan Levens. “She is constantly growing, learning, and mentoring. We are all beneficiaries of her quest to grow the next generation of well-rounded scientists.” Dr. Charles Wurrey of the University of Missouri at Kansas City agrees. “In all of her teaching efforts, she emphasizes ‘hands-on’ and ‘minds-on’ learning by involving student research and ‘learning by doing’ by having her students tutor and mentor others and provide service to the community,” he says.

For her work in the classroom, Jan has earned many accolades. In 1975, she was named Outstanding Missouri Conservation Educator by the Conservation Federation of Missouri. In 1991 she garnered a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching. In 2011, Jan earned the Burroughs Audubon Outstanding Educator Award. She was even named an alternate from Missouri for the NASA Teacher in Space program! In 2014, this chalkboard champion was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Jan Alderson: a truly exemplary educator.