Category Archives: Education

Gail Giles of Texas: English teacher and author of young adult fiction

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Gail Giles

Gail Giles of Texas: English teacher and author of young adult fiction

Many gifted teachers earn recognition for their artistic efforts outside of the classroom. One example of this is Gail Giles, a high school English teacher from Texas who has made a name for herself as an award-winning writer of young adult fiction.

Gail was born September 24, 1955, in Galveston on the Gulf Coast of Texas. She was raised in LaMarque, a suburb located just south of Houston. After her graduation from high school in Nacogdoches in eastern Texas, Gail enrolled at nearby Stephen F. Austin State University. There she earned degrees in English, speech, and drama. After her college graduation, Gail taught courses in English and remedial reading at Angleton High School in Angleton, Texas. Her career as an educator spanned 20 years.

A writer since childhood, Gail published her first of nine young adult novels in 2002. Her work won immediate acclaim. Her first novel, Shattering Glass (2002), was named a Best Books for Young Adults selection and a Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers selection by the American Library Association (ALA) the year after it was published. Her second novel, Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters (2003), was named a Top 10 Quick Pick by the ALA.

There is a good reason Gail’s books resonate with young adult readers. “When I taught the remedial readers I learned that one reason they didn’t like to read was that the books didn’t connect with their lives,” she once explained. “And frankly I thought having all the books out there being so—soft—and always offering hope—was doing a disservice to teens,” she continued. “The last thing to develop in a person’s brain is the sense of consequence, but the legal system decides someone’s not old enough to make a good decision about driving, getting married, buying alcohol, or joining the military until 18 or 20, but we can put them in jail forever at 12. So, I wanted to write some stories that shows that sometimes it can’t be fixed. That reality is harsh,” she concluded.

After living for a while in Illinois and Alaska, Gail and her husband, Jim Giles, returned to Texas where they currently reside.

Mathematics teacher Louis Leithold revolutionized the teaching of calculus

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Louis Leithold

Mathematics teacher Louis Leithold revolutionized the teaching of calculus.

Every once in a while an educator comes along who completely revolutionizes the way his or her subject is taught. This is true of mathematics teacher Louis Leithold of California, who completely revolutionized the instruction of calculus in American high schools and universities.

Louis was born on November 16, 1924, in San Francisco, California. As a boy, he was academically gifted. He attended Lowell High School, an elite public school that accepted only the brightest students in the city. He later worked his way through the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees in Mathematics.

In 1968, Louis published The Calculus, a volume which soon revolutionized the teaching of calculus. The book was instantly a blockbusting best-seller, and became the launching pad for Louis’s instructional workshops where he taught his innovative methods to other calculus teachers. One of the people Louis greatly influenced was Jaime Escalante, a legendary educator at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. Escalante’s experience as a calculus teacher of inner-city minority students is portrayed in the highly-acclaimed movie Stand and Deliver (1988).

During his long and distinguished career as an educator, Louis taught at numerous institutions, including California State University, Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; Pepperdine University; Phoenix College in Arizona; and the Open University in Britain.

When Louis was 72 years old and had already retired from teaching at the university level, Louis inaugurated a calculus program at Malibu High School in Malibu, California. He taught there for eight years. Each year, before the AP test, Louis assigned two to three hours of homework every night. He also held marathon training sessions at his home on Saturdays and Sundays. His teaching methods were praised for their liveliness, and his love for his subject was well known. And the success of his efforts could be statistically documented. While the national average score on the AP exam is 3.01 on a 5-point scale, Louis’s students averaged an impressive 4.5.

Sadly, this talented educator passed away on April 29, 2005, from natural causes. He was 80 years old. You can read more about Louis Leithold in his obituary in the Los Angeles Times at this link: Leithold LA Times.

Distinguished educator and legislator Joe Ellis Brown of South Carolina

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Joe Ellis Brown

Distinguished educator and legislator Joe Ellis Brown of South Carolina.

Many terrific teachers also make excellent lawmakers. This is true of Joe Ellis Brown, an educator from South Carolina who also served in the House of Representatives for his home state.

Joe was born on May 24, 1933, in Anderson County, South Carolina. After his high school graduation, young Joe enrolled at Allen University, a private university located in Columbia, South Carolina. He was the first member of his family to go to college. Joe earned his Bachelor’s degree from Allen in 1956, and then he earned his Master’s degree at South Carolina State University in 1961.

Joe inaugurated his career as a teacher at Atlas Road Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina. Within his first year of teaching, the talented educator was promoted to principal. In 1957, Joe was named the principal of Hopkins High School in Richland County School District in Hopkins, South Carolina. Later, he accepted a position as the principal of Hopkins Junior High School. He held this job until his retirement in 1985. In all, his service as a professional educator spanned nearly 30 years.

After he retired from teaching, Joe decided to pursue a career in public service. In 1986, he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives on the Democratic ticket. He represented District 73. While a member of the House, Joe was recognized as a stalwart supporter of public education, and he also worked toward reducing the cost of health care. In addition, he served as the Chairman of the Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee. He also served as the Chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus. His career as a legislator continued until 2006, a total of 20 years.

After leaving the House, Joe continued his practice of working for others by returning to his alma mater, Allen University, where he completed full-time volunteer work with alumni affairs, undergraduate affairs, the Student Mentoring Program, and the Legislators’ Archive Project.

Throughout his lifetime, Joe earned many accolades. He garnered the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity’s Charles W. Green Award of Merit; the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity’s Citizen of the Year Award; the Distinguished Alumni Citation of the Year Award from the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education; and an Honorary Doctorate of Arts and Humanities from Allen University. In addition, he was a life member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Arrow’s Bridge Club for Professional Men, and the Eau Claire Rotary Club, as well as many other civic and community organizations.

This amazing educator and politician passed away from natural causes at the age of 84 on January 7, 2018.

Minnette Gersh Lenier: Talented teacher and professional magician

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Minnette Gersh Lenier

Minnette Gersh Lenier, talented teacher and professional musician

Standing up in front of a classroom of students has often been compared to a theatrical performance. One teacher who would likely agree is Minnette Gersh Lenier, a talented teacher who also happened to be a professional magician.

Minnette was born on July 9, 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from San Fernando Valley State College in 1967, and her Master’s degree at the University of Iowa the following year. In 1971, she completed the requirements for her Ph.D at the University of Southern California.

As an adult, Minnette became interested in magic, so much so that she studied the subject under acclaimed magician Jules Lenier. She was so good at the art form that she became one of the few female performing magicians to appear at the world-famous Magic Castle. Minnette and Jules were later married.

After earning her college degrees, Minnette worked as a reading specialist at Compton Community College, and as a consultant with the Los Angeles Unified School District. Later she joined the faculty at Los Angeles Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley. This gifted educator often used stage magic in her classroom to teach literacy, reading, and critical thinking skills. She performed various magic tricks using optical illusions for her students to evaluate, and then she would discuss with them how people can fooled. She encouraged students to try magic tricks and illusions at home so they could demonstrate that everyone is occasionally deceived by their eyes. She taught her students that although one can be fooled, that doesn’t mean one is stupid. Believing that learning magic is a mind-expanding activity, Minnette used the art form to teach both her remedial students and her gifted students.

Minnette was also a published academic. With colleague Janet Maker, she authored several books to improve literacy for college students. Among her titles are Keys to a Powerful Literacy (1993); Academic Reading with Active Critical Thinking (1996); College Reading with Active Critical Thinking (1997); and Keys to College Success (1998). Some of her volumes have been adapted into audiobooks.

Sadly, Minnette Lenier suffered a heart attack and passed away in her home in Woodland Hills, California, on February 7, 2011. She was 65 years old.

Arizona’s Ruth Woolf Jordan: Rural schoolteacher and orchard owner

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Ruth Woolf Jordan

Arizona’s Ruth Woolf Jordan, rural schoolteacher and orchard owner.

There are many examples of  school teachers who became pioneers in the American Southwest. One of these was Ruth Woolf Jordan, a young teacher who taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Beaver Creek, Arizona.

Ruth Woolf was born in Crittendon County, Kentucky, on November 7, 1902. When she was ten years old, her family settled in Tempe, Arizona. As a young woman, Ruth attended Tempe Normal School, now known as Arizona State University, where she graduated in 1922.

Following her graduation, Ruth accepted a teaching position in a one-room schoolhouse in the Beaver Creek School, about 25 miles south of Sedona. As a rural school teacher, Ruth’s was responsible for firing up the wood stove on cold days, cutting her students’ hair, checking in on them when they were absent, ridding trails of rattlesnakes, and playing field games such as softball. To get back and forth to school every day, the young teacher rode her horse.

While teaching at Beaver Creek, Ruth was introduced to a young rancher named Walter Jordan. The pair fell in love, and were married in 1930. After their marriage, the couple settled into a one-room cabin on his land in nearby Sedona. Because local policy did not allow married women to teach school, Ruth gave up teaching and became a farmer’s wife. Eventually Ruth and Walter had three children.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, the Jordans expanded their farm to a total of 65 acres. There they planted an orchard of nearly 1,500 apple and peach trees. At the height of their orchard business, during the 1950s and 1960s, the couple was the largest private employers in Sedona. Ruth worked on the farm and marketed the produce in Phoenix, and in later years she returned to teaching school in Sedona and Red Rock when teachers were needed.

By the 1970s, Ruth and Walter were ready for retirement. They sold their last commercial crop in 1973. After Walter’s passing in 1987, Ruth negotiated with the City of Sedona and the Sedona Historical Society (SHS) to reach an agreement to donate a portion of her remaining property to the city, and to sell the remaining four acres and her home to the city. The agreement granted her a life estate and SHS access to operate a museum in the Jordan farm buildings. After Ruth passed away on January 7, 1996, the city developed the land into a public park, and in 1998 the SHS opened the Sedona Heritage Museum. The museum offers exhibits on local history, cowboys, movie-making, orcharding, and local pioneers, including early women settlers, and their contributions to the community of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. The historic Jordan buildings were the first in Sedona to be named to the National Register of Historic Places.

You can learn more about the Jordan Historic Park at the website for the Sedona Historical Society at Sedona Museum. Read more about chalkboard pioneer Ruth Woolf Jordan at the Arizona Memory Project.