Aimee Couto recognized as Rhode Island’s 2024 Teacher of the Year

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Rhode Island elementary school teacher  Aimee Couto has been named her state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: University of Rhode Island

It is always my pleasure to shine a spotlight on exceptional educators who have earned recognition for their work with young people. One of these is Aimee Couto, an elementary school teacher from Rhode Island. She has been named her state’s 2024 Teacher of the Year.

Aimée teaches first grade at Emma G. Whiteknact School located in East Providence, Rhode Island. She has been teaching there for the past 13 years. In her classroom, she is a strong advocate for project-based learning and the development of competent reading practices.

In addition to her work with first graders, the honored educator serves as a teacher leader on her campus and within her district. She helps guide several programs centered around positive social and emotional development at Whiteknact, she serves on the school improvement team, and she is her district’s facilitator for the Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) program.

Aimee was raised in a military family, which means that as a child she frequently moved all over the United States. She has lived in the states of Alaska, Hawaii, Nebraska, and New Hampshire, to name just a few. As a youngster, Aimee was considered a struggling reader. “Because we moved every two or three years, I always struggled with reading,” Aimee confesses. “As I have studied and taken many courses about the science of reading, I have come to realize that my teachers didn’t have the knowledge to help me progress, especially when it came to those frequent family moves. It’s why it’s so important that we come up with a national right-to-read act so we are all on the same page,” she declares. Today, Aimee has developed a classroom curriculum that fosters strong reading skills for her young students.

Aimee earned her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Rhode Island in 1996, and a second Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Rhode Island College.

To read more about Aimee Couto, click on this link to an article about her published by the University of Rhode Island.

Louisa Alexander: One of the first Black women to attend Oberlin College

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Louisa Lydia Alexander

Tombstone of Louisa Lydia Alexander.

This year’s celebration of Black History Month gives us the opportunity to recognize African American individuals that may otherwise go unrecognized. Our country’s history is full of stories of amazing African American pioneer educators. One of these is Louisa Lydia Alexander, an educator from the South who was one of the first Black women to attend Oberlin College.

Louisa was born at Mays Lick, Kentucky, on November 2, 1836. She was one of five daughters born to Henry and Lucy Alexander. Her father had been born a slave, but had been able to purchase his freedom when he was 21 years old. Once Henry was a free man, he became a merchant. Lucy and Henry worked tirelessly to earn money to send their daughters to school.

In 1950, Louisa was admitted to Oberlin College located in Oberlin, Ohio. Oberlin was the first American institution of higher learning to admit women students, and one of the first i the country to admit Black students. After studying for six years, Louisa completed the requirements for the Ladies Teaching course. She had earned her degree.

Following her college graduation, Louisa launched a lengthy career as an educator, teaching in numerous towns in the South, including Charleston, South Carolina; Marietta, Georgia; Henderson, Kentucky; Cumberland, Mississippi; Red Banks, Mississippi; Mays Lick, Kentucky; St. Mark, Alabama; and Giles Plantation, Mississippi.

This amazing pioneer educator passed away in Washington, DC, on August 18, 1911, at the age of 74. She is interred in Westwood Cemetery in Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio.

Teacher and pioneer Eliza Mott founded first school in Carson Valley, Nevada

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Teacher and pioneer Eliza Mott is credited with founding the first school in Carson Valley, Nevada. Photo credit: Cowgirl Magazine.

There are many amazing pioneer teachers who brought education and culture to the Western frontier. One of the most amazing was Eliza Mott, a remarkable educator who is credited with founding the first school in Carson Valley, Nevada.

In 1852, this enterprising pioneer wife and mother set up her school in her farmhouse kitchen. Her students sat on bare logs around a crude, wooden table. Armed with a couple of McGuffey Readers, a speller, and an arithmetic book, Eliza welcomed boys and girls dressed in plaid shirts or gingham dresses and home-knit stockings. Some were barefoot and some were wearing rough shoes with hard leather soles. The students in Eliza’ s class ranged in age from five to eleven years in age. Some of her pupils were her own children, and some were her nieces and nephews. 

Eliza was born on January 13, 1829, in Toronto, Canada. Her family immigrated to Lee County, Iowa, in 1842, and it was there that young Eliza developed her skills as a teacher. She excelled at academic subjects and vowed to make great strides in the field of education.

At the age of 22, she met and fell in love with Israel Mott, and on April 10, 1850, the pair were married. As soon as they were married, Israel and Eliza decided to go West. The fledgling pioneers set out in a Conestoga wagon pulled by two sturdy oxen. In early 1851 they landed in Salt Lake City, where they joined a Mormon wagon train and headed for California, one of a party of thirty families led by the famous frontiersman Kit Carson. When the caravan stopped to rest at Mormon Station in northern Nevada in July, 1851, Israel decided he liked the area so much he wanted to stay there. The couple homesteaded a 2,100-acre section of land along the Carson River route, and on this homestead Eliza established her school.

As more pioneer travelers established their farms in the area, the name of Mottsville was given to the settlement. It quickly became apparent that a school was needed. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Eliza still had to run the farm. On an average day, she would rise before dawn to care for her children, milk the cows, cook breakfast for her family and hired hands, prepare lunches for her students, and then complete her lesson plans. By fall, 1855, the Mottsville School had officially outgrown Eliza’s kitchen, and by the next year a schoolhouse was built in town. A schoolmaster was hired from the East, and Eliza resigned as the teacher to care for her family full-time.

This Chalkboard Champion will always be remembered fondly as the founder of the first school in Carson Valley, Nevada. You can read more about her in this story by Chris Enss printed online in Cowgirl Magazine.

Kate Vixon Wofford: A Groundbreaker in the Field of Education

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Many gifted classroom teachers have proven to be groundbreakers in the field of education. This is certainly true of Kate Vixon Wofford, a high school teacher from Laurens, South Carolina.

Kate Vixon Wofford

Kate was born on October 20, 1894, the eldest of ten children born to John and Cleo (Cunningham) Wofford. As a young girl, Kate attended Winthrop College, where she graduated with honors in 1916.

Kate accepted her first position as an educator at Laurens High School in Laurens, South Carolina. When World War I broke out, the intrepid teacher joined the United States Navy, where she served as a yeoman. She was one of the first women to enlist in the war effort. After the war was won, Kate returned to her classroom at Laurens.

At a time when women were not generally active in the political arena, Kate broke down many barriers. In 1922, she was elected to the position of County Superintendent of Schools, becoming the first woman in the state of South Carolina to be elected to a public office. She served two terms in this position. In addition, she served a term as the first president of the South Carolina State Teachers Association. And in 1929, she was selected to be a delegate to the World Conference in Education held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Kate Vixon Wofford

A lifelong learner, Kate returned to school in 1930. She earned her Master’s degree from Cornell University in 1931, and her doctorate from Columbia University in 1934. Following this, Kate accepted a position as the Director of Rural Education at State Teachers College in Buffalo, New York. An accomplished author, Kate wrote two books about education: Modern Education in the Small Rural School in 1938, and Teaching in Small Schools in 1946. These books were widely acclaimed. She also published pieces for the National Education Association (NEA).

In 1947, Kate was selected to be the Director of Elementary Education at the University of Florida in Gainesville. In 1952, she threw her energy into organizing a program for the Turkish Ministry of Education, successfully gaining funding and then directing a course of study for 25 Turkish educators. Her report of this program, entitled The Workshop Way with Foreign Students, was published in 1954.

Sadly, that same year, Kate learned she had cancer. She passed away at the age of 60 on October 31, 1954, in Gainesville. She is interred at the New Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery in Laurens, South Carolina.

During her lifetime, Kate was a member of the Daughters of American Revolution and the National Council of Administrative Women in Education. She was also a member of the honors association Pi Gamma Mu. To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see South Carolina Encyclopedia.