Math teacher M.B.W. Tent also writes books for young people

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Many fine educators have also earned a name for themselves as published authors. One of these is M.B.W. Tent, a math teacher who has published several books for young people.

M.B.W., whose first name is Margaret, was born on Nov. 2, 1944. She was raised in western Massachusetts. As a young girl, she graduated from Amherst Regional High School. Following high school, she earned both her Bachelor’s degree and her Master’s degree at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

For many years, M.B.W. taught school at Altamont High School in Birmingham, Alabama. She has said she has enjoys bringing the history of mathematics into her teaching.

M.B.W. has published a number of educational books about mathematicians for students of elementary school age. Her works include Emmy Noether: The Mother of Modern Algebra (2008); The Prince of Mathematics: Carl Friedrich Gauss (2009); Leonard Euler and the Bernoullis: Mathematicians from Basel (2009); Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: The Polymath who Brought us Calculus (2019). She also published A 1928 Road Trip from the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts to the National Parks of the West (2011).

As an author, many of M.B.W.’s books have earned favorable reviews from professional organizations such as the Mathematical Association of America and the Association for Computing Machinery. In addition, her books are frequently cited in academic publications, and they have garnered praise from such renowned mathematicians as Charles Ashbacher, William Dunham, Peter Neumann, Peter Lax, and Cathleen Synge Morawetz.

Teacher Harriet Hobart championed Women’s Suffrage

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Former schoolteacher Harriet Hobart with her husband, Chauncey Hobart, and several of his colleagues and others in Minnehaha Falls, Minnesota. Photo credit: MNopedia.

Many fine classroom teachers have worked tirelessly on social causes. One of these was Harriet Hobart, a teacher who championed the causes of women’s suffrage and temperance.

Harriet was born on Jan. 1, 1825, in Northern Ireland. She was just 18 years old when she immigrated to the United States in 1843. As a young woman, Harriet launched a highly successful career as a professional educator in New York City. In a career that spanned 25 years, Harriet spent 10 years as a classroom teacher and another 15 years as a teaching principal.

In April, 1868, Harriet relocated to Red Wing, Minnesota, where she married a recently widowed Methodist Episcopal minister, Chauncey Hobart. Chauncey had already built an impressive career serving Methodist parishioners in Illinois and Wisconsin frontier towns before landing in Minnesota.

In addition to her work as an educator, Harriet dedicated her considerable energies to social causes. Viewed by her colleagues as an effective leader and speaker, the former teacher became president of the Minnesota Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a post she held for 17 years. During this time, Harriet urged the WCTU to work on women’s rights, specifically women’s suffrage, a cause for which she worked tirelessly for the rest of her life.

Sadly, Harriet passed away on Feb., 17, 1898. She was 74 years old. Alas, she did not live to see her work completed, but Prohibition and Women’s Suffrage made great gains during the 20 years following her passing. The Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1919, banned the making and sale of alcohol, although the amendment was repealed in 1933. The Nineteenth Amendment, which secured the right to vote for women, was ratified in 1920.

To read more about Harriet Hobart, see this article about her published by Alchetron.

Jahsha Tabron named Delaware’s 2022 State Teacher of the Year

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Congrats to Special Education teacher Jahsha Tabron, who has been named Delaware’s 2022 State Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Delaware State University

Congratulations are due to Jahsha Tabron, a high school teacher from Delaware who has been named her state’s 2022 Teacher of the Year. She was selected from a field of 20 teachers representing school districts or charter schools throughout the state.

Jahsha currently teaches at Brandywine High School, where she works primarily with ninth graders who are transitioning into high school. In all, her career as an educator has spanned an impressive 21 years.

In addition to her work with students, Jahsha serves as her school’s Special Education Department Chair. She also works towards establishing equitable educational practices, and she facilitates opportunities for colleagues to foster student-centered growth. She mentors new teachers in compliances with special education requirements that are necessary for developing individualized education plans for students.

Jahsha recognizes that the efforts of her colleagues is just as important as her own. “I’m reminded daily that I am a part of something important, something bigger than myself and my classroom,” she said at the time she accepted her honor. “Our community includes teachers, counselors, and administrators,” she continued. “At the core of a true school community, there’s accountability, solidarity and a mutual understanding why we are her to prepare students. This is what creates successful students and successful schools,” she concluded.

As a result of her selection as Teacher of the Year, Jahsha will receive a $5,000 grant to use for the educational benefit of her students, as well as two personal grants totaling an additional $5,000.

A native of Bronx, New York, Jahsha was born of immigrant parents from Jamaica. The honored educator earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Special Education from Delaware State University in 2000. Later she earned her Master’s degree in School Leadership and Administration from Wilmington University.

 

Remembering teacher and coach Scott Beigel, slain in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High shooting

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We remember Florida teacher and coach Scott Beigel, who was slain in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Photo credit: runnersworld.com

The community of professional educators is always distressed by the loss of a colleague to campus violence. This is certainly true about Scott Beigel, a teacher and coach who was slain in a school shooting that occurred in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018.

After earning his Bachelor’s degree in technical Studies from Farmingdale State College, New York, in 2009, Scott moved to Parkland, Florida, where he accepted a position teaching geography at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. He also coached the school’s cross country team. In addition, on his summer vacations Scott worked as a counselor at Starlight Summer Camp in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. During the shooting, Scott is credited for saving the lives of students by unlocking his door and letting students inside the classroom to hide. Unfortunately, the heroic teacher could not escape the gunman, Nikolas Cruz, an expelled student from the high school. Scott, who was only 35 years old at the time of his passing, was one of 17 people fatally wounded by Cruz that day.

Since his tragic passing, Scott is sorely missed. “Thousands of people at Camp Starlight looked up to Scott,” asserted Grant Williams, a summer camp colleague. “He was someone you strive to be like.” Student Thomas Risley agreed. “He cared a lot about his students,” Risley remembers. “I’m going to miss his colorful personality.” Former Douglas High student Cameron Kasky also praised the fallen educator. “Scott’s memory lives in the fact that he was able to positively touch the lives of so many young people,” Kasky remarked. After the attack, Kasky became a student leader in the March for Our Lives gun-control movement.

To honor Scot’s sacrifice, his name has been inscribed on the National Memorial to Fallen Educators sponsored by the National Teachers Hall of Fame located in Emporia, Kansas. A street has also been renamed Scott J. Beigel Way in the Dix Hills area of Long Island, New York, where Scott grew up.