Teacher Geraldine Flaharty serves in Kansas House of Reps

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Geraldine Flaharty, a retired elementary teacher from Kansas, serves in her state’s House of Representatives. Photo credit: Public Domain.

Many talented teachers have also served their communities as politicians. One  example of this is Geraldine Flaharty, an elementary reading teacher from Kansas who also serves in her state’s House of Representatives.

A native of Kansas, Geraldine was born March 4, 1936, in Parsons. She currently lives in Wichita. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Wichita State University in 1961. She completed the requirements for her Master’s in Education from the same school in 1971.

Geraldine worked as an elementary teacher for Wichita Public Schools from 1956 to 1957 and as a reading teacher at Oaklawn Elementary School in the Derby Public School District from 1966. At that time, she retired after teaching after 36 years.

This talented educator was elected as a Democrat to the Kansas State House of Representatives for District 98, serving Sedgwick County, Kansas. She served there from 1995 to 2013. During her stint as a politician, Geraldine served on the committees for Education; Health and Human Services; Aging and Long-Term Care; Economic Development and Tourism; and the Joint Committee on Pensions, Investments, and Benefits. One of her legislative acts was to support a bill that would restore professional status to retired teachers who return to work. “Representative Flaharty has been a tireless advocate for the people of Wichita,” House Minority Leader Paul Davis once said. “She has been a champion for job creation, good public schools, and fair taxation.”

Throughout her long career, Geraldine has donated her talents to a number of community organizations, including the American Association of University Women, the International Reading Association, the Kansas National Education Association, the Sedgwick County Zoo, and the Wichita Center for the Arts. Geraldine Flaharty: a true Chalkboard Champion.

Jennifer Hedrington named MA 2021 Teacher of the Year

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Congratulations to junior high school math educator Jennifer Hedrington of Massachusetts, who has been named her state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Peter Wilson

Congratulations go to junior high school math educator Jennifer Hedrington of Massachusetts. She has been named her state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year.

Jennifer teaches seventh grade mathematics at Ferryway School in Malden, Massachusetts. She has taught there for the past ten years. Previously, she taught in Texas and Maryland. Her career in education has spanned 16 years in all. Prior to becoming a teacher, she worked at group homes and detention centers.

In addition to teaching math, Jennifer encourages her students to become leaders in community service. She supports them when they speak out about social and racial injustices and leads them in their involvement in activities such as celebrating Black History Month. Jennifer says she measures student achievement by the ways in which they apply the lessons they have learned outside of the classroom.

The long-time teacher believes that the best part of her job is building strong relationships with students and watching them grow and change for years, even after they leave her classroom. Her philosophy is that educators must put emotional needs before academic needs. “Take care of their emotional needs first and focus on that, and everything else will fall into place,” she asserts. But Jennifer admits that she is still growing as an educator. “What drives me every day is that I want to become the teacher that I needed when I was in school,” she says.

The honored educator earned her Bachelor’s degree from Atlantic Union College. She also earned a Juris Doctorate from the Massachusetts School of Law.

To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this article about her published in the Boston Herald.

Francis Wayland Parker: Pioneer of the Progressive Movement in Education

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New Hampshire’s Francis Wayland Parker, educator and Civil War veteran, was a pioneer in the Progressive Movement in education.  Photo credit: Public Domain.

At the turn of the of the 20th century, one of the most celebrated pioneers of the Progressive Movement in education was Colonel Francis Wayland Parker of New Hampshire.

In a time when modern ideas were not popular, this innovative educator promoted a philosophy that education should not emphasize standardization, rote memorization, and isolated drill. Rather, he advocated a curriculum that addressed the development of the whole student, including the child’s intellectual, physical, and moral growth. He created a model program that was strong on language development and geared towards teaching students to think and make decisions independently. Today we would recognize his strategies as teaching critical thinking skills and creative problem-solving.

Francis Parker was born on October 9, 1837, in Bedford, New Hampshire. At the tender age of 16 he became the village teacher, and when the Civil War broke out seven years later, this young educator enlisted as a private in the 4th New Hampshire Volunteer Army. It wasn’t long before he was promoted to lieutenant, then to lieutenant colonel, and then to commander. In May, 1865, Colonel Parker was captured by Confederate forces and held as a prisoner of war in North Carolina.

When the war was over, this Civil War veteran resumed his teaching career, first as a classroom teacher, and then as a principal. In 1872, the continuously evolving educator traveled to Germany to study pedagogy at the Humboldt University of Berlin. When he returned, he became the coordinator of a highly-acclaimed teacher-training institution In Chicago, Illinois.

Colonel Parker is an American hero in so many ways, and is undoubtedly a Chalkboard Champion in the truest sense of the word. You can read more about this remarkable historical figure in my second book, Chalkboard Heroes: Twelve Courageous Teachers and Their Deeds of Valor, available from amazon.

Etta Schureman Jones: Teacher and WWII prisoner of war

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Etta Schureman Jones

Alaskan teacher Etta Schureman Jones spent WWII as a prisoner of war in Japan. Photo credit: Mary Breu.

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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 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 students 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.

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 US Navy, but before that could be accomplished, 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 included a chapter about this intrepid 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.