Henrietta Szold: Baltimore teacher and champion of Jewish children

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Henrietta Szold

Teacher and activist Henrietta Szold at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, circa 1920.

I love to tell stories about exceptional educators who have made significant contributions to the world community. One of these is Henrietta Szold, a Baltimore teacher and activist who worked tirelessly with an organization that helped save thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis.

Henrietta was born on December 21, 1860, in Baltimore, Maryland, the eldest of eight daughters. Her mother was Sophie (Scharr) Szold, and her father was Benjamin Szold, a local respected rabbi. As a young girl, she attended Western Female High School, where she graduated in 1877.

After her high school graduation, Henrietta taught courses in French, German, botany, and mathematics at Miss Adam’s School and Mrs. McCulloch’s School at Glencoe. She taught in these schools for 15 years. When Henrietta saw a need to educate newly-arrived immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, she urged the Hebrew Literary Society to sponsor a program to teach them English. As a result, the first evening adult classes in Baltimore were established. This was the beginning of adult education in the city, and the program became a model for adult education in other American cities. Henrietta also taught courses in history and Bible studies for adults at Oheb Shalom Religious School.

In addition to her classroom duties, Henrietta served as her father’s literary secretary for many years. She became the secretary of the editorial board of the Jewish Publication Society (JPS), a position she held until 1916. She translated works, wrote articles, edited manuscripts, and oversaw the publication schedule. In 1899 she was instrumental in producing the first American Jewish Year Book, of which she was sole editor from 1904 to 1908. She also collaborated on the compilation of the Jewish Encyclopedia.

Henrietta is probably best known, however, for founding the international volunteer organization known as Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. With the Nazis rise to power in Germany, Henrietta recognized the extreme danger the party presented to European Jews. In 1932, a plan called Youth Aliyah was developed to send German Jewish Adolescents to Palestine to complete their education. Youth Aliyah was able to save between 22,000 and 30,000 Jewish youths from World War II death camps.Sadly, Henrietta passed away from complications from pneumonia on February 13, 1945, in Jerusalem, Israel, at the age of 84. She is buried in the Jewish Cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Following her death, Israel issued a coin and a stamp in her memory, the first American woman to be featured on Israeli currency. Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2007, Henrietta Szold is truly a chalkboard champion.

You can read more about this remarkable teacher in the Jewish Virtual Library.org.

Science educator Alex Joanis teaches Native American students

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Science teacher Alex Joanis works with Native American students on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the state of Washington.

Throughout our country, there are many talented and dedicated educators who work with culturally diverse groups of students. One of these is science teacher Alex Joanis, who works with Native American students on a reservation in the state of Washington.

Alex was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1995.  As an adolescent, he attended Santiago High School in Corona, California. After high school, he enrolled in California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in San Luis Obispo. There he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, cum laude, in 2017. He earned his teaching credential from the same college in 2018.

Alex cites several sources that influenced his decision to become an educator. First, he gives credit to his AP Chemistry teacher, Dr. Branton Lachman. “He was a great teacher who pushed me to do the best I could, and provided all of the resources and opportunities that I needed to achieve my academic potential and engage in authentic science learning,” Alex remembers.

Also, Alex says his experiences a a tutor deepened his resolve to go into the profession. “There’s a really neat feeling I get whenever I help someone else understand something they were struggling to get before,” he declares. “The light bulb goes off in their head, I can sense that, and I’m flush with a good feeling. It’s just nice to help people do the things they struggle to do on their own, and I like having that feeling,” he continued. “I also had an internship class in high school, where I got to drive down to my old elementary school and essentially act as a teacher’s assistant for two hours in one of the fifth grade classrooms. Just like how I loved the feeling of helping people ‘get stuff,’ I loved the feeling of building rapport with a group and being relied on for help,” he concluded.

After his student teaching experience at Templeton High School in Templeton, San Luis Obispo County, California, Alex accepted a teaching position at Wellpinit High School in the state of Washington. Alex has taught there for two years, instructing courses in biology, physics, chemistry, food science, and environmental science. The Wellpinit School District is a K-12 public school system located on the Spokane Indian Reservation. The school’s minority enrollment is 94%, and 82% of students are economically disadvantaged.

“Because I’m at a very small school, I get to sink more time into building relationships with the few students I have,” asserts Alex. “I’ve really taken a liking to this year’s sophomore class. They’re very easy-going, and now that I understand them better as individuals and as a group, I’m able to get them to engage more with the content and buy into the educational experiences I’m trying to give them,” he says.

In addition to his classroom responsibilities, Alex is one of two advisers for the sophomore class. He’s also working with a colleague to revitalize extra-curricular clubs that would provide students with leadership opportunities.

What advice would Alex share with fellow educators? He suggests that it is important to remember that there are students in your classroom that recognize the work you put into it and appreciate what you do. “Real recognizes real,” he says, “and as long as you present yourself authentically and do the best you can, you will have students that recognize that, respect the work you do, and put in some effort,” he advises.

Alex Joanis: A true Chalkboard Champion.

Educator Anna DiGilio: She’s earned phenomenal success in the business world

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Second grade educator Anna DiGilio of New York has earned phenomenal success in the business world.

Many excellent educators also enjoy phenomenal success in the business world. One teacher who took her superb abilities from the classroom to the business arena is elementary teacher Anna DiGilio of New York. She has harnessed the power of the Internet for her business, and in just a few short years she has built a million-dollar business. In addition to her business success, she continues to impact the educational community in numerous ways.

Anna taught second grade for a total of 23 years. She inaugurated her career in education in the Yonkers Public School District in New York. In 1998, she transferred to the Briarcliff Manor School District. She taught second grade there for 18 years.

In 2012, Anna was doing some internet research looking for some ideas for her classroom. She came across the website Teachers Pay Teachers. There she found that teachers were creating lesson plans, activities, and classroom decor resources digitally. They were selling these instructional items to other teachers through this site. Anna quickly realized that using this site could be a way to earn some extra money. She began creating branded resources and product lines that would build a name for herself in the online teaching community. She created her own brands such as Flip Flap Books, Tab-Its, Spin-Its, Teach-Its, and others.

“Being a teacher at heart, I was still all about the learning,” remembers Anna. “I spent every waking moment creating my resources, reading books, listening to podcasts, and taking online courses to help me build a more significant business, and to ultimately help teachers have a substantial impact in their classrooms,” she continued. Within two years, Anna managed to sell so many materials online that she doubled her teaching salary. That’s when she decided to retire from teaching and devote her talents to curriculum design full-time.

In January, 2017, Anna launched a membership website for second and third grade teachers called Simply Skilled Teaching. The website provides teachers with guided reading books, lesson plans, and activities to help them provide rigorous and creative reading instruction for their students. In April, 2018, Anna expanded her business when she launched an online Professional Development Workshop for teachers and school districts called Guided Math that Works. This company is an online program that teaches educators how to implement Guided Math framework into their classrooms. The program allows teachers to differentiate their mathematics instruction based on the individual levels of each student. The professional development workshop has been a great success, and Anna has sold this program to over 500 individual teachers and over 30 school districts in the first two months of the program’s existence.

“It has been a long journey up to this point, but I couldn’t be happier,” Anna confesses. “Not only am I helping teachers on a daily basis, I feel like I get to be a little part of their students’ lives as well,” she concluded.

To learn more about Anna’s success in the business world, read this interview published online by Forbes. Click on this link to visit the website Teachers Pay Teachers.

Connecticut’s Felipe Reinoso: Expert educator and politician

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Connecticut’s Felipe Reinoso: Expert educator and accomplished politician.

There are many fine educators who have also served successfully in political offices. One of these is Felipe Reinoso, a high school social studies teacher who also served in the Connecticut State House of Representatives.

Felipe was born in 1950 in Arequipa, Peru. He was one of five sons born to his parents, Cirilo and Angelica Reinoso. In 1969, when Felipe was 19 years old, his family immigrated to the United States. They settled in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Felipe earned his Bachelors’ degree at Sacred Heart University in 1984. The school is a private Roman Catholic university located in Fairfield, Connecticut. He earned his Master’s degree from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1987. Later he earned a second Master’s degree, in Public Administration, from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Felipe inaugurated his career as an educator at Warren Harding High School. He taught Social Studies there for 14 years. In 1989, he accepted a position at the Saturday Hispanic Academy in Science at his alma mater, Sacred Heart University. In 1998, Felipe and two colleagues founded the Bridge Academy High School, a charter high school located in Bridgeport. He served as the school’s principal through 2006.

In 2001, Felipe earned the Martin Luther King, Jr. Vision Award from Fairfield University. The award recognized Felipe’s tireless effort to instill and inspire the teachings and ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr., in the youth of his community. In 1999, he was one of 21 honorees to receive the President’s Service Award from President Bill Clinton. The honor was given for volunteer efforts directed at solving critical social problems. The award is the highest honor given each year by the President of the United States for volunteerism.

In 2000, Felipe was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Connecticut House of Representatives. There he represented the 130th District from 2001 and 2009. He was the first Peruvian-American to become a member of any US state legislature. While in the legislature, Felipe worked to lower tuition rates for immigrant students. He also worked towards allowing non-citizens an opportunity to gain a driver’s license.

After he left office, Felipe returned to his native country of Peru. He settled n the capital city of Lima, where he still lives today. To learn more about him, see this link at Our Campaigns.

Teacher, women’s rights activist, and civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune

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Teacher, women’s rights activist, and civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune.

Many fine educators have also made significant contributions to their communities and to society as a whole. One of these is Mary McLeod Bethune, an African American teacher who was was also a women’s rights activist and civil rights leader.

Mary McLeod Bethune was born on July 10, 1875, to former slaves in a log cabin on a plantation in Maysville, South Carolina. Her parents were Samuel and Patsy McLeod. Mary was the last of the couple’s 17 children, and the only one of the McLeod children to be born into freedom.

When the Civil War was won, Mary’s mother worked for her former owner until she could buy the land on which the McLeod family grew cotton. By nine years of age, young Mary could pick 250 pounds of cotton a day.

Even as a young child, Mary showed an unusual interest in books and reading. However, in those days it was rare for African Americans to receive an education. Nevertheless, a charitable organization interested in providing educational opportunities for Black children established a school near Mary’s home. Her parents could scrape together only enough money to pay the tuition for one of their children, and Mary was chosen. The future educator earned a scholarship to attend the Scotia Seminary, a boarding school in North Carolina. She graduated from there in 1894. She also attended Dwight Moody’s Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago, Illinois. Her studies there spanned two years.

When she grew up, Mary retained her strong desire to extend educational opportunities to other African Americans. She established her career as a teacher. While teaching in South Carolina, she married fellow teacher Albertus Bethune. The union produced one son in 1899.

In 1904 Mary founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. Starting out with only five students, she helped expand the school to more than 250 students over the next few years. Today, this school is known Bethune-Cookman University.

In her later years, Mary became a close friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and also a trusted adviser to President Franklin Roosevelt. In recognition of her outstanding abilities, the President made her a member of his unofficial “Black Cabinet.” He also appointed her the head of the National Youth Administration in 1936. In 1937 the indefatigable educator organized a conference on the Problems of the Negro and Negro Youth, and she fought tirelessly to end discrimination and lynching. In 1940, Mary became the Vice President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Persons (NAACP), a position she held for the rest of her life. In 1945, she was appointed by President Harry Truman to be the only woman of color present at the founding meeting of the United Nations.

This celebrated educator passed away peacefully on May 18, 1955. For all her accomplishments, Mary McLeod Bethune is truly a chalkboard champion. To read more about her, see this link at the website for the National Women’s History Museum.