Getting ready for back to school: A list of tips

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Back to School

As much as we all would like summer vacation to go on and on, we cannot deny that the end of summer is rapidly approaching. The start of a new school year is just around the corner. Getting ready for the upcoming school year requires a great deal of planning. Here is a dandy list of tips to help you prepare. Some are more suitable for elementary teachers, others are better for secondary teachers, and some are useful for both levels. Adapted from ThoughtCo. Enjoy!

  • Write and mail or email a welcome letter to parents and students
  • Create name tags for students and their desks
  • Read through student files to help determine placement in groups and activities
  • Determine desk arrangement and create seating charts
  • Decorate and put up bulletin boards
  • Decorate the front door
  • Determine the rules and consequences or how you will have the class decide upon the rules
  • Organize first-day ice-breakers
  • Collect activities and design lessons for the first week of school
  • Become familiar with the class computer and other technology needed for the classroom
  • Decide how to welcome students and introduce them to the rules and procedures
  • Develope a substitute folder
  • Create a list of classroom jobs
  • Introduce yourself to fellow teachers and staff members
  • Set up your classroom calendar
  • Organize the classroom library, if you have one
  • Make copies of forms and worksheets you want to send home the first week
  • Have all systems in order (homework basket, paperwork basket, etc.)
  • Create or purchase a lesson plan organizer and calendar
  • Gather teacher materials and supplies
  • Set up a class web page to communicate with students and parents
  • Purchase or acquire any classroom supplies that are needed
  • Obtain a copy of the district curriculum standards for your courses
  • Prepare a folder for faculty meetings and information
  • Make copies of materials for the first couple of weeks
  • Post emergency evacuation map and procedures
  • Acquire or stock a first aid kit
  • Decide how to manage homework
  • Decide how to manage using the restroom (bathroom passes, etc.)
Source: ThoughtCo

Educator, astronomer, and US Navy Rear Admiral Simon Newcomb

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Astronomer and US Navy Rear Admiral Simon Newcomb began his career as a rural schoolteacher in Maryland.

Many fine educators have also earned a stellar reputation in professions other than education. One of these is Simon Newcomb, a Maryland school teacher who became a Rear Admiral in the US Navy and an internationally-recognized expert in astronomy.

Simon Newcomb was born on March 12, 1835, in Wallace, Nova Scotia. His father, an American, was an itinerant schoolteacher. Even as a young child, Simon demonstrated an unusual ability for mathematics. When he was just 16, Simon was apprenticed to an herbalist in Salisbury, New Brunswick, but the intelligent teen quickly came to the conclusion that the man was a charlatan. Simon ran away and made his way back to his family, which by then had settled in rural Maryland. The young man inaugurated his career as a teacher there, and at the same time studied mathematics and astronomy in nearby Washington, DC.

In January, 1857, Simon moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he accepted a position with the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. The organization published a handbook for astronomers. While working there, Simon enrolled at he Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University. He earned his degree in 1858. Three years later, Simon became a commissioned officer in the US Navy. He became a professor of mathematics for the Navy, and was assigned to the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. In this position, Simon’s work was to find and correct errors made in calculating the positions and motions of various celestial bodies. He was also responsible for negotiating a contract to build a new 26-inch telescope at the Naval Observatory. The telescope was completed in 1873.

In 1877, Simon was promoted to the rank of captain. He was also promoted to the position of Senior Mathematics Professor in the Navy and Superintendent of the American Nautical Almanac Office. In this position, the honored educator revised motion theory and position tables for all major celestial bodies in the solar system. This published work, which took 20 years to complete and became the standard reference both at home an abroad, is still in use today. During this period Simon led several field expeditions, including one to the Saskatchewan region in 1860 to observe an eclipse of the sun. He also traveled to Gibralter in 1870 to observe the solar eclipse there, and to the Cape of Good Hope in 1882, where he observed and charted the Venus transit that took place that year.

By 1884, Simon had been named a contributing editor of the American Journal of Mathematics. In addition, he was selected to be a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 1896, he traveled to Paris as the leader of an international astronomy conference. In 1899, Simon founded the American Astronomical Society. He served as the organization’s president for six years.

For his work in the fields of mathematics and astronomy, Simon Newcomb earned many accolades and honorary degrees, both national and international. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He also published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

This exceptional educator and scientist passed away in Washington, DC, on July 11, 1909. He is interred in Arlington Cemetery. To learn more about Simon Newcomb, you can read his biography at this link for the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Golda Meir: Teacher and first woman Prime Minister of Israel

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Golda Meir: Teacher and first woman Prime Minister of Israel

Many people have heard of Golda Meir, the “Iron Lady of Israeli Politics” who served from 1969 to 1974 as the Prime Minister of Israel. But did you know that Golda was also a teacher?

Golda was born Golda Mabovitch in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 3, 1898. Her parents were Moshe and Blume Mabovitch, and Golda was one of eight children born to the couple. Five of her siblings died in infancy; Golda was the middle child of three surviving daughters. When she was a young child, her father immigrated to the United States; the rest of the family followed him three years later. The Mabovitches settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

As a youngster, Golda attended the Fourth Street Grade School where she graduated as the valedictorian of her class. She then enrolled in North Division High School, against the wishes of her parents, who believed that girls should get married, not pursue an education or a profession. In her freshman year, Golda moved to Denver, Colorado, to live with her older sister, Sheyna, and at that time she transferred to North High School. In Denver, Golda met Morris Myerson, and she fell in love. Despite this romance, in 1915, Golda returned to her parents’ home in Milwaukee, and the following year she graduated from North Division High School.

After her high school graduation, Golda enrolled at Wisconsin State Normal School to pursue a three-year degree in education. During her training, the neophyte educator taught young children reading, writing, and history three days a week at a folkshule, a Yiddish school at the Jewish Center of Milwaukee. She also gave numerous lectures on Zionism, a movement to establish a homeland for the Jewish people.

In 1917, Golda married her long-time boyfriend Morris Myerson. Later, she modified her surname to Meir. In 1921, the fourth year of their marriage, Golda and Morris emigrated to Palestine, where the couple quickly joined a kibbutz. Over the next five years, Golda and Morris had two children: a boy named Menachem in 1924, and daughter named Sarah in 1926.

Unfortunately, Morris contracted malaria, so the family left the kibbutz and moved to Jerusalem, where Golda accepted employment in a government job. She worked as the secretary of the Working Women’s Council, and represented the council at a number of international labor meetings. In 1929 Golda was named a delegate to the World Zionist Organization. In the next decade, Golda organized illegal immigration of Jews to Palestine when it became obvious that they faced persecution by the Nazis. In 1946, at the end of WWII, Golda was appointed the acting head of the Jewish Agency’s political department, a position she held until Israel was founded on May 14, 1948. The former teacher was among the signers of Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

Golda began her political career in Israel as that country’s representative to the Soviet Union. When she was elected to the first Israeli Parliament, she returned to Israel, where she was appointed minister of labor and social insurance. While serving in this capacity, she endeavored to solve the most important problems Israel faced at the time: housing and employment for 700,000 new immigrants. In 1947, David Ben Gurion, then Prime Minister of the fledgling country, appointed Golda his Foreign Minister, Israel’s second most powerful position. The only female foreign minister then serving in the world, Golda nevertheless conducted herself in a very informal way. She flew tourist class, hand-washed her own underwear, shined her own shoes, and entertained foreign dignitaries in her kitchen wearing an apron and serving them her homemade pastries.

In 1966, sixty-year old Golda decided to retire from public service, but her political party persuaded her to become their secretary general and the secretary of the Unified Labor Party. When Prime Minister Levi Eshkol died suddenly in 1969, her party prevailed upon her to become Israel’s next Prime Minister. She guided her country through the difficult period of the Yom Kippur War. However, the former teacher was suffering from lymphatic cancer, and because of her declining health and political pressures, she decided to resign in 1974.

Golda Meir passed away on December 8, 1978, at the age of 80. At the time of her passing, Golda was recognized as one of the first women to lead a nation in the modern era.

Chalkboard champion Bessie Burke: First Black principal hired in Los Angeles

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Chalkboard champion Bessie Burke, the first African American principal hired in the Los Angeles Public School System.

In American history, there are many examples of fine educators who were also pioneers. One of these was Bessie Burke, who was the first African American principal hired in the Los Angeles Public School System.

Bessie was born on March 19, 1891, in Los Angeles. Just a few years earlier, in 1887, her parents had left their farms and teaching jobs in Kansas to migrate west. They settled in what is now known as North Hollywood.

As a young girl, Bessie attended Berendo Elementary School in LA. From Berendo Bessie went to Polytechnic High School in Pasadena.

After her high school graduation, Bessie enrolled in courses at Los Angeles State Normal School. The institution is now associated with the University of California at Los Angeles. The young scholar graduated seventh in a class of 800. Bessie earned her teaching credential in 1911. Her first teaching assignment was at Holmes Avenue School. In 1918, she was promoted and served as the first black principal in the Los Angeles school system. In all, she devoted 20 years to the Holmes Avenue School.

From Holmes, Bessie transferred to Nevin Avenue School, in 1938. The school featured a racially mixed student body. When she accepted this position, Bessie became one of the first Black principals in the state to head a racially integrated student body. Bessie retired in 1955. She is still remembered in the area as a distinguished humanitarian and well-respected educator and administrator.

In addition to her responsibilities at the school, Bessie served in several civic organizations, including the NAACP, the YWCA, the Native California Club, and the Women’s Political Study Club. She was also a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

This amazing educator passed away in 1968 at the age of 68. She is interred at Angeles Rosedale Cemetery. To learn more about Bessie, click on this link from the US National Park Service: Bessie Burke.