Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt: A Chalkboard Champion for Native Hawaiian Culture

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brandtThis beautiful lady is teacher Gladys Kamakuokalani Brandt, a Native Hawaiian old enough to have attended the funeral services in 1917 of Queen Liliuokalani, the last reining monarch of Hawaii, and still young enough to witness the unprovoked attack upon Pearl Harbor in 1941 which precipitated World War II. Gladys began her career as a teacher, working in public schools and eventually becoming an instructor at the prestigious Kamehameha Schools, a private institution set up to educate Native Hawaiian students.

As a youngster, Gladys was deeply ashamed of her Hawaiian heritage, so much so that she rubbed her face with lemon juice to lighten her complexion. By the time she became the principal of Kamehameha Schools, however, she had resolved to fight tirelessly for the inclusion of courses to preserve Native Hawaiian culture. She supported instruction in Hawaiian language, song, and the controversial standing hula dance which had been forbidden by the school’s trustees. The story of her work is an inspirational one.

Equally inspirational is the story of the dedication and sacrifice of Hawaii’s teachers in the days and weeks following the bombing. From serving as ambulance drivers, setting up shelters for survivors, teaching their students how to use gas masks, taking their students into the sugar cane fields to harvest the crops, and re-establishing some semblance of order for their students when school resumed, their deeds are truly remarkable. You can read about Gladys and her fellow Hawaiian teachers in my first book, Chalkboard Champions: Twelve Remarkable Teachers Who Educated America’s Disenfranchised Students.

Annie Blanton: Texas Teacher and Politician

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imgresI find stories about teachers engaged in political activity fascinating. One of the most interesting of these stories is that of Annie Webb Blanton, a teacher and suffragist who also just happens to be the first woman in Texas elected to statewide office.

Annie was born on August 19, 1870, in Houston, one of seven children of Thomas Lindsay and Eugenia (Webb) Blanton. Her twin sister, Fannie, died as a child. As a young girl, Annie attended school in Houston and La Grange. After graduating from La Grange High School in 1886, she taught in a rural school in Fayette County. When her father died in 1888, Annie relocated  to Austin, where she taught in both elementary and secondary schools. As she worked to support herself, Annie continued her studies at the University of Texas, where she graduated in 1899.

Shortly after her graduation from college, Annie was selected to serve on the English faculty of North Texas State Normal College, now known as the University of North Texas. She served in this capacity from 1901 to 1918. While there, she became active in the Texas State Teachers’ Association. She earned a reputation for being a strong believer in equal rights for women. During this time she also wrote a series of grammar textbooks. In 1916, Annie was elected president of the teachers’ union, the first woman to occupy the position.

In 1917 Texas suffragists found a strong supporter  in Governor William P. Hobby, so they threw their considerable energy into his  1918 bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. In that election, the suffragists also encouraged Annie to run for the office of state superintendent of public instruction. The campaign was a bitter one, with false accusations made against the veteran teacher, but in the 1918 primary, Texas women were allowed to vote for the first time, so Annie was elected by a wide margin. Her victory in the general election in November made her the first woman in Texas elected to statewide office.

During her tenure as state superintendent, Annie inaugurated a system of free textbooks, revised teacher certification laws, raised teachers’ salaries, and made improvements to rural education. Annie was re-elected in November of 1920, when voters also passed the Better Schools Amendment, which she had proposed as a means of removing constitutional limitations on tax rates for local school districts. She served as state superintendent through 1922.

When  her term ended, Annie  returned to the University of Texas, where she received her master’s degree in 1923. She taught in the UT education department until 1926, then took a leave of absence to earn her Ph.D from Cornell University. After returning to the University of Texas in 1927, she remained a professor of education there for the rest of her life.

During her lifetime, Annie published a number of books about education, including Review Outline and Exercises in English Grammar (1903), A Handbook of Information as to Education in Texas (1922), Advanced English Grammar (1928), and The Child of the Texas One-Teacher School (1936). In 1929 she founded the Delta Kappa Gamma society, an honorary society for women teachers, which in 1988 had an international membership of 162,000. She also was active in national educational groups and served as a vice president in the National Education Association in 1917, 1919, and 1921.

Annie Blanton never married, and she had no children of her own. She died in Austin on October 2, 1945, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Public schools are named for her in Austin, Dallas, and Odessa, and a women’s dormitory at the University of Texas at Austin has also been named after her.

Annie Blanton: a true chalkboard champion.

New York’s Julia Richman: The Chalkboard Champion of European Jewish Immigrants

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richman[1]Julia Richman was a truly remarkable educator of the late 1800s. The daughter of Jewish immigrant parents, Julia declared at a surprisingly early age that she would reject the traditional role of wife and mother and opt for a career in teaching instead.

At 15, Julia enrolled in college courses at New York City’s Female Normal College, the precursor to Hunter College, graduating fourth in her class in 1872. She then devoted the next forty years of her life to teaching and improving the lives of the Jewish immigrant students who were entrusted to her care, first as their teacher, later as a principal, and finally as a district superintendent.

During her tenure, Julia Richman pioneered innovative programs for handicapped students, English-language learners, and troubled youth, and she instituted vocational education programs and much-needed courses in health and hygiene. Many of her innovations are common practice in schools throughout the country today. In addition to her work in the schools, Julia worked indefatigably to better the lives of New York’s Eastern European immigrants through the Educational Alliance, the most important Jewish charitable organization located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

A wonderful book about Julia Richman was recently published by scholar Selma Cantor Berrol; the book is entitled Julia Richman: A Notable Woman. You can find this book on the web site for Barnes and Noble and also on amazon.com. I have also devoted a chapter of my book, Chalkboard Champions, to this most extraordinary educator. My book can be found at amazon.com at the following link: http://www.amazon.com/Chalkboard-Champions.

Remembering retired educator Bill Ruth on September 11

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927-ruth-largeIt has been fourteen years since our nation was rocked to the core by the September 11th terrorist attacks. Like most teachers who went to school that day, I distinctly remember how difficult it was to ease the fears and distress of my students while trying to keep my own alarm and emotions under control. And now, so many years later, when I reflect upon the events of that day, I wonder if any educators lost their lives in the attacks.

In conducting some research, I discovered the story of one heroic educator: William (Bill) R. Ruth, a retired middle school social studies teacher from Maryland. After his career as an educator, Bill was working at the Pentagon as a Chief Warrant Officer for the US Army. He was in his office there when the building was struck by American Airlines Flight 77. He was one of 30 individuals on the ground who lost their lives in the tragedy. On the day of his death, Bill Ruth was 57 years old.

Bill had a long record of service to his country. He served in the Marines during the Vietnam War, where he was a helicopter pilot. He would later tell friends of the missions he flew, evacuating the wounded and the dead. As a Maryland National Guard reservist, Bill also served in the Persian Gulf War. When the conflict erupted, Bill was pulled out of the classroom and sent to the Middle East.

After his tour of duty in Vietnam, Bill earned his master’s degree and became a social studies teacher, a career that spanned three decades. Right before he retired, Bill worked at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus, Maryland.

“Mr. Ruth was my seventh grade social studies and history teacher at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus, Maryland, way back in 1995,” remembers educator Barbara Boyd Overmier. “He was the best teacher, and he made learning fun. He would bring in pictures and slideshows of helicopters he flew, and always had a fantastic story to tell. I remember being more interested in going to his class than any other. I remember him as a kind man, wanting to make sure we achieved our potential and enjoyed doing it.”

Bill Ruth is remembered fondly by many, including scores of former students. And he has left a lasting legacy to his profession. “We lost not only a great man that day,” expresses Overmier, “but our country lost a hero. He was such an inspiration to me that I recently completed my education to become a teacher so that I could touch lives the way that he did,” she discloses. “We’ll miss you Mr. Ruth, you were the best of the best!”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Rebecca Pawel: High school English teacher and acclaimed novelist

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I love to tell stories about amazing teachers, and one that certainly fills the bill is Rebecca Pawel, a New York City high school teacher who has published four widely-acclaimed mystery novels.

PawelRebecca Pawel  was born in 1977 in New York City and raised in the Upper West Side. She once revealed that her love affair with all things Iberian began in junior high school, when she studied flamenco and classical Spanish dance. While a teenager at Stuyvesant High School, Rebecca spent a summer abroad in Madrid. Once she graduated from high school, she enrolled at Columbia University, where she majored in Spanish Language and Literature. She then attended Teachers College to earn her teaching credentials.

Rebecca began her professional career as a teacher of English, Journalism, and Spanish at the High School for Enterprise, Business, and Technology in Brooklyn. She was employed there from 2000 to 2011. Between 2011 and 2013, she served as a college advisor for High School for Services and Learning at Erasmus Hall in Flatbush. In 2013, Rebecca returned to the Graduate School of Arts and Science at Columbia University, where she is currently working on a PhD in English and Comparative Literature.

Rebecca’s detective novels are set in a time period immediately after the Spanish Civil War. Her first book, Death of a Nationalist (2005), earned an Edgar for Best First Novel by an American Author. She followed this triumph with Law of Return (2004), The Watcher in the Pine (2005), and The Summer Snow (2006), which was named one of Publisher’s Weekly Best Mysteries.

“I’ve always told stories,” Rebecca once confessed. “I dictated stories to my parents before I knew how to write them down. When I was in third grade, my dad taught me to touch-type on a Brother electronic typewriter.” The rest is history.