Oklahoma’s Chalkboard Heroes Protect Students From Devastating Tornado

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ap_children_alive_tornado_crop_nt_130520_wg[1][1]Once again our nation is reminded of the heroism of our teachers, who go above and beyond the call of duty to care for, protect, and comfort their students in crisis situations. Such was the case yesterday, in Moore, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, when a devastating tornado tore through this Mid-Western neighborhood. Two elementary schools, Briarwood Elementary and Plaza Towers Elementary, lay directly in the tornado’s path of destruction. Thankfully, all the students at Briarwood have been accounted for, and already there are eyewitness accounts from the rescued children describing what extraordinary measures their teachers took to ensure their safety and well-being. Every one of those educators is a chalkboard hero. This photo shows a teacher from from Briarwood evacuating a student. At Plaza Towers Elementary, there is still grave concern for 75 teachers and their students, most of them third graders, who are still missing. I know we will keep all of them in our thoughts, and hope with all our might for the best of outcomes.

Turn-of-the-Century Farm Schools Educated Orphan, Homeless Boys

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8c03482r[1][2]While conducting research for my book Chalkboard Champions, I learned a great deal about various types of schools that I had never heard about in my thirty-odd years as a teacher. Industrial schools, emancipation schools, farm schools, normal schools, specialist schools. Where were all these terms when I went through student teaching? One type of school I learned about that I found particularly intriguing is the farm school.
A farm school was a boarding school which primarily served young boys. Typically these schools were established by missions or charitable organizations during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The farm school provided housing, food, and medical care, usually to orphans or homeless boys who were over fourteen years of age. In addition, the school offered training in agricultural skills and fundamental lieracy skills in such subjects as reading, writing, and mathematics. The purpose of the farm school was to care for orphans and homeless youth, while simultaneously giving these youngsters the opportunity to learn a marketable skill which would enable them to find employment on farms in the Midwest or the South.

Chalkboard Champions Added to Nine More Public Libraries

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chalkboard2[1]I’m pretty excited to announce that my book, Chalkboard Champions: Twelve Remarkable Teachers Who Educated America’s Disenfranchised Students, has been added to the catalogues of nine more public libraries in the Southern California area. These libraries are located in Cathedral City, Eastvale, Idyllwild, Palm Desert, Perris, San Jacinto, Temecula, Valle Vista, and Woodcrest.
How wonderful is it to know that the general public is interested in reading stories about remarkable teachers! I love to tell stories about extraordinary teachers, and in today’s world where so much negativity hits the news, this knowledge should give all of us who are professional educators a lift!

The "Soup School": Food for Thought

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ARussian-JewishBoy-JustLandedAtEllisIsland-250[1][1]While in the process of conducting research for my book Chalkboard Champions, I learned about many types of schools that I had never heard about in the thirty-odd years I have been a professional educator. Industrial schools, emancipation schools, freedom schools, farm schools, normal schools. Where were all these terms when I went through student teaching? I was particularly intrigued by the concept of the “soup school.” What was that all about, I wondered?
I learned that a “soup school” was an institution established during periods of pronounced immigration to our country. Their purpose was to provide assistance to immigrant children as they struggled to assimilate within a new, dominant culture. Often times these schools were founded by charitable organizations or missionary societies. It makes sense that these schools were located primarily near areas of immigrant entry, New York City, for example. The main curriculum in these facilities was instruction in the English language, basic literacy skills, and American culture. Apparently, the school got its name from the fact that at noontime a bowl of soup was served to the students, a free meal which would have been most welcome to the poorest of immigrants. In contemplating this practice, I’m wondering if our nation’s free lunch program would be considered a modern version of the “soup school”?
You can read more about soup schools in Chalkboard Champions, available on amazon.

Indian Boarding Schools: A Cultural Disaster

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9780395920848_p0_v1_s260x420[1][1]While I was conducting research for my book Chalkboard Champions, I was surprised to learn a great deal about numerous types of schools, more than I ever learned in the thirty-odd years I had been teaching. Industrial schools, soup schools, farm schools, normal schools, specialist schools. Where were all these terms when I went through student teaching? I was particularly interested in reading about Indian boarding schools, and the controversies these generated.
Indian boarding schools were created specifically for the purpose of educating Native Americans. Indian children were sent to these schools, sometimes involuntarily, because it was believed the only way Native Americans could ever succeed in a predominantly white society would be if they abandoned their tribal ways and adopted the lifestyle practiced by the dominant culture, and that this assimilation could best be accomplished when the Indians were very young. Most Indian boarding schools were first founded by church missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Later, some were established and run by the U.S. government. The intentions were pure, but in retrospect the results were disastrous. Some historians go so far as to assert these schools were institutions of cultural genocide.
The children, some as young as four years old, were taken away from their families, sent many miles away from home, and forced to give up their languages, customs and religious beliefs, art and music, native clothing, and even their names. These youngsters often found it traumatic when they were forced to cut their long hair, a symbolic act of shame and sorrow to Native Americans. The highly regimented routine and military atmosphere were harsh on the youngest ones. Exposure to diseases to which they had no natural immunities, coupled with homesickness and, in some locations, unsanitary conditions, led to a disturbingly high death rate. In despair, some of the youngsters ran away from their schools, freezing or starving to death trying to make their way back to their home reservations. Such a terribly sad thought for educators who care so much about kids and really believe in the liberating power of schools.
You can read a quick overview of these schools in the book Indian Boarding School: Teaching the White Man’s Way, available on amazon.com. You can also read about them in Chalkboard Champions.