Tag Archives: Elementary Teachers

Former teacher, labor leader, and Civil Rights worker Dolores Huerta passes away

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Dolores Huerta

Labor leader, Civil Rights worker, and former teacher Dolores Huerta dedicated her life to helping improve the lives of migrant farm workers. She passed away today at the age of 96.

The nation woke up to some very sad news today. Dolores Huerta had passed away at her home in Bakersfield. She was 96.

Like many people around the country, I have heard of the formidable labor leader and Civil Rights worker ever since I was a child in the 1960’s, and my mother declared to the family that we would support the labor strike launched by the United Farmworkers. That year, and for many years after, Dolores worked tirelessly to secure better working conditions for migrant farm workers. But did you know she was also once a teacher?

Dolores was born in Dawson, New Mexico, on April 10, 1930. Raised in Stockton, California, she graduated in 1955 with an AA and her teaching credentials from the College of the Pacific. After her college graduation, she accepted a teaching position in a rural Stockton elementary school. She had been teaching for only a short time when she realized she wanted to devote her energy to migrant farm workers and their families. “I couldn’t stand seeing farm worker children come to class hungry and in need of shoes,” she once explained. “I thought I could do more by organizing their parents than by trying to teach their hungry children.”

After just one year, Dolores resigned from her teaching position, determined to launch a campaign that would fight the numerous economic injustices faced by migrant agricultural workers. Joining forces with the legendary labor leader Cesar Chavez, the intrepid educator helped organize a large-scale strike against the commercial grape growers of the San Joaquin Valley, an effort which raised national awareness of the abysmal treatment of America’s agricultural workers. She also negotiated contracts which led to their improved working conditions. The rest, as they say, is history.

Although there are several fairly good juvenile biographies of this extraordinary woman, there is no definitive adult biography about her. The closest thing to it is A Dolores Huerta Reader edited by Mario T. Garcia. This book includes an informative biographical introduction by the editor, articles and book excerpts written about her, her own writings, transcripts of her speeches, and an interview with Mario Garcia. You can find A Dolores Huerta Reader on amazon. I have also included a chapter about this remarkable teacher in my second book, entitled Chalkboard Heroes.

Rest in peace, Dolores. Your fellow educators will miss you.

MN educator Marilyn Sauer made many contributions to her community

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Teacher and administrator Marilyn Mae Sauer of St. Paul,Minnesota, devoted more than three decades and tireless energy to hr profession and to her community. Photo credit: San Bernardino Sun

Many long-time educators make significant contributions to their communities. One of these is Marilyn Mae Sauer, an tireless elementary school teacher from St. Paul, Minnesota.

Marilyn was born in St. Paul on July 18, 1926. As a young woman, she earned her first Bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota in 1948. She earned a second Bachelor’s degree in 1950.

Once she earned her degrees, Marilyn launched her career as an educator at Guttersen Elementary School in St. Paul. Three years later, she moved to Tucson, where she taught third grade at Holy School in the Tucson Public School system.

In 1955, Marilyn relocated again, this time to San Bernardino, California, where she served a total of 32 more years, first as a teacher, then as an administration at both the elementary and middle school levels. In 1970, Marilyn enrolled at the University of Redlands to work towards her Master’s degree in Education.

Once she retired, Marilyn continued to serve in her profession as a part-time supervisor for student teachers and interns. She also served on the Advisory Board of the College of Education at Cal State San Bernardino (CSUSB). In addition, she served hr community as a member of the Board of the Del Rosa Neighborhood Action Group, and on the Board for the Humane Society. As if all that were not enough, Marilyn dedicated 20 years to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Citizens’ Volunteers, and contributed volunteer hours to the San Bernardino Symphony distributing sheet music at Feldheym Library.

The retired educator was also generous with her philanthropy. She bestowed an annual scholarship to a student in the Master’s degree program in School Administration at CSUSB. She also established the Marilyn M. Sauer School Leaders of Tomorrow Fellowship Fund at the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development.

Sadly, this Chalkboard Champion passed away on July 4, 2026, just two weeks shy of her 100th birthday. She was interred at Lakewood Cemetery in Hennepin County in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Stephanie Pritts named Iowa’s 2026 State Teacher of the Year

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Instructional coach Stephanie Pritts of Sheldon, Iowa, has been named her state’s 2026 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Sheldon Community School District

There are many exemplary educators who serve in American public schools. Occasionally, one of these garners well-earned recognition for their work. One of these is Stephanie Pritts, who has been named the 2026 Teacher of the Year for her home state of Iowa.

Stephanie works as an instructional coach in the Sheldon Community School District located in Sheldon, Iowa. She has worked in this role for the past ten years. Prior to this position, she taught both first and third grades.

As an instructional coach, Stephanie emphasizes relationships, evidence-based practices, and data-driven decision-making. She helps her colleagues in implementing high-impact strategies and reflecting on instructional effectiveness.

This dedicated educator says she always knew she would become a teachers. When she was in elementary school, she says, students were allowed to enter their names in a drawing to take home a teacher’s manual and the student workbooks that hadn’t been fully used. She was always the very first one to enter these drawings and, when she won, she would take home the manuals so she could teach to her stuffed animals in her bedroom.

Sponsored by the Iowa State Department of Education, the Iowa Teacher of the Year award was established in 1958. The Iowa Teacher of the Year award recognizes exemplary teachers who demonstrate excellence in the classroom and have made a significant impact on student outcomes and fellow educators. She will represent her state at special events, such as the Space Camp and a week in Washington, DC. She will also take part in the virtual Learn and Launch Conference and the TED-Ed Educator Talks,

Stephanie earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Buena Vista University and her Master’s degree from Briar Cliff University in 2006. Her career as an educator spans 23 years.

To learn more about Stephanie Pritts, click on this link to an article published online by Briar Cliff University.

OK educator Minta Foreman: She taught in Indian schools for 50 years

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Minta Foreman, a Native American from the Cherokee Tribe, spent five decades teaching students in government Indian schools. Photo credit: Choctaw Journeys.

Many dedicated Native Americans have served their communities as talented and hardworking educators. One who is an example of this is Minta Foreman, a Native American from the Cherokee Tribe who spent five decades teaching in government Indian schools educating students from the Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes.

Minta was born on April 14, 1878, in Park Hill, near the town of Tahlequah in Oklahoma Indian Territory. Her given name was Araminta Ross Foreman. Her father was Stephen Foreman, a Presbyterian minister. During her childhood, Minta studied at the mission school in Muskogee. Later she attended Willie Halsell College in Vinita, Oklahoma, and the Presbyterian College in Independence, Missouri.

Once she completed her education, Minta taught sixth grade at Cherokee Female Seminary in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Her career there spanned from 1898 to 1909, during which time she also taught high school students and served as the school’s principal. Next, Minta taught seventh and eighth grade at the Cheyenne school in Colorado Springs, and later she taught Choctaw students for six years at Wheelock Academy in Oklahoma. She also completed stints at the Bloomfield Academy, a school for Chickasaw girls, and the Mehusky Indian School. In all, Minta’s career as an educator in government Indian schools spanned 50 years.

Minta’s students said she left a lasting impression on them. They described their teacher as “tall, straight and haughty looking.” Nevertheless, she commanded great respect from her students, who frequently expressed she was an enthusiastic, but dignified, role model.

Sadly, after all these years of dedicated teaching, Minta succumbed to a heart attack on April 29, 1952, in Craig County, Oklahoma. She was 74 years old. She is buried at the Fairview Cemetery in Vinita, Craig County, Oklahoma.

Teacher Anna Williams served as model for America’s “Lady Liberty” coin

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Anna Willess Williams

Philadelphia teacher Anna Willess Williams served as the model for “Lady Liberty” on the Morgan silver dollar coin.

Frequently talented educators become famous for reasons that have nothing to do with the field of education. This is true of Anna Willess Williams, a Philadelphia schoolteacher who is best known for being the model for the image of Lady Liberty on the Morgan silver dollar coin.

Anna was born in Philadelphia in 1857. In 1876, when she was just an eighteen-year-old art student, she was asked to pose for engraver George T. Morgan, an acquaintance of a friend of her father, who had just been commissioned to produce a new series of coin designs for the US Mint. For his design, Morgan wanted to use the image of an American girl. After rejecting several candidates, Morgan selected Anna as his model because was so impressed with her profile. He once commented that it was the most perfect he had seen in the country. He described her as being fair in complexion, “with blue eyes and a Grecian nose,” with hair that was “almost her crowning glory… golden color, abundant, and light of texture,” worn in an attractive classical style.

After being promised that her identity would always be kept confidential, the young art student sat for five sessions in November, 1876. By the time the silver dollar bearing her likeness was first struck on March 11, 1878, Anna had begun her career as a classroom teacher. To Anna’s dismay, her identity as the image’s model was revealed shortly after the coin was released, resulting in instant fame. Anna received thousands of letters and visits at both her home and work place, and she was very disturbed by the attention. In her later years, she preferred not to discuss her modelling work with Morgan, dismissing the experience as an “incident of my youth.”

Anna refused offers for acting and stage work, and chose to continue in her position as a teacher at the House of Refuge. In 1891, she left her job as the principal of that school to become a teacher of kindergarten philosophy at Girls’ Normal School in Philadelphia. Though she was once engaged to an unknown suitor, Anna never married.

She retired from the teaching profession in 1924. This Chalkboard Champion passed away from complications suffered from a bad fall on April 17, 1926, at the age of sixty-eight.