Arizona’s Ruth Woolf Jordan was a rural schoolteacher and a successful businesswoman.

There are many examples of  school teachers who became pioneers in the American Southwest. One of these was Ruth Woolf Jordan, a young teacher who taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Beaver Creek, Arizona.

Ruth Woolf was born in Crittendon County, Kentucky, on November 7, 1902. When she was ten years old, her family settled in Tempe, Arizona. As a young woman, Ruth attended Tempe Normal School, now known as Arizona State University, where she graduated in 1922.

Following her graduation, Ruth accepted a teaching position in a one-room schoolhouse in the Beaver Creek School, about 25 miles south of Sedona. As a rural school teacher, Ruth was responsible for firing up the wood stove on cold days, cutting her students’ hair, checking in on them when they were absent, ridding trails of rattlesnakes, and playing field games such as softball. To get back and forth to school every day, the young teacher rode her horse.

While teaching at Beaver Creek, Ruth was introduced to a young rancher named Walter Jordan. The pair fell in love, and were married in 1930. After their marriage, the couple settled into a one-room cabin on his land in nearby Sedona. Because local policy did not allow married women to teach school, Ruth gave up teaching and became a farmer’s wife. Eventually Ruth and Walter had three children.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, the Jordans expanded their farm to a total of 65 acres. There they planted an orchard of nearly 1,500 apple and peach trees. At the height of their orchard business, during the 1950s and 1960s, the couple was the largest private employers in Sedona. Ruth worked on the farm and marketed the produce in Phoenix, and in later years she returned to teaching school in Sedona and Red Rock when teachers were desperately needed.

By the 1970s, Ruth and Walter were ready for retirement. They sold their last commercial crop in 1973. After Walter’s passing in 1987, Ruth negotiated with the City of Sedona and the Sedona Historical Society (SHS) to reach an agreement to donate a portion of her remaining property to the city, and to sell the remaining four acres and her home to the city. The agreement granted her a life estate and SHS access to operate a museum in the Jordan farm buildings. After Ruth passed away on January 7, 1996, the city developed the land into a public park, and in 1998 the SHS opened the Sedona Heritage Museum. The museum offers exhibits on local history, cowboys, movie-making, orcharding, and local pioneers, including early women settlers, and their contributions to the community of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. The historic Jordan buildings were the first in Sedona to be named to the National Register of Historic Places.

You can learn more about the Jordan Historic Park at the website for the Sedona Historical Society at Sedona Museum. Read more about chalkboard pioneer Ruth Woolf Jordan at the Arizona Memory Project.

Elementary school teacher Alexis Barney has been named Wyoming’s 2021 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Cowboy State Daily.

I love to share stories about talented and hardworking educators who have earned recognition for their work in the classroom. One of these is Alexis Barney, an elementary school teacher from Wyoming who has been named her state’s 2021 Teacher of the Year.

Alexis was raised in Saratoga, Wyoming, As a young woman, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Wyoming, Casper, in 2016. The same year, she earned her Master’s degree in Educational Psychology at Capella University.

Currently, Alexis teaches fourth and fifth grade at Evansville Elementary in Evansville. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Alexis serves as the English Language Arts goal team leader and on the school leadership team. She also is the School Transformation team leader, the Lego Robotics coach, and Reading Club coordinator. And as if all this were not enough, Alexis has frequently presented reading strategies at teaching conferences around the state and in Colorado.

The honored educator says her teaching philosophy is grounded in empowering students to be kind and courageous, and in creating lifelong learners who are inquisitive and excited about the world around them. She wants her students to find success, no matter their circumstances. “Our attitude is going to be infectious,” Alexis asserts. “I want to empower people to see things in a different light, helping them to find resources, and really turn those ‘can’ts’ into ‘cans.'”

For her untiring work as an educator, Alexis has earned the respect and praise of her colleagues. “Alexis is without a doubt one of the finest educators I have worked with in my nearly three decades in education,” praised Wayne Tuttle, Principal of Evansville Elementary School. “Students thrive in Alexis’ class because of her high expectations, innovative engagement strategies, and relevant learning,” he continued. “When a principal looks for an educator to be an anchor of their school for decades to come, they are searching for someone of Alexis’ quality,” he concluded.

To read more about Alexis Barney, see this article published by the Wyoming Department of Education.

Dedicated teacher and activist Elizabeth Almira Allen of New Jersey. Photo credit: New Jersey Women’s Association.

There are many examples of dedicated teachers who have worked tirelessly to improving the benefits and conditions of the teaching profession. One such teacher who exemplifies this is the activist Elizabeth Almira Allen of New Jersey.

Elizabeth Allen was born in Joliet, Illinois, on February 27, 1854. She was the oldest of five children born to James and Sarah Allen. Her father was a Civil War veteran. Her family lived for brief periods in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, but by 1867, they settled in New Jersey.

Elizabeth was only 13 years old when she enrolled in the Model School of Trenton, a facility associated with the State Normal School. The college is now known as Trenton State College. Two years later, Elizabeth graduated from the institution. She began teaching in Atlantic City. In 1871, she transferred to a position in Hoboken, New Jersey. In a career that spanned 48 years, she taught in the classroom and served as the principal of local elementary and high schools. She also supervised the training of new teachers at Hoboken Normal and Training School.

Throughout her career, Elizabeth worked tirelessly as a teachers’ rights advocate. In 1913, she became the first woman President of the New Jersey Education Association. In this role, she argued for tenure laws, disability benefits, and pensions for teachers.

This amazing educator could speak German and French fluently, and some Russian and Italian. She was an avid student of history. In addition, she published a book of poems entitled Golden Nails to Hang Memories On (1890) which detailed the accomplishments of famous people. Despite her limited means, she loved to travel, and made many cross-Atlantic voyages. She also visited Canada, Alaska, Central America, and Algiers.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away from congestive heart failure on May 3, 1919, at the age of 65. She is buried in Boonton, Morris County, New Jersey. You can read more about her in Pedagogies of Resistance: Women Educator Activists by Margaret Crocco and Petra Munro Henry, available on amazon.