Tag Archives: Elementary Teachers

Chalkboard Champion Lourdes Leon Guerrero of Guam

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Chalkboard Champion Lourdes Leon Guerrero of Guam

Many of America’s great teachers served in areas outside of the continental US. One of these was Lourdes Leon Guerrero, a celebrated educator from the US territory of Guam.

Lourdes was born on November 9, 1923, in the village of Merizo, Guam. Her father was a machinist in the US Navy, and her mother was a schoolteacher. As a young girl, Lourdes attended George Washington Junior/Senior High School. In fact, she was the valedictorian for her ninth grade class.

After her high school graduation, Lourdes completed courses in teaching pedagogy at the Normal School of Guam in 1946. She also studied at the Teacher Training Institute at Adelup in Guam. In 1969, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in 1969, cum laude. She earned her Master’s degree in Education in 1975. Lourdes obtained both of her degrees from the University of Guam.

Lourdes inaugurated her career as an educator at Sumay, the location of a settlement of chamorros. Chamorros are the indigenous people of the Mariana islands, of which Guam is the largest and southernmost island. When the Japanese occupied the island chain during World War II, Lourdes continued to teach in Sumay until the war ended in May, 1944.

Over the 57 years that her teaching career spanned, Lourdes worked at a number of other schools in Guam. She worked at Maxwell School, Merizo Elementary School, Sinajana Elementary School, Talofofo Elementary School, and Santa Rita Elementary School. She also worked at John F. Kennedy, George Washington, Oceanview, and Simon Sanchez High Schools. For her work in the classroom and as an administrator, Lourdes earned the Pioneer in Education from the University of Guam in 1996.

This remarkable teacher passed away on February 25, 2010. She was 86 years old. After her passing, she was inaugurated into the Guam Educators Hall of Fame.

To read the resolution published by the Guam legislature about this Chalkboard Champion, click on this link: Resolution No. R298-30.

Educator Anna DiGilio: She’s earned phenomenal success in the business world

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Second grade educator Anna DiGilio of New York has earned phenomenal success in the business world.

Many excellent educators also enjoy phenomenal success in the business world. One teacher who took her superb abilities from the classroom to the business arena is elementary teacher Anna DiGilio of New York. She has harnessed the power of the Internet for her business, and in just a few short years she has built a million-dollar business. In addition to her business success, she continues to impact the educational community in numerous ways.

Anna taught second grade for a total of 23 years. She inaugurated her career in education in the Yonkers Public School District in New York. In 1998, she transferred to the Briarcliff Manor School District. She taught second grade there for 18 years.

In 2012, Anna was doing some internet research looking for some ideas for her classroom. She came across the website Teachers Pay Teachers. There she found that teachers were creating lesson plans, activities, and classroom decor resources digitally. They were selling these instructional items to other teachers through this site. Anna quickly realized that using this site could be a way to earn some extra money. She began creating branded resources and product lines that would build a name for herself in the online teaching community. She created her own brands such as Flip Flap Books, Tab-Its, Spin-Its, Teach-Its, and others.

“Being a teacher at heart, I was still all about the learning,” remembers Anna. “I spent every waking moment creating my resources, reading books, listening to podcasts, and taking online courses to help me build a more significant business, and to ultimately help teachers have a substantial impact in their classrooms,” she continued. Within two years, Anna managed to sell so many materials online that she doubled her teaching salary. That’s when she decided to retire from teaching and devote her talents to curriculum design full-time.

In January, 2017, Anna launched a membership website for second and third grade teachers called Simply Skilled Teaching. The website provides teachers with guided reading books, lesson plans, and activities to help them provide rigorous and creative reading instruction for their students. In April, 2018, Anna expanded her business when she launched an online Professional Development Workshop for teachers and school districts called Guided Math that Works. This company is an online program that teaches educators how to implement Guided Math framework into their classrooms. The program allows teachers to differentiate their mathematics instruction based on the individual levels of each student. The professional development workshop has been a great success, and Anna has sold this program to over 500 individual teachers and over 30 school districts in the first two months of the program’s existence.

“It has been a long journey up to this point, but I couldn’t be happier,” Anna confesses. “Not only am I helping teachers on a daily basis, I feel like I get to be a little part of their students’ lives as well,” she concluded.

To learn more about Anna’s success in the business world, read this interview published online by Forbes. Click on this link to visit the website Teachers Pay Teachers.

Lalla M. Odom: Texas teacher and founding member of DKG

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Elementary school mathematics teacher Lalla M. Odom. She co-founded DKG, an organization to help women educators improve their professional skills.

Many talented classroom teachers are also devoted to assisting their colleagues in their efforts to become better educators. One of these was Lalla M. Odom, an elementary school  teacher from Texas. She worked to provide professional training and support to fellow women teachers through the organization Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG).

Lalla was born on April 8, 1874, the second oldest in a family of seven children. She was raised in Fayette County, Texas. As a child, Lalla was intelligent and ambitious. After her high school graduation, she attended first Waco Female College and then Baylor University. She earned her Bachelor’s degree when she was only 17 years old. Not content to end her studies there, Lalla enrolled in the Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio. After she earned her diploma there, she accepted a position as a music and math teacher at Willie Halsell College in Vineta, Oklahoma. There she met and married Edgar Odom. The couple returned to Texas, where they settled in Austin in 1917.

In Austin, Lalla accepted a position at Metz Elementary School, where it was apparently unknown that she was married. At the end of the school year the School Board threatened to lay her off because of her marital status, but her cause was championed by an open-minded superintendent. After a few weeks, the Board reversed its decision. Lalla became the first married woman to earn a permanent contract in Austin.

When school officials decided to establish the first junior high school in their district, Allen Junior High, Lalla was selected to head the Math Department there. To hone her professional skills, she went back to college, earning both a Bachelor’s and her Master’s degrees at the University of Texas. She took additional graduate courses in education, government, and English.

In 1929, Lalla was one of 12 educators who founded the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society (DKG). Because of a long-standing custom in those days,  women were prohibited from meeting together professionally. Nevertheless, they believed there was a pressing need for an organization in which women educators could assist each other in their efforts to become better teachers. The 12 co-founders extended membership in their newly-formed organization to rural and urban teachers; preschool, elementary, high school, college, and university teachers; librarians; and school administrators. DKG members still work together today to improve professional preparation, to recognize women’s work in the teaching profession, and to fund scholarships to those who need support to improve their professional skills.

In addition to her work in the classroom and with DKG, Lalla was actively  involved in city, state, and national political affairs. She also was active in professional organizations such as the Classroom Teachers Association, the Texas State Teachers Association, and the National Education Association.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away on April 14, 1964. She was interred in Oakwood Cemetery in Austin.

To learn more about the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, click on this link: DKG.

Retired kindergarten teacher Erma Paloma was active even in retirement

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Retired kindergarten teacher Erma Paloma from Corona, California, was active, even in retirement.

Many excellent educators continue their many hours of dedicated service to the community, even after they retire. One of these was Erma Mieko Paloma, a former elementary school teacher from Corona, California, who maintained a very active lifestyle of volunteerism, even in retirement.

Erma was born in Hawaii on August 11, 1942. She worked for many years as a kindergarten teacher at Washington Elementary School in the Corona Norco Unified School District. Her career spanned nearly 34 years.

After Erma’s retirement in 1999, she became very active in her community’s Woman’s Improvement Club. And for more than 20 years she expertly handled the responsibilities of Treasurer for her local division of the California Retired Teachers Association (CalRTA). She also served on that organization’s Scholarship Committee, and attended the annual conventions and workshops to hone her volunteerism skills. For her dedication and many years of service to CalRTA, Erma garnered the coveted Martin Mathieson Award. In addition to her work with CalRTA and the Woman’s Improvement Club, Erma worked with the Girls Scouts for many years. In fact, she served as the president for the San Gorgonio chapter. In her leisure time, she traveled frequently to Hawaii and Japan to visit family.

This amazing Chalkboard Champion passed away on March 7, 2020, in Riverside, California. She was 77 years old.

Immigrant and educator Gail Hudson: Nevada’s 2020 Teacher of the Year

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Elementary school educator Gail Hudson, an immigrant from Belize, named 2020 Nevada State Teacher of the Year.

I always enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have earned accolades for their work in the classroom. One of these is Gail Hudson, an elementary teacher from Nevada who has garnered the title of 2020 Nevada State Teacher of the Year.

Gail teaches fifth grade at John R. Hummel Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada. There she serves as the school’s liaison on the Clark County district’s Equity and Diversity Department. As the Las Vegas school’s Title I site coordinator, she has also helped with the schools Title I plan. Title I schools have a high percentage of students living in poverty.

Gail emigrated to the United States from Belize 45 years ago in search of better education opportunities. In interviews, she often recalls that it was her eighth grade teacher that made a difference in her life and contributed to her personal success. Maybe it was because of that teacher’s inspiration that Gail became the first in her family to attend college.

Her career as an educator has spanned 32 years. “They know I am here for them every single day. I wake up to come to them and I want them to wake up to come to me. It is my duty to continue to serve children,” Hudson asserted. “They deserve the best educator possible. They deserve teachers who go above and beyond,” she continued.

Gail earned her Bachelor’s degree in Science Education from Western Illinois University. She earned her Master’s degree in Administration and Supervision from Loyola University. She earned a second Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from DePaul University. In addition, Gail completed the requirements for a certificate in literacy and English as a Second Language (ESL), and a diploma in Intercultural Relationships from The Intercultural Development Research Institute. She’s also a National Board Certified Teacher.

To read more about this amazing educator, see this link published on the online site of the Las Vegas Review.