Tag Archives: English Teachers

Teacher Sondra Erickson serves in Minnesota House of Reps

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Retired high school English teacher Sondra Erickson also serves in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Photo credit: www.sondraerickson.com.

Many excellent teachers achieve success in fields other than education. One of these is Sondra Erickson, a retired teacher who also served as a state legislator in the Minnesota State House of Representatives.

Sondra was born on March 2, 1942, in Ada, Minnesota. She was raised in Taft, North Dakota. She graduated from Hillsboro High School, and then from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, earning her Bachelor’s degree in English in 1964. She attended graduate school at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from 1968 to 1970.

After she earned her degrees, Sondra taught high school English at Princeton High School, a public school located in Princeton, Minnesota. Her career as an educator spanned 35 years.

Sondra was first elected to represent District 16A and 17A in the state legislature on the Republican ticket in 1998. She was re-elected in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006, and served until 2008. Since 2013, she has represented District 15A in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Sondra carried her interest in educational matters with her into her new position. She worked tirelessly on the Committees for Education Policy; Education Finance; Higher Education Finance and Policy; Ethics; and Taxes. In addition to her work in the legislature, the talented educator served on the Minnesota Board of Teaching from 1992 to 1997, bringing her “students first” philosophy to the table. Currently, Sondra says her focus is to open doors for high quality teachers of color.

In addition to her responsibilities as a legislator, Sondra is a member of American Legion Auxiliary, Civic Betterment Club, Central Minnesota Republican Women, and Farm Bureau.

To read more about Chalkboard Politician Sondra Erickson, see her website at www.sondraerickson.com.

New Jersey’s Ethel De Long Zande founder of settlement schools

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New Jersey English teacher Ethel De Long Zande helped establish a settlement school in rural Appalachia to educate mountain children. She is seen here with a mountain dulcimer. Photo credit: Pine Mountain Settlement House Collections.

Throughout American history, many fine educators have worked tirelessly to advance the cause of progressive education. One of these was Ethel De Long Zande, a teacher from New Jersey who helped establish a settlement school in rural Appalachia in the early 20th century. The school was established to educate mountain children.

Ethel was born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1879. When she was young, her father and younger sister were disabled, and Ethel became their caregiver. As a teenager, her family moved to Northampton, New Jersey, and Ethel enrolled at nearby Smith College, where she attended from 1897 to 1901. She earned her Bachelor’s degree there. During her college years, she worked as a tutor and a teacher at Easthampton High School.

Once she earned her degrees, Ethel worked as a teacher at Central High School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Her career there spanned five years. In 1905, she relocated to Indianapolis, where she taught English at Manual Training High School for five years. It was then that Ethel was appointed principal of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union Settlement School in Hindman, Knott County, Kentucky. The school was later known as the Hindman Settlement School. In 1912, Ethel became one of the founding members of the Pine Mountain Settlement School located in rural Harlan County, Kentucky. There she established a reputation for creating especially stimulating lessons, asking her students to write and read letters, and to engage in lively conversation, discussion, and debate.

To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, see this biography about her printed in Pine Mountain Settlement School Collections.

Idaho teacher, politician, and LGBTQ activist Nicole LeFavour

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Idaho teacher, politician, and LGBTQ activist Nicole LeFavour has served in both her state’s House of Representatives and State Senate. Photo credit: Creative Commons.

Often talented classroom teachers also distinguish themselves as skillful politicians. One of these is Nicole LeFavour, an elementary school teacher and LGBTQ rights activist from Boise, Idaho, who has also served in both her state’s House of Representatives and State Senate.

Nicole was born on Feb. 8, 1964, in Colorado. She was raised in Custer County, Idaho, and as an adult established herself in Boise in 1990. Nicole earned her Bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from UC Berkeley in 1987. She also attended San Francisco State University, where she graduated in 1988. She earned her Master’s degree in Fine Arts in Writing from the University of Montana, Missoula, in 1990. In addition, in 2010, Nicole completed a course of study from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she attended as the LGBTQ Leadership Fellow.

Nicole is certified to teach English, Art, Life Science, and Social Science. She inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as a fifth and sixth grade teacher at the Boise River School, where she taught in 1991. In 1996, she was working as an eighth grade teacher at Fort Boise Middle High School. Nicole has also worked as an instructor of Freshman Composition at the University of Montana from 1989 to 1990. She has taught writing to young adults and at-risk youth at The Cabin Literary Center for more than two decades, and for the past 12 years she has taught at the Writers at Harriman program.

After she left the classroom, this exemplary educator was elected on the Democratic ticket to the Idaho House of Representatives, where she represented District 19 from 2004 to 2008. While there, she served on the Committees for Environment, Energy, and Technology; Judiciary; and Revenue and Taxation. She left the House to represent District 19 in the Idaho State Senate in 2008, and served there until 2012. There she served on the Senate Committees for Education; Health and Welfare; Commerce; and Judiciary and Rules. Nicole was the first openly gay member of the Idaho legislature, and she has been an untiring activist for gay rights.

For her work as a legislator, Nicole has earned many accolades. In 2008, she was named Legislator of the Year by the Idaho State Planning Council on Mental Health. In 2001, she garnered the Women Making History Award from Boise State University Women’s Center. That same year, she earned a United Nations Human Rights Day Award by the Idaho Voices of Faith for Human Rights.

To learn more about Nicole LeFavour, see her website at http://www.4idaho.org/.

New York teacher Ntina Paleos-Stemas succumbs to Covid-19

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Sadly, beloved New York English teacher Ntina Paleos-Stemas succumbed to Covid-19 on Jan. 30, 2021. Photo credit: www.liherald.com.

Sadly, we report that yet another beloved educator has succumbed to Covid-19. Ntina Paleos-Stemas, a high school Enbglish teacher from New York, succumbed to the disease on January 30, 2021. She was 55 years old.

Ntina was originally from Greece, but she was raised in Baldwin, New York. As a young girl, she graduated from Baldwin High School. Ntina discovered her passion for teaching at schools in Switzerland and Argentina. She then accepted a teaching position in the Hewlitt-Woodmere Public School District in 1998. In that district, she taught first at the Franklin Early Childhood Center, then at Ogden Elementary School, and then at Woodmere Middle School before finally landing at Hewlett High School, where she taught for the last 22 years.

Fluent in several languages, including English, Greek, Spanish, and French, Ntina helped establish the district’s first English as a Second Language summer program. She taught academics and exposed the students to the culture of a world languages through educational trips.

Ntina will be sorely missed by both colleagues and students. “She dedicated her career to our ENL families, and was well-known for her caring, compassionate teaching style and staunch advocacy for her cherished students,” recalled Hewlitt-Woodmere Superintendent Marino. “Ms. Paleos-Stemas’ love for her students extended far beyond the halls of Hewlett-Woodmere, as she remained in contact with them for many years after graduation.”

Fellow teacher Caryn Bachar agreed. She remembered that Ntina was a positive and supportive force in the lives of her students. “Ntina dedicated her career to educating English Language Learners and advocated for them in school and in their lives,” Bachar said. “Many of her students stayed in touch with her long after graduation. She was invited to their graduations, weddings, and the births of their children.”

When not in the classroom, Ntina loved to spend her time with her children, family members, and friends. She also loved to travel to experience other cultures, and spent much time in her native homeland of Greece.

To read more about Ntina, see this obituary published by liherald.com.

Ohio’s Norma Marcere: African American trailblazer

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Norma Marcere of Canton, Ohio, was a trailblazer in her community. Photo credit: www.cantonrep.com

I enjoy sharing stories about African American teachers who have overcome obstacles to become trailblazers in their community. Norma Marcere of Canton, Ohio, was one such teacher.

Norma was born on Oct. 21, 1908, in Canton, Ohio. As a young girl, she attended Canton McKinley High School, where she graduated in 1926. As soon as she graduated, Norma enrolled at Kent State Normal University. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and her Master’s degree in Counseling.

Norma applied for a teaching position in her home town, Canton, but her application was denied because of she was African American. However, she was able to gain employment as an English teacher at Edmund A. Junior High School in the Massillon City School District in the neighboring city of Massillon. Later she accepted a position as a counselor and school psychologist in Akron City Schools.

In 1976, Norma retired from the teaching profession and penned two autobiographies. One was entitled Round the Dining Room Table and the other was entitled The Fences Between. In 1994, the events depicted in these books were re-written into play format which was performed before an audience of 12,000 people.

In 1979, the former teacher founded the Project for Academic Excellence, a weekend program that offered tutoring and assistance to underachieving students. The program evolved into the STRIVE (Study, Think, Read, Investigate, Volunteer, and Excel) program, which helped students deal with social issues and develop personal responsibility.

For her work in the classroom, Norma earned many accolades. She was named the Junior League Woman of the Year in 1973. Walsh University gave her an honorary doctorate in 1980. In 1991 she garnered the Norma Award, an honor named after Norma Sigler Atkins Rowlands. In 1998, the Office for Black Catholic Ministries of the Diocese of Toledo bestowed their Sister Thea Bowman Medallion on Norma. She was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame in 1985.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away from natural causes on Aug. 10, 2004. She was 95 years old. She is interred at St. Peter’s Cemetery in Canton, Stark County, Ohio.