Tag Archives: English Teachers

Michigan’s Maxine Berman: English teacher, politician, and women’s health care advocate

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Maxine Berman: Former high school English teacher and elected member of the Michigan State House of Representatives.

Many talented educators leave the classroom to go on to successful careers in politics. One of these is Maxine Berman, a high school English teacher who was elected to the Michigan State House of Representatives.

Maxine was born on April 17, 1946. She grew up in Oak Park, Michigan, and attended Oak Park High School. After her high school graduation, she enrolled at the University of Michigan. Once she earned her degree, Maxine returned to her alma mater, Oak Park High School, to teach English.

After several years, Maxine left the teaching profession to run for political office. She won election to the Michigan State House of Representatives on the Democratic ticket. She served there from 1983 to 1996. During her 14-year political career, the former teacher worked tirelessly as an advocate for women’s rights and other social justice issues. Representative Berman successfully pushed for mammography facilities in Michigan to be accredited, and then lobbied the federal government to require accreditation nationwide. She was a member of the House Bi-Partisan Team, which developed a new strategy for funding pubic schools. She also served on the House Elections Committee, where she created an expedited system for voter registration. Maxine also accepted the post of Chairperson for the Michigan Women’s Campaign Fund, a bi-partisan organization that raises money to assist women who run for political office.

Once Maxine completed her terms in office, she established an advocacy and consulting firm she named Capitol Strategies, Inc. She also became the leader of the Women’s Health Network of Michigan. In 2008, Maxine returned to her roots as a professional educator when she accepted a  position as the Griffin Endowed Chair in American Government at Central Michigan University. She was the first woman to ever be named to the position.

Maxine retired in 2013. Two years later she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. More about this at www.michiganwomen.org.

Sadly, Maxine Berman succumbed to lung cancer on March 2, 2018. She was 71 when she passed away. She is interred in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

Hip hop musician J-Live: He was once a junior high English teacher

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Hip hop artist J-Live was once a junior high school English teacher.

Fans of hip hop music may be familiar with an internationally known rap artist known as J-Live. The musician’s music has been popular with listeners of hip hop for over 20 years. But did you know that he was once a junior high school English teacher?

J-Live was born on February 22, 1976, in Spanish Harlem in New York City. His given name was Jean-Jacques Cadet. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Albany, State University of New York.

After earning his degree, J-Live taught junior high school English, first in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and then in Bushwick, Brooklyn. His career as an educator spanned from 1998 to 2002. “The degree in English sorta gave me the leg up,” J-Live once explained. “The experience teaching English just gave me something to talk about and a whole other perspective in terms of my experiences. And how to write songs that hit home when you have an intended message,” he continued.

Early in his teaching career, J-Live began to make hip hop records. The musician, who also uses the stage name Justice Allah, has released eight albums to date. His second album, All of the Above, released in 2002, sold 30,000 copies. In addition to creating hip hop music, J-Live has worked as an emcee, DJ, and producer. He is  actively involved in workshops, classes, and speaking engagements. In fact, he is known worldwide as a “hip hop teacher.”

Will J-Live ever return to teaching? “I am kind of pivoting into a more educational space,” he admits. “I’ve had the good fortune and opportunity to do some speaking events and workshops, and the opportunity to teach with Next-Level Hip-Hop, which is a State Department program run by the University of North Carolina,” he says. And, “I’m teaching DJing in Croatia for a couple of weeks.”

To learn more about J-Live, you can read this online article at Prefix.

Former teacher Joyce Kulhawik establishes successful career in television

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Former high school English teacher Joyce Kulhawik establishes a successful career in television.

There are many fine educators who establish careers in television. One of these is Joyce Kulhawik, a former English teacher from Vermont who also earned fame as a television personality in Boston, Massachusetts.

Joyce was born in 1954 in Connecticut. At a very young age, Joyce was exposed to arts. As a child, she played piano, sang, and played organ in her parish church. After her high school graduation, she earned her Bachelor’s degree in English and Secondary Education from Simmons College. That was in 1974. As one of the top two graduating seniors, she garnered a Crown Zellerbach Award and a full fellowship from the University of Vermont. She enrolled there, and in 1977 she completed the requirements for a Master’s degree in English Education.

Once she earned her degrees, Joyce inaugurated her career as a teacher at Brookline High School. She taught there from 1976 to 1978. She also taught at the Boston Architectural Center from 1977 to 1979.

Joyce has covered local and national events from Boston and Broadway to Hollywood. She has reported live from the Oscars, the Emmys and the Grammys. Nationally, the former teacher co-hosted the syndicated movie-review show Hot Ticket with Leonard Maltin, and she was a continuing host on Roger Ebert and the Movies. For her work in the entertainment industry, Joyce was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2007. In addition, she earned the N.E. Emmy’s Governor’s Award. 

A three-time cancer survivor, Joyce testified before Congress on the 20th anniversary of the National Cancer Act. Since 1983 she has chaired the American Cancer Society’s largest spring fundraising campaign, serves on the ACS advisory board, and continues to help raise millions of dollars for the ACS first “Hope Lodge” in Boston. For this work, the ACS honored Joyce with their national bronze medal.

Currently Joyce serves as the president of the Boston Theater Critics Association, a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, and a member of the Boston Online Film Critics Association. In addition, she performs as a guest narrator with the Boston Pops, the New England Philharmonic, Boston Musica Viva, the Boston Civic Symphony, and the Concord  Orchestra.

To read more about Joyce, see this link at Wayland Student Press Network.

 

Ellen Gray Massey: English teacher, author, and public speaker

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Ellen Gray Massey: High school English teacher and successful author.

I love to share stories about talented classroom teachers who make a name for themselves in professions other than teaching. One of these is Ellen Gray Massey, a high school English teacher who was also a successful author.

Ellen Massey was born November 14, 1921.  She was raised near Nevada, Missouri. Young Ellen earned her Bachelor’s degree in English at the University of Maryland. Following her college graduation, she returned to Missouri, where she settled in the small Ozarks town of Lebanon. There Ellen taught high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors. In addition, she served as the adviser for their school magazine, Bittersweet. Her career as a teacher spanned 23 years.

I love Ozarkers’ self-sufficiency, wit, and pioneer spirit,” Ellen once declared. “When I heard students say there wasn’t anything interesting in the area, I wanted them to appreciate their heritage,” she continued. Former student Kirk Pierce was one student who benefited from the effort. “She really got us interested in our family history,” he recalled. Kirk later wrote historical features for the local paper, Lebanon Daily Record.

Once Ellen retired from teaching in 1986, she published local color stories in a series of books that eventually numbered 29. She also published short stories and articles celebrating her home town. In addition, she became a sought-after public speaker. She delivered 428 public speeches, 120 of them for the Missouri Humanities Council. Most of her talks were given in Missouri, but she also spoke to groups in Arkansas, Illinois, Connecticut, Washington, DC, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Washington state. She also taught classes on Ozarks Heritage and Ozarks Adventures programs in Branson, Missouri. In addition, she taught 33 graduate education courses at Drury University of Springfield, Missouri.

For her work as an author, Ellen earned many accolades. She garnered the coveted Western Writers Spur Award in the Juvenile Fiction category in 2014. The Missouri Writers Guild honored Ellen with 12 first place writing awards in several categories. In 1995, she became one of the first inductees into the Writers Hall of Fame of America.

Ellen Massey passed away on July 13, 2014. She was 92 years old. She is buried in Mount Rose Memorial Park in Lebanon. To read more about this amazing chalkboard champion, click on this article about her published on the website of the Truman University.

Elsie Ritchie: Drama teacher and former Hollywood actress

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Elsie Ritchie: Retired high school drama teacher and former Hollywood actress.

Many talented classroom teachers have also distinguished themselves in endeavors outside of the classroom. One of these was Elsie Ritchie, an English and drama teacher who was also a film actress from the 1970’s.

Elsie was the sister of Hollywood director Michael Ritchie. When she was a young woman, she portrayed roles in two movies he directed, including The Candidate in 1972 and Smile in 1975. Elsie nurtured her love for acting since she was a child. As a youngster, she participated in many local community theater productions.

After her graduation from  Berkeley High School, Elsie studied classical languages and art history at UC Berkeley, where she earned her degree. It made sense that she should choose Berkeley, since her father, Dr. Benbow Ritchie, was a professor there.

After her brief career in Hollywood, Elsie accepted a position as a high school English teacher at Aragon High School located in San Mateo, California. Her career as an educator spanned 22 years. During this time, she also worked tirelessly as the school’s drama teacher.

Once she retired, Elsie settled in Redding, California, where she lived since 2013. There Elsie returned to her childhood passion for community theater. She performed in productions of Romeo & Juliet, You Can’t Take It With You, The Nutcracker, The Dixie Swim Club, and Harvey. She also directed a production of The Gin Game at Redding’s Riverfront Playhouse. Written by D. Coburn, the play garnered a Pulitzer Prize in 1978. In addition to her work as an actress and director, Elsie led a local actors’ monologue workshop.

Sadly, Elsie passed away on November 7, 2018. She was 65 years old. To read more about this amazing educator, actress, and director, see the article published in the Record Searchlight entitled Bucket List gives actors crack at dream roles.