Tag Archives: Language Arts Teachers

Teachers who specialized in Language Arts.

Duke Southard: Teacher, coach, and award-winning author

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I often meet talented educators who have also become successful authors. This is certainly the case with Duke Southard, an English teacher and coach from New Hampshire who is also an award-winning author.

Duke’s credentials are impressive. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from Villanova University, a private research university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He earned his Master’s degree from Rowan University, located in Glassboro, New Jersey. In addition, Duke completed the requirements for a Certificate of Advanced Study in Media Technology from Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Duke’s career as an educator began in 1962, when he accepted his first position as an English teacher and coach at Burlington City High School in Burlington, New Jersey. “The one important lesson I learned from a principal early on was to vary assignments at least every five years so that boredom and complacency did not set in,” recollects Duke. “Don’t have one great year of teaching, then use the same plans and approaches for the next thirty years trying to duplicate it.”

In addition to teaching, Duke coached football and track in New Jersey for eight years before moving to Kingswood Regional High School in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. He then accepted a position as a coach and Library/Media Director for the Governor Wentworth School District. In 1988, he relocated to Conway in New Hampshire to become the Library Media Specialist in the K-12 Conway School District.

After a 36-year career, Duke retired in 1998. “I loved my career in teaching and coaching,” says Duke. “While it had a few difficult times, such as teaching in a predominantly black city high school in 1968 when Martin Luther King was assassinated, I always felt indebted to my students, who supplied so much joy in my life.” For his outstanding contributions as a media professional and school librarian, Duke has been honored with an “EDie”, the New Hampshire Excellence in Education Award.

Since his retirement, Duke has published four novels and two nonfiction books. All of his novels have been selected as finalists for prestigious book awards, including the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards in 2013, 2014, and 2015. His short works have won first place and finalist awards in many competitions, including the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards and the Society of Southwestern Authors Writing Contests. His personal essay, “The Fallacy of Closure,” garnered first place in the 2016 Writer’s Digest Writing Competition

Duke currently lives in Green Valley, Arizona, where he is often engaged as a public speaker for schools, libraries, and community groups. You can view Duke’s works on amazon.com or visit his website at www.dukesouthard.com.

Linda L. Baker of Maine: Educator and Legislator

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Talented educators often make equally talented politicians. This can certainly be said of Linda L. Baker, a high school English teacher who has also served in the State Senate for her home state of Maine.

Linda was born in 1948.  She graduated from the University of Southern Maine. In 2001, she earned her National Board Teacher Certification, a prestigious credential.

Her career as an educator has spanned more than three decades. Linda taught in public schools in Bath, Maine, from 1980 to 1985, and at Mt. Ararat High School in Topsham, Maine, from 1985 to 2011. She taught English, creative writing, and history, and for five years she served as the Academic Coordinator at Mt. Ararat. In addition, she spent ten years working for Merrymeeting Adult Education. Today, she teaches an adult education course through the University College at Bath and Brunswick.

Linda got her feet wet in local politics having spent three years as a selectwoman on the Topsham Town Council, and eight years on the Topsham Finance Committee. In 2014, she was elected on the Republican ticket to represent District 23 in the Maine State Senate, a position she held for two years. While there, Linda served as the Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources and a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Insurance and Financial Services. During her tenure in the state senate, Linda sponsored a bill that would dock the pay of legislators that had a history of absenteeism. She also initiated legislation that would require school administrators to complete fifty hours of direct student instruction to renew their credential. And she was honored by Maine’s League of Conservation Voters for co-sponsoring the Kids Safe Products Act, a bipartisan bill which dealt with toxic chemicals.

In 2002, this chalkboard champion was honored with the World of Children Award given by the Girl Scouts of America. She still lives in Topsham, Main.

Brittney Marie Miller: The Middle School English Teacher Serves in the Nevada State Legislature

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Many gifted classroom teachers go on to become successful politicians. One of these is Brittney Marie Miller, a middle school English teacher who now serves in the Nevada State Assembly.

Brittney was born in 1974 in Detroit, Michigan. Her father, a former Marine who served in Viet Nam, was a police sergeant in Detroit. Her mother, a former civilian employee for the US Army Tank Arsenal, was a registered nurse.

Brittney earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Saginaw Valley State University located in University Center, Michigan. She has two master’s degrees: one in public administration from Oakland University located in the cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills, Michigan, and the other in teaching from Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, Nevada.

For the past six years, Brittney has taught Language Arts at Canarelli Middle School in the Clark County School District in Nevada. “After years developing programs in public schools, work force development, and prisoner re-entry, I knew that becoming a teacher was one more way I could serve,” Brittney once said. “Indeed, I reduced my salary by over a third when I became a teacher, but that’s how passionate and devoted I am to service. I believe strongly in education. To build a future, we must invest in our children first,” she added.

In 2017, Brittney was elected to represent District 5 in the Nevada State Assembly, where she still serves. She succeeded Republican Assemblyman Erv Nelson who resigned from his post to run for the state Senate. As a representative, Brittney is a member of four committees: Education; Corrections, Parole, and Probation; Health and Human Services; and Judiciary.

To learn more about this accomplished chalkboard champion, check out this interview by Nevada Public Radio or her profile at Project Vote Smart.

West Virginia’s Lavinia Norman: The Chalkboard Champion of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority

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Many dedicated educators have devoted their entire professional lives to the classroom. One such educator is Lavinia Norman, a high school languages teacher from West Virginia who is also known as one of the original founders of the prestigious Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Lavinia was born on December 14, 1882, in Montgomery, Fayette County, West Virginia. She was the eighth of sixteen children in the family of Thomas and Virginia Norman. Young Lavinia spent her early years in elementary schools in West Virginia, but when her father found employment with the US Postal Service, the family moved to Washington, DC.

In 1901, Lavinia enrolled in preparatory school at Howard University, a traditionally Black college located in our nation’s capital. At the time, there were very few women enrolled at Howard. While at Howard, Lavinia became one of the 16 original founding members of the prestigious Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. The young scholar graduated cum laude in 1905 with a degree in English and French. Later, she returned to college to earn a second bachelor’s degree from West Virginia State College, another historically Black university located in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1934.

After her graduation, Lavinia accepted a position as a teacher at Douglass High School in Huntington, West Virginia, where she worked her entire professional career. During her tenure, she taught English, French, and Latin. She also served as her high school’s drama coach and the adviser of the school newspaper. In 1950, this chalkboard champion retired after a distinguished career of forty years in education. 

Lavinia passed away in Washington, DC, on January 22, 1983, at the age of 100. To learn more about this amazing educator, click on this link, Virginia Commonwealth University, or the website for Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Clara Belle Williams: First in the Hearts of New Mexico State University

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Many African American teachers are distinguished for their firsts. One of these is Clara Belle Williams, a beloved New Mexico educator who was the first Black student to graduate from New Mexico State University (NMSU).

Clara Belle Drisdale was born in Plum, Texas, in October 29, 1885. As a young woman, she attended Prairie View Normal and Independent College in Prairie View, Texas. The institution is now known as Prairie View A & M University. A brilliant and diligent student, Clara Belle was named valedictorian of her graduating class in 1908.

After her graduation from college, Clara Belle accepted a teaching position at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she taught for more than 20 years. During this time, Las Cruces public schools were segregated. While teaching in 1928, she enrolled in summer school courses at the New Mexico College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts (NMCA&MA). Shamefully, many of her professors would not allow her inside the classroom because she was Black. But that didn’t stop the intrepid teacher. She took notes from the hallway, while standing up. Clara Belle finally earned her Bachelor’s Degree in English from NMCA&MA in 1937. She was 51 years old at the time. Always a lifelong learner, Clara Belle continued her education well beyond her graduation date, taking graduate level classes into the 1950’s.

In 1917, Clara Belle married Jasper Williams. The union produced three sons: Jasper, James, and Charles. When her sons were grown, all three of them attended college and graduated with medical degrees.

During her lifetime, Clara Belle Williams was awarded many honors.  In 1961, New Mexico State University  named Williams Street on the main campus in her honor. Additionally, NMSU conferred an an honorary doctorate upon her in 1980. The university named Sunday, February 13, 200t, Clara Belle Williams Day. Included in the festivities was the renaming of the NMSU English Building as Clara Belle Williams Hall.

This remarkable educator passed away at the age of 108 on July 3, 1994, in Chicago, Illinois. She was interred at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. To learn more about Clara Belle, click on this link: New Mexico State University Library.