Tag Archives: Math Teachers

Teachers who specialized in math.

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.

Robert Moses: Math teacher and 1960’s Civil Rights activist

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Math teacher Robert Moses was a legendary figure during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s. He was the courageous educator from New York who became an activist during the Civil Rights Movement. He’s best known for organizing the Black voter-registration efforts and the Freedom Schools made famous during the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer. This heroic educator’s revolutionary work, which was not without risk to life and limb, transformed the political power structure of entire communities.

Nearly forty years later, Robert advocated for yet another transformational change: the Algebra Project. Robert asserted that a deficiency in math literacy in poor neighborhoods puts impoverished children at an economic disadvantage.

Radical Equatioins by Robert Parris Moses describes the Civil Rights activist’s work during the 1960’s, and his philosophy about math literacy.

The deficiency makes students unable to compete successfully for jobs in the 21st century. This disenfranchisement, he declared, is as debilitating as lack of personal liberties was prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Robert’s solution was to organize people, community by community, school by school, to overcome the achievement gap. He believed this would give impoverished children the tools they need to claim their share of economic enfranchisement.

Robert described his philosophy in depth in his  book, Radical Equations: Civil Rights from Mississippi to the Algebra Project written with fellow Civil Rights worker Charles E. Cobb, Jr. The volume can be found easily and reasonably-priced on amazon. A fascinating read for anyone who is interested in Moses’s story, either past or present. A chapter about this remarkable teacher is also included in my second book, entitled Chalkboard Heroes: Twelve Courageous Teachers and Their Deeds of Valor.  This book is also available on amazon; click on this link to view: Chalkboard Heroes.

Educator, astronomer, and US Navy Rear Admiral Simon Newcomb

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Astronomer and US Navy Rear Admiral Simon Newcomb began his career as a rural schoolteacher in Maryland.

Many fine educators have also earned a stellar reputation in professions other than education. One of these is Simon Newcomb, a Maryland school teacher who became a Rear Admiral in the US Navy and an internationally-recognized expert in astronomy.

Simon Newcomb was born on March 12, 1835, in Wallace, Nova Scotia. His father, an American, was an itinerant schoolteacher. Even as a young child, Simon demonstrated an unusual ability for mathematics. When he was just 16, Simon was apprenticed to an herbalist in Salisbury, New Brunswick, but the intelligent teen quickly came to the conclusion that the man was a charlatan. Simon ran away and made his way back to his family, which by then had settled in rural Maryland. The young man inaugurated his career as a teacher there, and at the same time studied mathematics and astronomy in nearby Washington, DC.

In January, 1857, Simon moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he accepted a position with the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. The organization published a handbook for astronomers. While working there, Simon enrolled at he Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University. He earned his degree in 1858. Three years later, Simon became a commissioned officer in the US Navy. He became a professor of mathematics for the Navy, and was assigned to the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC. In this position, Simon’s work was to find and correct errors made in calculating the positions and motions of various celestial bodies. He was also responsible for negotiating a contract to build a new 26-inch telescope at the Naval Observatory. The telescope was completed in 1873.

In 1877, Simon was promoted to the rank of captain. He was also promoted to the position of Senior Mathematics Professor in the Navy and Superintendent of the American Nautical Almanac Office. In this position, the honored educator revised motion theory and position tables for all major celestial bodies in the solar system. This published work, which took 20 years to complete and became the standard reference both at home an abroad, is still in use today. During this period Simon led several field expeditions, including one to the Saskatchewan region in 1860 to observe an eclipse of the sun. He also traveled to Gibralter in 1870 to observe the solar eclipse there, and to the Cape of Good Hope in 1882, where he observed and charted the Venus transit that took place that year.

By 1884, Simon had been named a contributing editor of the American Journal of Mathematics. In addition, he was selected to be a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 1896, he traveled to Paris as the leader of an international astronomy conference. In 1899, Simon founded the American Astronomical Society. He served as the organization’s president for six years.

For his work in the fields of mathematics and astronomy, Simon Newcomb earned many accolades and honorary degrees, both national and international. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He also published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers.

This exceptional educator and scientist passed away in Washington, DC, on July 11, 1909. He is interred in Arlington Cemetery. To learn more about Simon Newcomb, you can read his biography at this link for the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Florida math teacher Mary Jo Murray inducted into National Teachers Hall of Fame

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Florida math teacher Mary Jo Murray just inducted into National Teachers Hall of Fame.

There are many fine classroom educators who have been singled out for special recognition. One of these is Mary Jo Murray, a high school math teacher from Riviera Beach, Florida, who was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame last month. The honor is awarded to only five teachers from around the country each year.

Mary Jo earned her Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education in 1970 and her Master’s degree in 1972, both from the University of South Florida. She earned her PhD in Physical Education, Curriculum and Instruction in 1978, also from Florida State University. She earned National Board Certification in 2001.

Mary Jo’s career as a classroom educator spans 36 years. Currently she  teaches mathematics, pre-calculus, and calculus at Suncoast Community High School in Riviera Beach, Florida, where she has been employed since 2011. She has also taught at Seminole Ridge High School, Mast Academy, Miami Palmetto Senior High School, Homestead High School, Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, Hillsborough High School, and Middleton High School. In addition, she has worked as an instructor at Flager College, Northeast Missouri State University, and Northeast Louisiana University.

For her work in the classroom, Mary Jo has earned many accolades. She was named the Secondary Math Teacher of the Year for Dade County in 2001. In 2009, she was a finalist for Secondary Math Teacher of the Year for Palm Beach.

In her spare time, this amazing chalkboard champion plays tennis, and as if that wasn’t enough, she is also a nationally-ranked racquetball player.

To learn more about Mary Jo Murray, click on this link: National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Kenyan math, physics educator Peter Tabichi earns 2019 Global Teacher Prize

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Educator Peter Tabichi, a mathematics and physics teacher at Keriko Secondary School in Pwani Village located in Nakuru, Kenya, has been named a top 10 finalist for the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2019. The Global Teacher Prize is an annual award worth $1 million. The award is presented to an exceptional teacher who has made an outstanding contribution to their profession. Learn more about this remarkable teacher in the video below: