Tag Archives: Teacher Authors

Best-selling author Stephen King was once a high school English teacher

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Best-selling author Stephen King was once a high school English teacher. Here he is in his classroom in Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine, in 1978. Photo Credit: Reddit

Most people are very familiar with the popular novels and short stories of talented horror fiction writer Stephen King, but did you know he was once a high school teacher?

Stephen was born on September 21, 1947, in Portland, Maine. His father was a merchant seaman, and his mother was a kitchen worker in a facility for the developmentally handicapped. When Stephen was only two years old, his father abandoned the family, and after that his mother struggled to support herself, Stephen, and Stephen’s older brother, David.

When he was young, Stephen attended Durham Elementary School, and then Lisbon Falls High School in Lisbon Falls, Maine, where he graduated in 1966. Even as a child, Stephen displayed an interest in horror fiction. He was an avid reader of EC’s horror comics, which included the stories of Tales from the Crypt.  He began writing for his own amusement, contributing articles to Dave’s Rag, a home-based newspaper his brother published with a mimeograph machine. Later he began selling stories to his classmates based on movies he had seen, though he was forced to return his profits when his teachers discovered the enterprise. The first of Stephen’s stories to be independently published was “I Was a Teenage Grave Robber,” published in a popular fanzine in 1965.

Following Stephen’s graduation from high school in 1966, he enrolled as a student at the University of Maine, Orono, declaring a major in English. During his college years, he wrote a column for the student newspaper, The Maine Campus, entitled “Steve King’s Garbage Truck,” participated in writing workshops, and took odd jobs to help meet his living expenses, including one stint at an industrial laundry.  He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He sold his first professional short story, “The Glass Floor,” to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967.

After graduating from the University of Maine in 1970, Stephen earned his high school teaching credential, but was unable to find a teaching position right away. To earn a living, he sold short stories to men’s magazines such as Cavalier. In 1971, Stephen was hired to teach at Hampden Academy, a public high school in Hampden, Maine. He continued to contribute short stories to magazines and worked on ideas for novels. After his novel Carrie was published, Stephen left his job as a high school teacher to write full time, but he continued his career as an educator when he was hired as a professor of creative writing at the University of Maine, Orono.

Today, at age 78, Stephen King lives in Bangor, Maine. His wife, Tabitha King, is also a successful author. Stephen and Tabitha provide scholarships for local high school students and  contribute to many other local and national charities.

Learn more about this famous celebrity at his official website.

The remarkable Stacey Bess, who taught in The School With No Name

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Educator, author, and public speaker Stacey Bess taught in a storage shed in a Salt Lake City homeless shelter when she was a first year teacher. Photo credit: American Program Bureau, Inc.

Here is a teacher who is truly inspirational: Stacey Bess of Salt Lake City, Utah.

As a first-year teacher in the late 1980’s, Stacey landed in a classroom set up in a storage shed in a local homeless shelter. The facility was literally referred to as The School With No Name. As you can imagine, her students wrestled with a variety of difficult circumstances, including unstable living arrangements, domestic abuse, poverty, and alcohol and drug-abusing parents. Not the most desirable circumstances for learning. But this remarkable teacher created a safe and loving classroom environment for her kids. She went to battle with the local school board for a more suitable teaching space and better resources. And, oh, yeah, she raised her own family and defeated thyroid cancer at the same time.

While working at The School With No Name, Stacey chronicled the heart-wrenching stories of her students so she would never forget how far these children had come. After reviewing the stories, she discovered profound life-lessons and eventually wrote a book entitled Nobody Don’t Love Nobody, published in 1994.

For her outstanding work with underprivileged students, Stacey has been recognized with a number of awards, including the National Jefferson Award for Greatest Public Service by Someone 35 Years or Younger in 1995. She received the Delta Kappa Gamma Educator’s Award in 1995 and the Rescuer of Humanity from Project Love award in 1996.

Today, Stacey works as a public speaker, advocating for the educational rights of underprivileged children. She travels throughout the country sharing her story and offering inspiration to new and veteran educators. “We are in the best business in the whole world,” she tells her audiences. “We are in the kid business.”

You can read the story of this dynamic educator, in Beyond the Blackboard, published in 2011 and currently available through amazon.com. Stacey also published Planting More Than Pansies: A Fable about Love in 2003.

NY teacher Alice Duer Miller was a suffragist and prolific author

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New York English teacher Alice Duer Miller was also an accomplished mathematician and prolific writer. Photo Credit: Kappa Kappa Gamma

Often teachers can be counted upon to  throw themselves into causes that benefit humanity as a whole. This is true of Alice Duer Miller, an English teacher who became a tireless suffragist.

Alice Duer was born on Staten Island, New York, on July 28, 1874. As a young girl, she enjoyed a privileged upbringing, but the fortunes of her family took a down-turn at about the time she entered college. Even though she was on a limited budget, she was able to study at Barnard College, the women’s institution of higher learning associated with Columbia University. Barnard, founded in 1889, is known as one of the Seven Sister Colleges. Alice earned her degree in 1899, and later she completed graduate courses in mathematics at Columbia. She also studied astronomy and navigation, even becoming the navigator on a friend’s yacht during one summer vacation.

In 1899, Alice married Henry Wise Miller, and the couple emigrated to Costa Rica, where they attempted to establish a rubber farm. Alas, the venture was unsuccessful, and so they returned to the United States. Alice accepted a position as an English Composition teacher at a girls school, while Henry worked at the Stock Exchange. She taught there for several years, tutoring prospective college students in mathematics on the side.

Alice’s hard work was not confined to the classroom. Alice became an ardent suffragist. She penned columns in support of the cause. She also served on the Barnard Board of Trustees from 1922 to 1942. She even co-authored a history of the school entitled Barnard College: The First Fifty Years, which was published in 1939.

Throughout her career as an educator, Alice became a prolific writer and editor. She wrote short stories, poetry, screenplays, and novels.  She published a novel called Come Out of the Kitchen in 1916, and her fiction was frequently adapted to stage and film. She also continued to publish columns, including Are Women People? and Women are People! Her verse novel, The White Cliffs, was adapted into a film. She even dabbled in acting when she appeared in a film production of Soak the Rich. Some of her pieces were published in The Saturday Evening Post, The Ladies Home Journal, and Harper’s Bazaar, and she was listed as an Advisory Editor in the very first issue of The New Yorker Magazine.

As a suffragist, Alice contributed to the cause by writing a column published in the New York Tribune where she released pro-suffrage satirical poems. Later the poems were complied into a book entitled Are Women People? A Book of Rhymes for Suffrage Times (1915). She also became an active member of the Congressional Union for Women Suffrage (CUWS).

During her lifetime, Alice earned many honors. She was made a Curtiss Scholar in Pure Science in her senior year of college, and was inducted into Kappa Kappa Gamma while a student at Barnard, and she became a member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1926. Columbia University gave her a University Medal in 1933, and conferred an honorary doctorate in 1942.

Sadly, Alice Duer Miller passed away on August 22, 1942, following a lengthy illness. She is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Morristown, New Jersey.

Retired Ohio English teacher Sharon Mills Draper is an award-winning author

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Retired high school English teacher Sharon Mills Draper has won a plethora of awards as an author of books for children and adolescents. Photo credit: Creative Commons

I always enjoy sharing stories about exceptional educators who have earned recognition as an author. One of these is Sharon Mills Draper, a former high school English teacher who has won a plethora of awards as an author of books for children and adolescents.

Sharon was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on Aug. 21, 1948, the oldest of the three children of Victor and Catherine Mills. Her father was a hotel maitre d’ and her mother worked in the advertising department of a local newspaper. As a child, Sharon loved to play the piano and to read. By the time she was 11 years old, she had read every children’s book in her local library. The librarian then gave her a special library card that she could use to check out books from the adult section.

When she grew up, Sharon earned her Bachelor’s degree in English from Pepperdine University and her Master’s degree from Miami University of Ohio. Once she completed her education, she inaugurated her teaching career in pubic schools in Cincinnati. As a teacher, Sharon earned fame among her students for a challenging research paper she assigned to her seniors. They dubbed the assignment the “Draper Paper.”

Sharon’s career as an author began in 1990 when she was challenged by one of her ninth grade students to “write something.” She submitted a short story entitled “One Small Torch” to a writing contest sponsored by Ebony Magazine. The magazine published her story and gave her a cash prize of $1,000. She even earned praise from Roots author Alex Haley! In 2000, after a career as an educator that spanned 25 years, Sharon retired to spend more time on her writing.

For her work as an educator and as an author, Sharon has earned many accolades. She was named the National Teacher of the Year in 1997. The same year, the Ohio Department of Education honored her as an Ohio Pioneer in Education, and she garnered a National Educator Award from the Milken Foundation. She also won the Career Woman of Achievement, the Dean’s Award from Howard University School of Education, the Pepperdine University Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Marva Collins Education Excellence Award, and the Governor’s Educational Leadership Award. In addition, Sharon earned the Coretta Scott King Award for books about youngsters and adolescents. But she is best known for her Hazelwood and Jericho series.

To learn more about the work of Sharon Mills Draper, see her bio info at Simon & Schuster.

During Women’s History Month, we recognize Alaska pioneer teacher Carrie McLain

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Alaska teacher Carrie McLain was a pioneer in the classroom at the turn of the century. Photo credit: Pubic Domain

During Women’s History Month, we pay homage to America’s pioneers in the classroom, including the many teachers who worked Alaska’s wilderness territories. One of them was Carrie McLain, who taught in Nome, Alaska, at the beginning of the 19th century.

Carrie was born on January 26, 1895, in Astoria, Long Island, New York. When she was just a child of ten, her father moved Carrie and her four siblings to the fledgling village of Nome on the ice-crusted coast of northwestern Alaska. There she grew to adulthood and became a young teacher at a pioneer school on the Seward Penninsula. During those years, she also married and reared a family of one son and three daughters. She lived and taught through a rugged existence on the frigid Alaskan frontier, and she even taught through the Klondike Gold Rush.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away on May 30, 1973, at Palmer Pioneers Home, and was buried in Nome. The city of Nome dedicated a community museum in her honor. The Carrie McLain Museum highlights the history of Nome and Western Alaska. Many of the institution’s more than 15,000 artifacts are relates to gold-rush days, including racks of mining equipment, historical documents, and photo albums.

Carrie tells the fascinating story of her provincial life in Alaska in Pioneer Teacher: Turn of the Century Classroom in Remote Northwestern Alaska. Anyone interested in learning more about her experiences should read the slender volume—it’s only 70 pages, including photographs. The book, published in 1970, can be found on amazon at this link: Pioneer Teacher. She also wrote Gold Rush Nome, which is only 46 pages in length, published in 1969, can also be found on amazon.  In addition to Carrie’s text, the volume contains 23 pages of black and white photographs.