Tag Archives: Teacher Authors

Illinois’ Ola “Madge” Miller Green: Teacher, author, and politician

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Ola “Madge” Miller Green: Educator, author, and political. Photo credit: Findagrave.com

Many dedicated educators also make excellent authors and fine politicians. One of these was Ola “Madge” Miller Green, an Illinois school teacher who published an important school textbook and who also served her community in the Illinois Senate.

Ola was born on April 19, 1900, in Palestine, Crawford County, Illinois. As a youngster, she attended public schools in her home town. Once she graduated from high school, she earned her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Education from Indiana State University in Terra Haute.

Once she completed her education, Ola accepted a position as a school teacher in a public school in Palestine. Later she taught in Richmond, Indiana. While working as a teacher, Ola authored the book Through the Years in Indiana, published in 1954. The volume was widely used as a textbook in Indiana schools.

When Ola’s husband, Herschel S. Green, an Illinois State Senator, passed away in office in 1962, the veteran school teacher was appointed to serve the remainder of his term. Later she was elected on her own merit on the Republican ticket to a full term in the Senate. She served until 1965. Once she left office, Ola served as the postmistress for the Illinois Senate.

This Chalkboard Champion passed away December 11, 1989, in Springfield, Illinois. She was 89 years old. Her remains are interred at Hutsonville Cemetery in Hutsonville, Illinois. To read more about Ola “Madge” Miller Green, see her obituary published by Findagrave.

English teacher and successful novelist Sara Hawks Sterling

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English teacher and successful novelist Sara Hawks Sterling of Pennsylvania wrote popular works about well-known figures of European history and legend. Photo credit: Public Domain.

Many a talented classroom educator has also achieved acclaim as an author. One of these is Sara Hawks Sterling, a high school English teacher from Pennsylvania who became a successful novelist. Her published works include popular fiction tales about well-known figures of European history and legend.

Sara was born in Philadelphia. As a young woman, she attended schools in her home town, including the Girls’ High and Normal School and the M. M. Jones’ School. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1918.

Once she earned her degree, Sara inaugurated her career as a teacher of English at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, where she worked from 1906 to 1912. She left that position to teach at the West Philadelphia High School for Girls. During her years as a professional educator, she became a member of the Women Teachers’ Organization.

While teaching, Sara published many novels about historical and legendary figures, including King Arthur, Robin Hood, and Anne Hathaway. Her novel entitled Shakespeare’s Sweetheart, published in 1905, was an early effort to portray William Shakespeare’s life and romances from the woman’s perspective. In 1900, Sara published Hamlet’s Brides: A Shakespearean Burlesque in One Act. In 1907, she wrote A lady of King Arthur’s Court: Being a Romance of the Holy Grail. In 1921, she published Robin Hood and His Merry Men.

In addition to her classroom responsibilities and her writing, Sara was a member of the Browning Society of Philadelphia, the Dickens Fellowship, the Shakespeare Company, and the Women’s Press Association.

You can read the most popular novels by Sara Hawks Sterling online for free at the following link to the Online Books Page.

 

David Benioff: Author, director, and former English teacher

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Author, screenwriter, producer, and director David Benioff was once a high school English teacher. Photo credit: Los Angeles Times.

Many avid readers may be familiar with the blockbuster book City of Thieves by David Benioff. But did you know the author was a former English teacher? This talented educator has made his mark as a consummate novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. He is perhaps best known as the co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones.

David was born on September 25, 1970, in New York City. As a young boy, David gravitated to all things literary, fancying comic books and classic far-flung fantasy such as Homer’s Iliad and J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. His imagination was supplemented by an affinity for playing the video game Dungeons & Dragons.

David, who changed his surname to his mother’s maiden name of Benioff while in his teens, graduated from the exclusive New York City secondary school called The Collegiate School. He then enrolled at Dartmouth College, where he graduated in 1992. David earned his a Master’s degree at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, writing his thesis on Samual Beckett.

After he graduated form college, David worked at various jobs, including a stint as a club bouncer, a radio disc jockey, and a high school English teacher at Poly Prep in Brooklyn, New York, where he also served as the school’s wrestling coach. In 1999, David returned to school, completing the requirements for a second Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of California, Irvine, in 1999.

While working as a high school English teacher, David wrote his first book called The 25th Hour, which earned him many accolades. He later adapted the book into a screenplay, which was made into a film directed by Spike Lee and starring Edward Norton. In 2004, David then wrote a collection of short stories titled When the Nines Roll Over (And Other Stories) and a screenplay about the Greek myth Troy which earned him $2.5 million from Warner Brothers pictures. That same year, he was hired to write the screenplay for the X-Men spin-off X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The following year, David wrote the script for the psychological thriller Stay, which was adapted into a film directed by Marc Forster and starred Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts. His 2007 screenplay for The Kite Runner, adapted from the novel of the same name, marked his second collaboration with director Marc Forster. In 2008, David’s second novel, City of Thieves, was published. He is currently working on an adapted screenplay of the Charles R. Cross biography of Kurt Cobain. He is also working with D.B. Weiss as the executive producer of Game of Thrones, HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, which David read and enjoyed as a teen.

David’s work in Hollywood has earned several awards. He has won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

To read more about this talented former teacher, see this interview of him published by Metro News in 2009.

Mary Allen West of Illinois: Educator, pioneer, and journalist

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Mary Allen West of Illinois worked tirelessly as an educator, journalist, author, and temperance worker. Photo credit: Public Domain.

Many talented educators serve as pioneers in fields both within and outside of the education community. One of these was Mary Allen West, an Illinois teacher who worked tirelessly as a journalist, author, and temperance worker.

Mary was born on July 13, 1837, in Galesburg, Illinois. Her parents were pioneers who journeyed west from New York. As a child, Mary was described as healthy, vigorous, and studious. She matured early, both mentally and physically.

She was only 13 years old when she passed the examinations that qualified her to enter Knox Female Seminary. Surprisingly, she taught school for two years at Robbins School in Sparta Township until she was old enough to enter the school. She graduated two years after that, at age 17. Immediately after graduation, Mary began to teach school, which she had declared to be her life work. Successful in teaching and influential in educational circles, Mary earned a reputation as a “lady of grit, grace, and gumption.

When the Civil War broke out, many former slaves arrived at the a local school for African Americans, hoping to learn to read. Mary became their teacher. Often her class had more than 100 students of all ages. In addition to her classroom responsibilities, Mary worked tirelessly to organize women into local aid societies to assist the Sanitary Commission. She also entered the field of journalism, which was uncommon for women in her day. She edited Home Magazine in the state of Illinois. The former teacher also served as the first president of the Illinois Women’s Press Association. She also authored a book entitled Childhood, It’s Care and Culture, which was published in 1892. You can view the entire text of the book at this link to the Hathi Trust Digital Library.

Later Mary devoted her considerable energy to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), where she became a hardworking proponent of temperance. She helped to organize the women of Illinois to this cause, and eventually was named the WCTU’s state president.

The exact date of her death is not known, but this Chalkboard Champion passed away in Japan in 1892, where she had gone to advance the cause of temperance. This Chalkboard Champion is buried in Hope Cemetery, Galesburg. To read more about Mary Allen West, see this link at the Galesburg Register Mail.

Blanche Evans Dean: Teacher, conservationist, and author

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Blanche Evans Dean, an Alabama high school biology teacher, is also a renowned naturalist, conservationist, and nonfiction author. Photo credit: Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Many gifted educators are well-known not only for their contributions to the classroom, but also for outstanding accomplishments outside in fields other than education. This is true about Blanche Evans Dean, an Alabama high school biology teacher who was also a renowned naturalist, conservationist, and nonfiction author.

Blanche was born June 12, 1892. She was raised on her parents’ farm in Clay County, Alabama, on land her mother’s family had bought from the Creek Indians. Even at an early age, the young Blanche developed a keen interest in science, and exhibited a fondness for the plants and animals that inhabited the world around her.

As a teenager, Blanche attended Lineville High School and, after graduating in 1908, began teaching at the two-teacher school at Hatchett Creek Presbyterian Church. After deciding to make teaching her lifelong career, Blanche enrolled at Jacksonville Normal School, now known as Jacksonville State University, where she majored in education. She later transferred to Valparaiso University in Indiana, where she earned her teaching certificate at age 26.

After graduation, Blanche taught for three years at Shades Valley High School in Birmingham. In 1922, she took a break from teaching and entered the University of Alabama, where she earned her Bachelor’s in Chemistry in 1924. Once she completed this degree, she accepted a position as a biology teacher at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, where she developed her hands-on, experience-based style of teaching. Blanche believed that students were better able to develop an understanding of birds, insects, and plants, and “a sense of being” for all living things by listening and observing first-hand, even getting down on their hands and knees.

In 1939, the innovative teacher married William Dean, but they divorced less than a year later. Blanche decided to keep her husband’s surname.

Blanche remained at Woodlawn High School until she retired in 1957, spending nearly 30 years as a teacher in the public school system. In the later years of her career, she became a passionate naturalist and conservationist. One of her projects in the 1940s was a campaign to have the US Government declare Alabama’s Clear Creek Falls a national park. The area, threatened by dam construction, was rich in mountain laurel, contained a rare species of white azalea, and even supported a stand of Canadian hemlock. The campaign failed, however, and the falls were ultimately incorporated into Lewis Smith Lake.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Blanche helped to found the Alabama Ornithological Society, the Alabama Environmental Council, and the Alabama Conservation Council, then known as the Alabama Conservancy. Additionally, the indefatigable educator was involved in the Birmingham Audubon Society, the Alabama Academy of Science, the National Association of Biology Teachers, the American Fern Society, and Delta Kappa Gamma. In 1951, she established an Outdoor Nature Camp, which she directed every summer for 13 years in order to educate teachers and other adults about Alabama’s natural history. In 1967, after assisting the Alabama Environmental Council in designating Alabama’s first national forest, the Willliam B. Bankhead National Forest,  she was awarded a prize from the National Audubon Society for conservation education. Blanche was the first person from Alabama to receive such an award.

Blanche had always been frustrated with the lack of reference books available about Alabama’s botany and zoology, so after her retirement she wrote several books on the subject. She self-published Let’s Learn the Birds of Alabama in 1957, Trees and Shrubs in the Heart of Dixie in 1961, Let’s Learn the Ferns of Alabama in 1964, and Wildflowers of Alabama and Adjoining States in 1973. Her field guides remain the standard today.

This remarkable educator passed away May 31, 1974, at the age of 88, from complications caused by a major stroke. She was buried in the cemetery at Hatchett Creek Presbyterian Church. But she was not forgotten. In 1975, she was recognized with the Alabama Library Association’s first posthumous Annual Author Award for her non-fiction books. The Alabama Wildflower Society later established the Blanche E. Dean Scholarship Fund and named its Birmingham chapter after her. In 1985, Blanche was inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame  in 1985.

To read more about Blanche Evans Dean, click on this link to the Encyclopedia of Alabama.