Tag Archives: Teacher Authors

History teacher Pat Conroy has become an acclaimed author

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Former history teacher Pat Conroy has become a leading figure of Southern literature. Photo credit: Pat Conroy

Sometimes in history a talented educator earns fame, fortune, and acclaim in the literary world. One teacher like this is Pat Conroy, considered by many the leading figure of Southern literature of the late 20th century. Pat Conroy is the author of two acclaimed novels: The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini. Both these novels have garnered Academy Awards as films. He also penned the successful novel The Lords of Discipline.

Donald Patrick Conroy was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 26, 1945. His father was a Marine Corps fighter pilot, and for this reason his family moved frequently. Pat once said he attended eleven different schools before his sophomore year. Also, he has often described his father as abusive and his childhood as traumatic.

As a college student, Pat attended The Citadel, an all-male military college in South Carolina. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in English in 1967. After earning his degree, Pat accepted a position as an English teacher at Beaufort High School in Beaufort, South Carolina. While there, he wrote his first novel, The Boo, which he self-published using money he borrowed from the bank.

After two years, Pat spent a year teaching at a two-room school on Daufuskie Island off the coast of South Carolina. There he worked to expand the horizons of his African American students, poorly-educated kids who spoke the Gullah dialect and had very little knowledge of the world beyond their island. Pat’s unorthodox instructional methods caused the superintendent of schools to fire him after just one year. Nevertheless, Pat relished his job as an educator. “There’s no word in the language I revere more than ‘teacher,’” Pat said in 1986. “My heart sings when a kid refers to me as his teacher, and it always has. I’ve honored myself and the entire family of man by becoming a teacher.”

This dedicated educator and outstanding author passed away from pancreatic cancer on March 4, 2016. He was 70 years old. He is interred at St. Helena Memorial Garden on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. To read the 2009 interview with Pat Conroy published by Low Country Weekly, click on The Power of Circles.

Teacher Annie Brown Leslie became one of the country’s first advice columnists

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Teacher Annie Brown Leslie was among the first advice columnists in the country. Thoughout the Great Depression, her readers chipped in thousands of dollars to finance philanthropic endeavors she supported. Photo credit: The Detroit News

Many fine classroom teachers are also successful journalists. One of these was Annie Brown Leslie, a teacher from Maine who earned acclaim as one of the country’s first advice columnists.

Annie was born on Dec. 11, 1870, in Perry, Maine, the daughter of a farmer and Civil War veteran. As a young girl, she attended high school in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Upon her graduation in 1888, she enrolled at Mount Holyoke College, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in 1892.

After earning her degree, Annie inaugurated her career as a schoolteacher. Over the course of ten years, she taught in schools in Rockville, Connecticut; White River Junction, Vermont; and Mount Clemens, Michigan.

On Sept. 19, 1904, Annie married journalist and editor James Edward Leslie. After he died in 1917, she took over his position as the drama editor for the Pittsburgh Dispatch. Before long, using the pen name “Nancy Brown,” Annie began to publish an advice column entitled “Experience” for The Detroit News. The column ran from 1917 to 1942. In fact, she was among the first advice columnists in the country. Because of her common-sense philosophy, the former teacher won respect and widespread readership, and her column grew to be immensely influential. In 1929, her readers donated substantial funds to plant trees in a clearcut forest in Northern Michigan. At her suggestion, her readers contributed to a fundraising campaign in 1930 to purchase artwork for the Detroit Institute of Arts. They also funded a concert series by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Thoughout the Great Depression, thousands of readers chipped in pennies or a dollar, or two, or five, for philanthropic endeavors supported by “Nancy Brown.”

Sadly, Annie Brown Leslie passed away on Oct. 7, 1948. She was 77 years old. To read more about this amazing educator and journalist, see this article about her published by The Detroit News.

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.