Tag Archives: Teacher Authors

Teacher and Television Personality Jedediah Bila

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Many former educators have distinguished themselves in the entertainment world. This is certainly the case with Jedediah Louisa Bila, a middle school, high school, and college educator who has earned a name for herself as a prominent television personality.

Jedediah was born on January 29, 1979, in Brooklyn, New York. As a youngster, she grew up in Staten Island where she attended an all-girls Catholic high school. Upon her graduation, she enrolled at Wagner College, a private liberal arts college in Staten Island, where she majored in Spanish and minored in business administration. She graduated from Wagner as the valedictorian of her class. After her college graduation, Jedediah earned her master’s degree in Spanish literature from Columbia University.

As an educator, Jedediah has taught various courses at the middle school, high school, and college levels. She has worked with learners from age three to adult, teaching them such subjects as creative writing, academic writing, Spanish, and public speaking. She has also been employed as a high school academic dean and adviser.

In the entertainment field, Jedediah served as a co-host on the popular television show The View from August, 2016, to September, 2017. In fact, in 2017, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host. Jedediah has also served as a Fox News contributor and as a regular panelist on shows such as Red Eye, MSNBC, and Lou Dobbs Tonight. She has also published a book, Outnumbered: Chronicles of a Manhattan Conservative, in May of 2011. She has also held several leadership positions in the marketing field.

You can learn more about this amazing educator and television personality at this link: Jedediah Bila Biography.

San Francisco Educator Ninive Clements Calegari, Champion for Improved Teacher Salaries

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Many successful classroom teachers campaign vigorously to improve the professional conditions of everyone in the profession. One such educator is Ninive Clements Calegari, an elementary school teacher from San Francisco, California.

Ninive attended Santa Catalina School, where she graduated in 1989. She then enrolled in Middlebury College, a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont. There she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Studio Art in 1993. Ninive earned her Master’s degree in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard in 1995.

Ninive, a classroom teacher in San Francisco public schools for ten years, has worked tirelessly to increase respect for accomplished classroom instructors. “We can’t overestimate the importance of teachers who are able to survive a demanding schedule, day after day, and bring magic into the classroom,” declared Ninive. “I’m completely awestruck by teachers who can do both.” The indefatigable educator founded and currently serves as CEO of The Teacher Salary Project, a non-profit organization designed to build the political support necessary to transform how American society values effective teachers. In addition, with writer Dave Eggers and Daniel Moulthrop, Ninive co-authored the book Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America’s Teachers, published by New Press in 2005. The book argues that an essential element to meaningful school reform is increasing teachers’ salaries.

You can purchase Ninive’s informative book at amazon.com by following this link: Teachers Have It Easy. It is available in both print and kindle versions.

 

South Carolina’s Kate Vixon Wofford: A Groundbreaker in the Field of Education

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Many gifted classroom teachers have proven to be groundbreakers in the field of education. This is certainly true of Kate Vixon Wofford, a high school teacher from Laurens, South Carolina.

Kate Vixon Wofford

Kate was born on October 20, 1894, the eldest of ten children born to John and Cleo (Cunningham) Wofford. As a young girl, Kate attended Winthrop College, where she graduated with honors in 1916.

Kate accepted her first position as an educator at Laurens High School in Laurens, South Carolina. When World War I broke out, the intrepid teacher joined the United States Navy, where she served as a yeoman. She was one of the first women to enlist in the war effort. After the war was won, Kate returned to her classroom at Laurens.

At a time when women were not generally active in the political arena, Kate broke down many barriers. In 1922, she was elected to the position of County Superintendent of Schools, becoming the first woman in the state of South Carolina to be elected to a public office. She served two terms in this position. In addition, she served a term as the first president of the South Carolina State Teachers Association. And in 1929, she was selected to be a delegate to the World Conference in Education held in Geneva, Switzerland.

Kate Vixon Wofford

A lifelong learner, Kate returned to school in 1930. She earned her master’s degree from Cornell University in 1931, and her doctorate from Columbia University in 1934. Following this, Kate accepted a position as the Director of Rural Education at State Teachers College in Buffalo, New York. An accomplished author, Kate wrote two books about education: Modern Education in the Small Rural School in 1938, and Teaching in Small Schools in 1946. These books were widely acclaimed. She also published pieces for the National Education Association.

In 1947, Kate was selected to be the Director of Elementary Education at the University of Florida in Gainesville. In 1952, she threw her energy into organizing a program for the Turkish Ministry of Education, successfully gaining funding and then directing a course of study for 25 Turkish educators. Her report of this program, entitled The Workshop Way with Foreign Students, was published in 1954.

Sadly, that same year, Kate learned she had cancer. She passed away at the age of 60 on October 31, 1954, in Gainesville. She is interred at the New Prospect Baptist Church Cemetery in Laurens, South Carolina.

During her lifetime, Kate was a member of the Daughters of American Revolution and the National Council of Administrative Women in Education. She was also a member of the honors association Pi Gamma Mu. To read more about this chalkboard champion, see South Carolina Encyclopedia.

Oregon’s Edward Diller: Foreign Language Educator Extraordinaire

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Many teachers who exhibit talents in the classroom also achieve accomplishments on an international scale. One of these is Edward Diller, a high school foreign language instructor who made significant contributions to German studies.

Edward came from humble origins. He was born on December 14, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the youngest of six children born to Isaac and Frieda Diller. His father, who worked in a hat factory, had immigrated to the US from Austria-Hungary in 1910.

During WWII, Edward served our country in the US Marine Corps. Once the war was won, he returned to school, earning his both his bachelor’s  (1953) and his master’s (1954) from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1961, Edward completed the requirements for his doctorate at Middlebury College located in Middlebury, Vermont.

During the 1950’s and early 1960’s, Edward taught German language classes at Beverly Hills High School in California. He also served as the foreign language coordinator for the Beverly Hills Unified School District. In the 1960’s, the gifted teacher left the Golden State and headed to the Rocky Mountain State to work as a professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. In 1965, he relocated to Eugene, Oregon, to join the faculty of the University of Oregon. There he served as the director of the Robert D. Clark Honors College from 1972 to 1977, and as the Assistant Dean of the College of Liberal Arts from 1974 to 1977.

Edward’s brilliance was obvious to many in the academic field. He was selected to be a Fulbright visiting lecturer to Germany in 1967, and he garnered a Fulbright research grant in 1977 to fund his research studies in Freiburg, Germany. Additionally, he was awarded Fulbright Research Professorships in Braunschweig and Regensburg in Germany,  and was named Carl Schurz Visiting Professor at the University of Dortmund in Dortmund, Germany, in 1970.

During his professional career, Edward was named to a number of prestigious leadership positions. During the 1980-1981 school year, he served as the resident director of the Oregon Study Center in Stuttgart, West Germany. He also served as the president of the American Association of Teachers of German from 1978 to 1980; on the Executive Board of the Joint National Committee for Languages from 1979 to 1980; and the chairman of the Selection Committee of the Federal Republic of Germany and the US Office of Education Grants in 1979. The brilliant educator also served on the Board of Trustees for the American Council on German Studies in 1977. Edward excelled as an academic author as well. He published numerous articles, books, and book reviews, and made important contributions to textbooks for Spanish, French, and German languages.

One of this talented educator’s major skills was his ability to win grants. He won a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and another from the National Science Foundation to produce projects that improved relations between Oregon’s Native American tribes and local Caucasian residents. With a colleague, he garnered another grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund summer seminars for high school teachers.

This amazing chalkboard champion passed away on March 30, 1985, at the young age of 59. He is interred at Rest-Haven Memorial Park in Eugene, Lane County, Oregon. You can learn more about him at Revolvy. You can also visit the Edward Diller author page at amazon.com.