Tag Archives: Teacher Authors

Educator Horatio Strother published volume about Underground Railroad

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Educator Horatio Strother of Connecticut published a highly-acclaimed volume about the Underground Railroad in Connecticut. Photo: Wesleyan University Press

Many excellent educators have also authored influential books. One of these was Horatio Strother, a history teacher who published a highly-acclaimed volume about the Underground Railroad in Connecticut.

Horatio was born on Feb. 1, 1930, in Harlem, New York. As a very young child, his family relocated to Middleton, Connecticut. There he attended Woodrow High School. In addition to his studies there, he excelled in athletics, including football and track and field. In fact, he he set a state record in the broad jump. In 1950, Horatio enlisted in the US Air Force and served four years of active duty in the Korean Conflict.

When his military service was completed, Horatio earned his Bachelor’s degree in History in 1956 and his Master’s degree in History in 1957, both from the University of Connecticut. During college, he was a member of Phi Alpha Theta, the National Horos Society of History.

Once he earned his degrees, Horatio taught briefly at Killingsworth Elementary School. In 1959, he transferred to Nathan Hale-Ray High School in Moodys section of East Haddam. There he taught history and served as the Chair of the Social Studies Department. Later, Horatio taught history at South Central Community College in New Haven, where he earned a promotion to Assistant Professor.

Horatio spent years conducting research and collecting oral history interviews related to the Underground Railroad in Connecticut. This research culminated in a scholarly work that was published by Wesleyan University Press in 1962. The volume, regarded as the definitive text on the Underground Railroad in Connecticut, is still in print and is held in the collections of nearly 2,000 libraries around the country.

Sadly, Horatio Strother drowned on Sept. 14, 1974, while swimming in Hidden Lake near his home. He was only 44 years old. To read more about this Chalkboard Champion, click on this link to the Haddam Killingworth 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 1973. 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 75, 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.

Sarah Ware Bassett: Kindergarten teacher and writer of young adult novels

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Kindergarten teacher Sarah Ware Bassett of Massachusetts was also a prolific writer of novels for young adults. Photo Credit: Princeton Historical Society

Talented teachers often earn acclaim in fields other than education. One such Chalkboard Champion was Sara Ware Bassett, a kindergarten teacher who worked in the public schools of Newton, Massachusetts. Her career as a teacher spanned 20 years, but during these years, she was also a prolific author of books for young adults.

Sarah was born in 1872 and attended schools in her native town of Newton. Her family spent their summer vacations on Cape Cod. After her high school graduation, she attended the Lowell Institute of Design at MIT, where she majored in textile design. She then studied writing at both Radcliffe and Boston University. In her later years, she divided her time between her homes in Princeton and Cape Cod.

Sarah began her career as an author writing a series of nonfiction books for young adults. The series was entitled The Story of Lumber, The Story of Wool, etc., but it was through fiction that her talent became really evident.  Many of her novels focus on love stories and humorously eccentric characters. She wrote over 40 novels for young people, most with Cape Cod as the setting. Some of her titles are Within the Harbor, Hidden Shoals, and Flood Tides. The novels usually took place in the town of Belleport, a locale which she created that seemed so real to her hundreds of readers that they could not believe it did not really exist. Many readers made pilgrimages up and down the Cape looking for it! Two of her novels were even made into movies. Her very first novel, The Taming of Zenah Henry, became the movie Captain Hurricane when it was released by RKO. The Harbor Road filmed by Universal became Danger Ahead.

During her lifetime, Sarah cut an unusual figure around town, resembling a character in an English detective novel. She dressed as one would expect Agatha Christie’s character Miss Marple would have dressed, sporting tweed skirts, a man’s shirt, and sensible walking shoes. She was often seen around Princeton as she conducted her daily errands at the post office or the general store.

When Sarah passed away in 1968 at the age of 95, she left a legacy of over 500 books of her own writings and those of her contemporaries to the Boston Public Library. The collection is now part of their Rare Books and Manuscripts Collection.

Educator and author Renee Jones named Nebraska’s 2023 Teacher of the Year

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Congratulations to high school English teacher and author Renee Jones, who has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year. Photo Credit: Lincoln Public Schools

Congratulations are due to high school teacher Renee Jones from Lincoln, Nebraska. She has been named her state’s 2023 Teacher of the Year!

Renee teaches English, reading interventions, and oral communications courses at Lincoln High School. She says that connecting with students is the key to their academic success. In her classroom, she emphasizes building relationships. In fact, she says her philosophy can best be summarized as connection before curriculum. “Connecting students is the most influential and important element of my role as a teacher,” Renee declares. “Connecting students with me, with their peers, and with themselves, is at the heart of gaining the confidence they need,” she continues. Renee is so passionate about and successful at this practice that she was selected to speak on the topic at the 2022 South by Southwest (SXSW) EDU National Conference in 2022.

Renee’s selection as the 2023 Nebraska Teacher of the Year is not the only recognition she has earned. In 2019, she garnered the  Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools Inspire Award.

And these awards are not the only accomplishments Renee can boast about. During the pandemic, Renee authored a memoir describing the complications of balancing her work with her responsibilities as the mother of four young children. The volume, published by Google books in 2021, is entitled It Was Always Four: My Pandemic Journey in Becoming and Walking Away from Life as a Stay-At-Home Mom.

Renee earned her Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska, Omaha. She earned her Master’s degree in Educational Leadership in 2020 from Doane University, a private university located in Crete, Nebraska. She inaugurated her career as an educator in 2015 when she was hired to  teach English at Bryan Community Focus Program in Lincoln. In all, her career as an educator has spanned eight years.

 

African American teacher, poet, and biographer Henrietta Cordelia Ray

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African American teacher, poet, and biographer Henrietta Cordelia Ray became known for her sonnets and her ode to Abraham Lincoln.

Many excellent educators have also earned fame for their endeavors outside of the classroom. One of these was Henrietta Cordelia Ray, an African American teacher who is best known for composing a poem about Abraham Lincoln that is associated with the Freedmen’s Memorial located in Washington, DC.

Henrietta was born on Aug. 30, 1852, in New York City. Her father was Charles Bennett Ray, a blacksmith, abolitionist, and clergyman.

As a young woman, Henrietta earned her degree in pedagogy from the University of the City of New York in 1891. She also studied French, German, Greek, and Latin at the Sauvener School of Languages. Then she launched her career as a public school teacher in New York City schools. During this period, Henrietta also became active in community-building and political activism.

Henrietta gave up her position as an educator to pursue a career as a writer. One her pieces, an eight-line ode to Abraham Lincoln, was read at the unveiling of the Freedmen’s Memorial in Washington, DC, in April, 1876. At this unveiling ceremony, the prominent African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass served as the keynote speaker. In 1887, Henrietta co-authored a biography of her father with her sister, Florence. The book was entitled “Sketch of the Life of Rev. Charles B. Ray.” Henrietta also published a collection of sonnets in 1893 and a second book of poetry in 1910.  Selections from the 1910 volume were widely included in anthologies published in the early 20th century. Frequently, the subjects of her verse were nature, piety, and idealism.

In her retirement years, Henrietta returned to her original vocation of teaching. She tutored students and instructed English classes for teachers. In addition, she organized and participated in regional and national conferences for African American teachers.

Sadly, Henrietta passed away on Jan. 5, 1916. She was 63 years old.