Tag Archives: Teacher Authors

Canada’s Uzma Jalaluddin: English teacher, columnist, TV guest, and novelist

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Uzma Jalaluddin, a high school English teacher in Canada, has earned acclaim as a newspaper columnist, television guest, and author of romance novels. Photo Credit: Uzma Jalaluddin

Many exceptional educators have achieved success in fields outside of the classroom. This is true of Uzma Jalaluddin, a high school English teacher who has earned acclaim as a newspaper columnist, novelist, and television guest.

Uzma was born in 1980. Her parents immigrated to Canada from Hyderabad, India. She was raised in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, a place that she describes as “one of the most ethnically diverse places on the planet. After earning her degree in English literature from the University of Toronto, she became a high school English teacher at a public school in Toronto, a job she has held since 2003.

Uzma writes regular column about modern Musllim life for Canada’s Toronto Star. The column is entitled Samosas and Maple Syrup. She’s also been a guest on the television show Cityline, speaking on topics related to the Muslim experience. Her debut novel, Ayesha at Last, was published in 2019. The volume has been described as a modern retelling of the Jane Austin novel Pride and Prejudice with a setting in the Muslim community. The effort earned instant acclaim, and was even named the Cosmopolitan UK Book of the Year and a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of 2019. In addition, this book was long-listed for the Stephen Leacock Medal and the Toronto Book Awards and was short-listed as a Goodreads Reader’s Choice Awards finalist. Her second novel, Hana Khan Carries On, was published in 2021. This book has been described as having been inspired by the blockbuster hit movie You’ve Got Mail, again with a setting in the Muslim community, and was named Best Romance Novel 2021 by the Washington Post.

Uzma credits her upbringing with her success as an author, and she never forgets the value of telling stories. “I grew up surrounded by storytellers; my favorite stories were the ones my mother and my aunts told me, about the strong women they knew in India,” Uzma says. “Like the wealthy widow who used her resources to educate neighborhood women in her own home. Or the female servant who never kept quiet when she witnessed bad behavior,” she continues. “I learned about the power of stories to combat the limiting narratives that are so often used to harm, diminish, and control others. Today I tell stories in my job as a teacher, columnist, and novelist. I do it not just to keep the old tales alive and for the pleasure of making up new stories, but also to remind myself, my children, my readers, who they are and where they come from, and how the stories we listen to influence our lives,” she concludes.

To learn more about this talented teacher and author, click on this link to her website: Uzma Jalaluddin.

NY English teacher Alice Duer Miller was also 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.

Award-winning author Jacqueline Jules also works as a school librarian

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Virginia school librarian and teacher Jacqueline Jules has earned acclaim as an author of children’s books. Photo Credit: Jacqueline Jules

There are many excellent educators who have earned success in endeavors outside of the classroom. This is true of Jacqueline Jules, a school librarian and teacher from Virginia who has has earned acclaim as an author of children’s books.

Jacqueline was born in 1956 in Petersburg, Virginia. As a young woman, she earned her Bachelor’s degree with a major in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2001 she earned her Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Maryland.

Currently, Jacqueline works as a school librarian at Timber Lane Elementary School in Falls Church, Virginia. She also works as a storyteller and as a guest speaker at schools. She has also taught religious school, led Tot Shabbat services, and has experience as a writing resource teacher. Her career as an educator has spanned a total of 28 years. She credits these experiences with her success as an author. “It actually wasn’t until I became a school librarian that I had enough ideas for writing children’s books,” Jacqueline confesses. “My years as a librarian fueled my writing rather than stalled it. Working in a school taught me what children enjoy and what was missing from library shelves,” she continued. “I could never do the writing I do now without having been a teacher,” she concludes.

Jacqueline’s work has appeared in over 100 publications. She has authored more than 50 children’s books, including The Grey Striped Shirt; Once upon a Shabbos; the Zapato Power series; the Sofia Martinez series; Unite or Die: How Thirteen States Became a Nation; Duck for Turkey Day; Never Say a Mean Word Again; Feathers for Peacock; The Hardest Wor; and Pluto is Peeved. Also a poet, Jacqueline is the author of Tag Your Dreams: Poems of Play and Persistence.

For her work as a children’s author, Jacqueline has earned many accolades. She garnered the Arlington Arts Moving Words Contest twice, in 1999 and again in 2007. In 2009, she earned the SCBWI Magazine Merit Plaque for Poetry, and 2008, she received the Best Original Poetry Award from the Catholic Press Association. She has also garnered a citation for Notable Books for Young Readers from the Association of Jewish Libraries in 2002, and that same year she was named a National Jewish Book Award finalist.

To learn more about this amazing educator and author, visit www.jacquelinejules.com.

California’s Eliza Robbins Crafts was a pioneer educator and local history author of the Wild West

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Eliza Robbins Crafts was a pioneer educator and local history writer in the early days of San Bernardino County, California. Photo Credit:

There are many intriguing stories about intrepid pioneer educators who helped to settle the Wild West during the late 1800’s. One of them was Eliza Robbins Crafts, a teacher and writer who had an unmistakable impact on the settling of the San Bernardino area of Southern California.

Eliza was born Eliza Russell on Nov. 29, 1825, in Unadello Center, Otsego County, New York. As a young girl, she attended Madam Willard’s Female Seminary. She graduated from the school in 1847. The education she earned there was far greater than the typical young woman of her day. Once she completed school, Eliza migrated to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she worked as a teacher on a sugar plantation. There she met and married Ellison Robbins, a fellow educator from her home state of New York. Before long, the couple relocated to Santa Clara, California, where they taught school for three years. In 1858, the couple was persuaded to relocate to San Bernardino, where they were hired to lead the school system. The system was comprised of two one-room adobe structures that were built next door to each other. One was named Washington and the other was named Jefferson.

Unfortunately, Ellison succumbed to pneumonia in 1864. He was only 43 years old. Shortly thereafter, Eliza married Myron Harwood Crafts. But that marriage did not last long, as in 1886 Myron also succumbed to pneumonia. At the time, Eliza was 61, and found the estates she inherited from Ellison and Myron too much for her to handle. She sold her assets and moved to Redlands to live with her daughter, Rosabelle. During the next few years, Eliza authored a local history book entitled Pioneer Days in the San Bernardino Valley, which was published in 1906. The book contained a description of life in San Bernardino County in the early days, the disastrous flood of 1862, the Civil War years, the assassination of President Lincoln, and how the residents defended themselves when they received news that a marauding band of Southern sympathizers was headed their way.

Eliza Robbins Crafts was 85 years old when she passed away in February of 1910. She is interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Redlands, California. She will always be known in the San Bernardino area as a pioneer educator and local history author. To read more, click on this link to the online article published about her by the Redlands Area Historical Society.

 

Teacher Pearle Ludwig continued to contribute, even after retirement

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Elementary school teacher Pearle Ludwig continued to tutor, train student teachers, and author books, even after her retirement. Photo Credit: Legacy.com

Many dedicated educators continue to teach and contribute to the profession, even after retirement. One of these is Pearle Ludwig, an elementary teacher from San Bernardino, California.

Pearle was born on Feb. 28, 1928, in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised at Waveney Farms in Framingham. She attended elementary and high school there. As a high school graduate, she enrolled at Framingham State University, where she earned her Master’s degree in Education. Then she relocated to Southern California, where she accepted a teaching position in the San Bernardino Unified School District. She taught first at Parkside Elementary and then at Arrowhead Elementary.

Upon her retirement, Pearle continued to work with students at the Learning Center at Belvedere Elementary School in Highland. “Nurturing a child’s self-esteem and fostering and recognizing the dignity of a person is the single most important thing a teacher can do for a student,” Pearle once said. “This I feel is the most important funciton of a good teacher and a good school.”

In addition to tutoring, Pearle also volunteered with the Humane Society teaching groups of children about wildlife, especially bears. She supervised student teachers at California State University, San Bernardino, and she fostered the growth of colleagues through her membership in Delta Kappa Gamma (DKG), a professional organization for women educators.

In addition to her work with students and teachers, Pearle authored Excellence for Kids, a professional text on educational pedagogy published in 2009. She also wrote children’s books, including Safari, inspired by a vacation that Pearle and her husband, Glen, enjoyed in Kenya. She also penned Sammy the Cricket and Green is Growing.

This amazing educator passed away on Jan. 29, 2022, in San Bernardino. She was 93 yers old.