Tag Archives: Teacher Librarians
Award-winning author Jacqueline Jules also works as a school librarian
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.
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Charlotte Stephens of Arkansas: Teacher and trailblazer
Charlotte Stephens, pictured above, was the first African American teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Many fine educators are notable for their “firsts.” One of these was trailblazer Charlotte Stephens, the first African American to teach school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Charlotte was born into slavery in 1854 in Little Rock. After the end of the Civil War, in 1869, she inaugurated her career as an educator when she became a substitute for her own teacher, who had fallen ill near the end of the school year. Charlotte was only 15 years old at the time. At the end of her first full year of teaching, Charlotte used her savings to travel to Ohio, where she completed courses in pedagogy at Oberlin College. There she studied Latin, geometry, the history of Rome, music, English, and the Bible. For three years she continued to perfect her craft, returning intermittently to Little Rock to teach and earn additional money to pay for her courses.
Charlotte’s career included 30 years as an elementary school teacher, 30 as a high school teacher, and 10 as a teacher librarian in both high school and junior college. In all, Charlotte’s career spanned an astonishing 70 years before her retirement at age 85 in 1939. Among her most notable students were African American composers Florence Price and William Grant Still.
This Chalkboard Champion passed away on December 17, 1951. In 1910, Stephens Elementary School in Little Rock was named in her honor. To read more about her, see this article published in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
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Texas Teacher Librarian Maria Lourdes Luna succumbs to Covid-19
Maria Lourdes Luna, a Teacher Librarian for Burleson Elementary School in Odessa, Texas, succumbed to Covid-19 on December 24, 2020. She was 62 years old. (Photo credit: Dignity Memorial)
Sadly, we report that yet another beloved educator has died from Covid-19. Teacher Librarian Maria Lourdes Luna of Odessa, Texas, succumbed to the disease on December 24, 2020. She was 62 years old.
Maria was born on December 18, 1958, in Marfa, Texas. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. In 1997, she earned her Master’s degree in Reading from Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. Later she earned her credential as a Library Media Specialist.
The career of this dedicated educator spanned a total of 39 years. At the time of her passing, she was employed by Odessa’s Ector County Independent School District. She worked for the school district for 37 years, all of which were spent at Burleson Elementary School. According to family members, Maria “believed in the power of reading, and she was passionate about her job. She wanted success for each one of her students. She took pride in her school and was always eager to help. She loved her job, she loved her colleagues, but most of all she loved her students.”
In addition to her responsibilities in the library, Maria was very active with her local Parent Teacher Association. She also organized spelling bees and Blue Bonnet programs for her school. The Texas Bluebonnet Award Program is a state-wide program for students in grades 3-6. Librarians nominate 20 new children’s books each year from different genres to be on the Bluebonnet list. The purpose of the program is to promote free-choice reading and expose students to a variety of quality literature.
To read more about Maria Lourdes Luna, click on this link to the obituary published by Dignity Memorial.
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Former First Lady Laura Bush: Teacher and school librarian
Former First Lady Laura Bush also served her community as a teacher and a school librarian in her home state of Texas.
Laura Bush was just seven years old when she informed her parents that she wanted to be a teacher. And she never wavered from her decision. Before she became the nation’s First Lady, she served her community as a teacher and school librarian.
Like many teachers, Laura felt a calling to the teaching profession. As a youngster, she enjoyed lining up her dolls in the pretend classroom she established in her bedroom. There she and her childhood playmates would play school for hours on end.
Laura earned her degrees from Southern Methodist University, where she majored in Elementary Education and completed her student teaching semester. She inaugurated her career as an educator when she accepted a position as a third grade teacher in the Dallas Public Schools system. At the tend of the school year, Laura moved to Houston, where she taught second grade at John F. Kennedy Elementary School.
After three years as a classroom teacher, Laura returned to college to earn her Master’s degree in Library Science. This done, she accepted a position as a children’s librarian at a public library in Houston, a job which suited her well. But she missed working in schools.
The following year she became a school librarian, working at a school with an inner-city population. Apparently, the students there were tough. One of Laura’s former colleagues described the future First Lady. She said, She was friendly and very loiving but very firm. She had her rules…and you followed them.”
Laura has said that she believes that children need dedicated teaches in their lives. She has often said, “Teachers have a more profound impact on our society and culture than any other profession.”
To read more about Laura Bush and her career as an educator, check out this book, From Classroom to White House: The President and First Ladies as Students and Teachers, by James McMurtry Longo, available on amazon.
