Sugarcane Academy Showcases Attempts to Teach Evacuated Children Following Hurricane Katrina

As empathetic Americans continue to look for ways to help fellow citizens forced to rebuild their lives following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, the New York Times today reported that 5,400 New York City students have now returned to their storm-ravaged schools in Brooklyn and Queens.

As I usually do during times such as these, I ask myself questions about what the teachers are doing during these times of upheaval. In this instance, I am reminded of a book I read recently which described a remarkable teacher who opened a school for New Orleans evacuees following Hurricane Katrina.

When surging flood waters from Hurricane Katrina forced thousands of families to flee from their homes, New Orleans residents had their minds more on survival than on whether their children would be missing school. But when a group of evacuee parents who landed in New Iberia, Louisiana, realized they would not be returning to their homes any time soon, they realized they had to find a strategy to help their children cope with their enforced and unexpected exile. They pooled their financial resources and hired a fellow refugee, teacher Paul Reynaud, to establish a one-room school for their children in an abandoned office building. The story furnishes valuable lessons for dealing with this latest example of nature's fury.

The book is entitled Sugarcane Academy: How a New Orleans Teacher and His Storm-Struck Students Created a School to Remember.The author of this intriguing true story is journalist Michael Tisserand, and the volume was published in 2007 by Harcourt. You can find the book on amazon.com at the following link:

For other intriguing stories about remarkable teachers in America's sometimes turbulent history, check out my book Chalkboard Champions. You will find it on the web site for Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

The Launching of Chalkboard Champions

In January, 2010, my husband, Hal, and I traveled halfway across the country to spend an extended weekend in Little Rock, Arkansas. Admittedly, Little Rock is not high on the list of popular tourist destinations, but we were on a mission. Our purpose was to visit the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. I am an English teacher working on special assignment in my school's library, and he is a lawyer, so I guess it makes perfect sense that we would enjoy exploring presidential libraries together.

While we were in Little Rock, we took the opportunity to visit a small, inconspicuous museum dedicated to the Little Rock Nine and the events surrounding their heroic Civil Rights struggle to integrate Little Rock's Central High School. The museum's exhibits were well-prepared, visually appealing, and very informative, an impressive feat for such a small enterprise. As I perused the exhibits, I learned much about the accomplishments of this group of courageous individuals and the year of angry mobs, racial epithets, and death threats they faced simply because they claimed the right to enter their school.

The educator in me wondered what Central High's teachers were doing during these historic events. Were they supporting the students openly, or secretly, if necessary, or were they contributing to the racist chaos? What can a teacher do, what is a teacher expected to do, in highly charged periods of social change, political upheaval, or times of war? Curiosity launched me onto a path of intellectual inquiry which led me to discover many accounts of remarkable teachers who worked with disenfranchised groups of students throughout American history. I selected twelve of the teachers I found intriguing and inspirational, and I retold their stories in my newly published book, Chalkboard Champions. My desire is that these stories will fill the beginning teacher with enthusiasm, reignite the joy of the classroom experience in the veteran teacher, and generate an admiration for the profession in the general reader.

Here is the list of teachers included in the volume:

• Charlotte Forten Grimke: She Taught Emancipated Slaves
• Elaine Goodale Eastman: She Was a Sister to the Indians
• Julia Richman: She Was a Champion for Jewish Immigrants
• Anne Sullivan Macy: She Pioneered Education for the Handicapped
• Carter Godwin Woodson: He Originated Black History Month
• Clara Comstock: She Found Homes for the Orphans
• Eulalia Collins Bourne: She Educated Little Cowpunchers
• Leonard Covello: He Was an Innovator of Cultural Pluralism
• Gladys Kamakakuokalani Brandt: She Taught Native Hawaiians
• Mary Tsukamoto: She Developed WWII Japanese Internment Camp Programs
• Sandra Adickes: She Taught in a Civil Rights Freedom School
• Jaime Escalante: He Championed Latino American Urban Youths

Chalkboard Champions can be found on the websites for Amazon and Barnes and Noble at the following links:

http://www.amazon.com/Chalkboard-Champions

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/chalkboard-champions-terry-lee-marzell/1112448832

The fascinating life stories of these remarkable educators is well worth the time it takes to explore them. Whether you read about them in my book or from another source, enjoy!