Janie Porter Barrett: The Chalkboard Champion of Wayward Girls

Throughout the history of our country, many gifted educators have worked tirelessly on behalf of disenfranchised populations. One such educator was Janie Porter Barrett, who worked as a teacher, welfare worker, and social reformer in Virginia during the first half of the twentieth century.

Janie Porter was born in 1865 in Athens, Georgia. Her mother, Julia, was a former slave, and her father is unknown. Julia supported herself as a live-in housekeeper and seamstress. Her employers, a progressive white family, educated little Janie along with their own children, providing her with excellent basic education.

When she came of age, Janie enrolled in courses at the Hampton Institute, a private black college in Virginia, to train as an elementary school teacher. While at Hampton, the young student became involved in volunteer work, completing many community service projects. Janie graduated from the Hampton Institute in 1885.

Following her college graduation, Janie accepted her first teaching assignment in a rural school in Dawson, Georgia, and then transferred to Lucy Craft Laney's Haines Normal and Industrial Institute in Augusta,  Georgia. In addition, she taught night school classes in the Hampton Institute from 1896 to 1899.

In 1899, the young teacher married Harris Barrett, the bookkeeper and cashier employed by the Hampton Institute, and together they had four children. Soon after she married, Janie began holding a informal  day care and sewing classes in her home. Attendance at her classes grew rapidly. Eventually these classes transformed into a club that worked to improve both home and community life for its members. This club, known as the Locust Street Social Settlement, was the first settlement house established specifically for African Americans in the country.

In 1908, Janie expanded her efforts in service to her community. She was instrumental in the organization of the Virginia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. She also served as the organization's first president. The Federation launched itself into a wide range of social services, including providing children alternatives to placements in orphanages, poorhouses, or jails. The Federation raised money to establish a residential industrial school for the large number of young African American girls that were being sent to jail. They also founded a rehabilitation center, the Industrial Home for Wayward Girls, for African American female juvenile delinquents. Under Janie's direction, the school offered academic and vocational instruction, and developed a program that emphasized self-reliance and self-discipline. Also notable was the school's visible rewards, counseling services, close attention to individual needs, and follow-up ministerial guidance. In the 1920s, the school was rated as one of the five best schools of its kind in the country, becoming a model for its type. For this remarkable work, Janie received the William E. Harmon Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes in 1929.

This amazing chalkboard champion retired from public service in 1940. She died in Hampton, Virginia, in 1948. In 1950, Janie's training school was renamed the Janie Porter Barrett School for Girls, which today is known as the Barrett Learning Center.

What We Can Learn From Successful Teachers

One of the most recent blog posts I shared talked about the characteristics of great teachers. This post generated a great deal of interest. Many teachers enjoy reading stories about remarkable teachers, but more than anything they are looking for ways to improve their own practice. For this reason, I thought I would share another article that I came across on the internet which talks about the characteristics of great teachers. This one was written by Beth Lewis, a graduate of UCLA, and fellow educator. I hope you find the thoughts she expresses in this essay valuable.

 

What We Can Learn From Successful Teachers

by Beth Lewis

The teachers I admire most are those who remain intellectually curious and professionally vital both inside and outside the classroom for decades. They avoid stagnation at all costs and maintain an enviable passion for children and the learning process. They remain vivid in the students' memories forever because of their creativity, sense of fun, and compassion.Here are the qualities I feel contribute most to a successful, durable, and happy teaching career:

1. Successful teachers hold high expectations:

The most effective teachers expect great accomplishments from their students, and they don't accept anything less. In education, expectations form a self-fulfilling prophecy. When teachers believe each and every student can soar beyond any imagined limits, the children will sense that confidence and work with the teacher to make it happen.
 

2. They think creatively:

The best teachers think outside the box, outside the classroom, and outside the norm. They leap outside of the classroom walls and take their students with them! As much as possible, top teachers try to make classroom experiences exciting and memorable for the students. They seek ways to give their students a real world application for knowledge, taking learning to the next action-packed level. Think tactile, unexpected, movement-oriented, and a little bit crazy... then you'll be on the right track.
 

3. Top teachers are versatile and sensitive:

The best teachers live outside of their own needs and remain sensitive to the needs of others, including students, parents, colleagues, and the community. It's challenging because each individual needs something different, but the most successful teachers are a special breed who play a multitude of different roles in a given day with fluidity and grace, while remaining true to themselves.
 

4. They are curious, confident, and evolving:

We're all familiar with the stagnant, cynical, low-energy teachers who seem to be biding their time until retirement and watching the clock even more intently than their students. That's what NOT to do. In contrast, the teachers I most admire renew their energy by learning new ideas from younger teachers, and they aren't threatened by new ways of doing things on campus. They have strong core principles, but somehow still evolve with changing times. They embrace new technologies and confidently move forward into the future.
 

5. They are imperfectly human:

The most effective educators bring their entire selves to the job. They celebrate student successes, show compassion for struggling parents, tell stories from their own lives, laugh at their mistakes, share their unique quirks, and aren't afraid to be imperfectly human in front of their students. They understand that teachers don't just deliver curriculum, but rather the best teachers are inspiring leaders that show students how should behave in all areas of life and in all types of situations. Top teachers admit it when they don't know the answer. They apologize when necessary and treat students with respect.
 

6. Successful teachers emphasize the fun in learning and in life:

The teachers I admire most create lighthearted fun out of serious learning. They aren't afraid to be silly because they can snap the students back into attention at will - with just a stern look or a change in tone of voice. I often think of Disney Teacher of the Year Ron Clark who made one of his Essential 55 rules be "Do not bring Doritos into the school building" simply because he hated Doritos himself! This irreverent rule (sneaked in amongst the more important class rules) shows a silly, human side of the teacher while modeling for the students that we can have fun while we get work done.
 

Next Steps:

For those of us aiming to increase these qualities in our professional lives, it can be intimidating to think that we have to do everything all at once. Instead, I recommend choosing one of these qualities to focus on each school year and expand your repertoire slowly but surely. Even the most successful teachers have to start somewhere!

Chalkboard Champion Gwynneth Hardesty Coogan Is Also An Olympic Competitor

Many talented educators distinguish themselves in fields other than education, and a perfect example of this is Gwynneth Hardesty Coogan, a talented educator who also happens to be an Olympic athlete.

Gwynneth was born on August 21, 1965, in Trenton, New Jersey. As a youngster, Gwynneth attended Phillips Exeter Academy for two years, where she graduated in 1983. There she played both field hockey and squash. After her graduation from high school, she enrolled in Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, earning her bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1987, and her doctorate in math from the University of Colorado in 1999, working primarily in number theory. She did post-doctorate work with at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Gwynneth's first teaching experience was at Hood College, but she  currently teaches math at Phillips Exeter Academy. At Phillips Exeter, Gwynneth is the director of the Exeter Mathematics Institute, and serves as the head coach of the girls varsity cross country team, in addition to her roles as dormitory adviser and mathematics instructor. She was the first Smith Family Instructor of Mathematics from 2007 to 2013, and she received a Brown Award for her teaching in 2011.

During her years at Smith, Gwynneth took up running, and won the NCAA Division III title in the 3,000 meters two times. She qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain, where she competed in the 10,000 meter race.Four years later, she was an alternate for the women's marathon for the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia.

Drag-Racing Champion Al Young and Chalkboard Champion Al Young: They Are One and the Same

So many chalkboard champions have earned recognition in fields other than education, and Al Young is a great example of this. Al taught high school in Seattle, Washington, for thirty-seven years, but he is also famous as a former world champion drag racer.

Alfred John Young, a Chinese American, was born in 1946 in Whittier, California. His father was a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, and later a businessman; his mother was an artist and art collector. Al and his two siblings were raised in San Francisco, where Al graduated from George Washington High School. After his high school graduation, he enrolled at the University of Washington where he majored in English literature. He earned his bachelor's degree in 1968 and his master's degree in 1972.

After his college graduation, Al served for many years as a teacher, tutor, counselor, and advocate for the Upward Bound program. He also founded one of Seattle's first alternative schools, the Summit K-12 School, in 1972. In the thirty-seven years that this gifted teacher worked in Seattle public schools, Al instructed vocational courses such auto shop and physical education, electives such as film study and Chinese cooking, and rigorous academic courses such as history, AP American government, and AP comparative government and politics. He has also served as the adviser to school teams that participated in the Chrysler Trouble Shooting contests, YMCA Mock trial competitions, Junior State of America conventions, and he has led high school groups to the South Pacific and Washington D. C. for close-up learning. During his teaching career, this remarkable educator also coached volleyball, softball, and basketball.

In the world of drag racing, Al competed in Pro Bracket racing. He has won the American Hot Rod Association World Championship, and between the years of 1976 and 1996, he twice won major drag racing events, and three times was declared the winner of Bremerton Raceway's Day Fire Nationals. In 1988, Al was inducted into the Firebird Raceway Bracketeer All-Stars in Boise, Idaho. Al has also been involved with the preparation of classic high performance race cars.

Al Young has been honored as one of Seattle Public Schools' "Heroes in the Classroom" by such entities as Vulcan, Inc., Russell Investments, and the Seattle Seahawks organization.  In 2008, this accomplished chalkboard champion retired from the teaching profession. His wife, Vicki Johnson Young, is also a retired school teacher, having taught in the Seattle public school system for twenty-eight years. As retirees, Al and Vicki have driven throughout the United States and Canada in their 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner Muscle car. Al has also practiced martial arts and actively served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle and worked for the Chinese Historical Society of America.

Physical Education Teacher Wesley Darcel Walker Played NFL Football

Many times talented teachers earn recognition for themselves in fields other than education. This is certainly the case for elementary school physical education teacher Wesley Darcel Walker. This chalkboard champion was once a player for the in the National Football League.

 

Wesley was born in 1955 in San Bernardino, California. He graduated from Carson High School in Carson, California, where he played football for his high school, setting many school records for receiving and returns. Following his high school graduation, Wesley attended the University of California, where he also distinguished himself as a gifted football player, having been named as an All-American.

After his college years, Wesley became a player for the New York Jets. As an NFL wide receiver, Wesley was known for his great speed, averaging over twenty yards per reception over the many seasons he played. He led the league in receiving yards in 1978, and that year was named his team's Most Valuable Player. He was elected to the Pro Bowl twice: in 19878 and 1982. At the time of his retirement from the game, Wesley held the all-time record of second in receiving yards for the Jets. And he did all this despite a handicap: he's legally blind in one eye.

Wesley is now employed as a physical education teacher at Park View Elementary School in Kings Park, Long Island, New York, and occasionally works on the side as a sports radio show commentator.

George Rajna: The Chalkboard Champion Who Promotes Multi-Cultural Awareness

Many hardworking educators give unselfishly to causes near and dear to their hearts, and chalkboard champion George Kenneth Rajna is a fine example of this. George is an elementary school teacher, bilingual speech and language pathologist, Peace Corps volunteer, musician, and travel writer who has traveled to over one hundred countries across six continents around the world. He has worked tireless throughout his professional career to promote multi-cultural awareness.

George was born in Santa Monica, California. He graduated from the American University in Washington, DC, with an MBA in International Marketing. He has also attended California State University, Northridge, where he earned his master's degree in science with an emphasis in communicative disorders.

From 1995 to 1999, George was employed as an elementary schoolteacher in both the Inglewood and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. George has also donated his teaching talents as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Paraguay, where he supported a government educational reform program used by teachers to engage students with didactic materials, hands-on activities, and multi-modal instruction. During his Peace Corps experience, George promoted programs improving dental hygiene in the local community, and he also facilitated workshops for teachers to assist them in creating and utilizing instructional materials for their classrooms.

After his return from Paraguay, George accepted a position as a speech and language pathologist in the Lennox School District in Lennox, California. He was employed there for six years, working with students who suffered from varying degrees of autism and children who exhibited articulation, language, and fluency delays. During his tenure in Lennox, George also mentored new clinicians on how to effectively treat children with speech and language disorders.

George met his future wife, science teacher Lisa Niver, online in 2007, and the following year the couple went on sabbatical together, travelling all over Southeast Asia. Their 2013 book Traveling in Sin describes their unique experiences on this trip, and how their sabbatical fostered the growth of their relationship. Together, George and Lisa founded an award-winning web site, We Said Go Travel, a global community of over one hundred writers who have publicly shared meaningful stories related to travel and world culture. George has also published travel articles in the Huffington Post, Jewish Journal, the Himalayan Times, Technorati, and The Clymb. In addition, George and Lisa are sought-after public speakers.

Here is a link to George and Lisa Rajna's web site: We Said Go Travel.

Here is a link to George and Lisa Rajna's book: Traveling in Sin.

 

Creating a Memory Book for Your Class

At my school, every teacher on staff has a Homeroom class. Our school is built for 4,000 students, and the concern is that with a student population that large, a kid could get lost in the shuffle. In Homeroom, the teacher strives to connect with each individual student, fosters team-building among the students in the group, and nurtures those relationships from the first day of their freshman year until the day they graduate. Today, I am going to share with you a strategy I use with my own Homeroom class. It’s a scrapbooking idea, and if you like it, you can adapt it to fit your own class needs, whatever they may be.

 

For this memory book, you will need a photo album or a large three-ring binder, 8 1/2″ by 11″ scrapbook pages, some page protectors, and some colored papers. I recommend you use acid-free pages and papers available at your local Michael’s or scrapbooking store. You could also invest in at least one acid-free journaling pen. If you’re into decorating stickers and such, you can buy some ready-made, but personally I prefer a rather simpler-looking page.

At the beginning of each year I ask a colleague to take a photograph of me and my class, and then I print a copy of the roster from the attendance program. These items go into the class memory book. Throughout the year, I add photos of students engaged in our weekly Homeroom activities. If the lesson calls for a written response, I collect a few representative examples and place them in the scrapbook, too. Also, if attend their extra-curricular activities, I take pictures and include those, too. I try to make sure that there is a visual record of some kind of each and every student in the group. At least once a year, I invite the students to create their own personal page to add to the scrapbook.

Since we have the same Homeroom group for all four years they attend high school, I am able to add to the scrapbook every year until their graduation. The memory book becomes a sort of yearbook of just this one class, and it shows how they have physically and socially grown over their high school years. At the end of their senior year, I offer to make color photocopies of the pages in the book and then I have the pages spiral bound. I only ask that they pay for the printing and binding costs, which is approximately $10 per copy. After the copies are made, I place the names of every student in the class in a bowl, draw out one name, and give the original scrapbook to the winner. Or you could keep the original as a memento for yourself, if you would like. By the time they graduate, you’ve probably bonded pretty closely with the kids and would like to keep the memory book to remember them by. Or you can use it as an example for the next group.

I like to put the memory book on display during Open House and Back-to-School Night. Parents love to thumb through the pages and look at the photos and writings of their own kids. Additionally, this scrapbook was very useful when we were going through the accreditation process. It was a visual record of the kinds of things we are doing in Homeroom, and it substantiated our claims that in Homeroom we are forming important relationships with our students.

I have gotten a lot of positive feedback to the scrapbook idea throughout the years. Feel free to create a scrapbook for your own class. Your students will love it!