STUDENT  COMPOSITIONS  ON
NOTEWORTHY
WOMEN  AND  MEN
IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION

EDUCATOR #1
Click on the photo below to hear Justin Edwards (Spring 2008)
present his creative work about Joe Clark.

Joe Louis Clark, born on May 7^th, 1938
Is a very, very inspirational person
He’s done a lot for the children that he’s taken under his wing
And he’s done a lot for the school system, for the people,
and for everyone he’s come in contact with
But there’s only one way to really express how much he’s done.

  Lean on me I’ll tell you a story
‘Bout an inspirational man
He made every promise that he could
Oh he had such a great plan

Oh he turned the school system around
He made it one of the best in his town

Joe Louis Clark
He thought his school system was a disgrace
And for all those kids at Eastside
He just wanted to make…make the school a better place

Joe Clark was recognized by many people
As one of the nation’s best
The governor of New Jersey
Thought he was superior to the rest 

  He gave him a prestigious award
He was one of the “10 Principals of Leadership”
In the same year Ronald Reagan thought he was awesome
For his forceful tactics and stern lip 

Well he turned the school system around
He made it one of the best in his town

Joe Louis Clark
Thought his school system was a disgrace
He did everything for those students
‘Cause he wanted to make the school a better place

Now that we’ve learned a little bit about Joe Clark
  I hope that you can appreciate what he’s done for the children at Eastside High School
And for the inspiration that he can be to many other administrators
and teachers in the world today.

.

EDUCATOR #2
Click on the photo below to hear Melissa Rosendary (Fall 2007)
present her rap on the famous educator she researched.

MATHEMATICAL KING
The story of Jaime Escalante

Verse 1:

In Bolivia, Jaime was born and raised.
Born to teachers in 1930.
They worked in a small town Indian village.
He became a teacher with his math usage.

In '74 he was in the door.
Garfield High, where you just might die.
It was a troubled school in East L.A.
Teaching mathematics to the gang, risky!

People said it was impossible
Like walking on water.  Though
Was said it didn't bother, cause
Education was his buzz.

CHORUS:
This, thing, this thing, this thing.
He so fresh, he's the mathematical king.
That thing, that thing, that thing.
How many know math rules everything.

Verse 2:

1974 to 1991
Escalante taught in the L.A. school system.
Then til '98 he taught algebra
Not in L.A., he went a different way.

To reach more kids had a series called futures.
Intro to varieties of math you never knew of.
The popularity was crazy, bonkers, bananas
PBS awards, and celebration banners.

Was awarded Presidential Medal in Education
Inducted to the Hall of Fame, his career . . . amazing
Retired from teachng in 1998.
He's stil speaking on math til this day.

Now lives in Bolivia, with his lovely wifey.
Teaching mathematics at some local university.
Living life, just chillin', relaxing, taking it easy.
This is the story of Jaime Escalante.

CHORUS:
This, thing, this thing, this thing.
He so fresh, he's the mathematical king.
That thing, that thing, that thing.
How many know math rules everything.


EDUCATOR #3
Click on the photo below to hear Karen Fisher (Fall 2007)
discuss her creation related to the famous educator she researched.

  Rachel Mishko (Spring 2007)
created the following three dimensional model  related to the same educator.

Helen Keller became deaf and blind around the age of two.  She was a very bright child but would became very frustrated and angry and would throw temper tantrums.  The family found a teacher named Anne Sullivan.  Miss Sullivan understood what Helen was feeling and taught Helen the signs for the letters of the alphabet. Then she would "spell" the words in Helen's hand to communicate with her.  One day Anne led Helen to the water pump and pumped water on her hand. She spelled the letters W-A-T-E-R as the water ran over Helen's hand. She did this over and over again. At last it dawned on Helen that the word "water" meant the water which she felt pouring over her hand. This opened up a whole new world for her. She ran everywhere asking Anne the name of different things and Anne would spell the words in her hand. This was the key which unlocked the world for her.

ANNE SULLIVAN
poem by Neil Meloro - Spring 2007

Overcoming a troubled past
She dreamed of making changes to last.
Disease of the eyes took much of her vision
Attending school became her great ambition.

The Perkins School was world renowned
Skills she learned, strength she found.
Her rebellious nature may not have won her fans
This would not stand in the way of her plans
The "Miracle Worker" would teach with her hands.

She believed that children learned to speak by imitation
Her work with Helen Keller became her life's dedication.
Her unyielding passion is seen as an inspiration
A great American Teacher was her true vocation.

EDUCATOR #4
song by Margaret Jones - Fall 2006

Common School
(to the tune of Yellow Submarine)

In the state were I was born,
There lived a teacher, named Horace Mann,
And he told us of his plan,
To build place called the “Common School.”

Chorus:
We all went to the Common School,
The Common School, the Common School,
We all went to the Common School,
The Common School, the Common School.

Everyone is welcome here,
Despite their faith, race or gender,
‘Cause we feel there is a need,
For everybody to write and read.

Repeat Chorus

Mann’s ideas went very far;
Although some hailed them as controversial.
He still led a reformation,
Of the U.S. state school system.

Repeat Chorus

Once upon a semester dreary, while I pondered my classes weak and weary,
Over a large quantum of books, lectures, and lore,
I began to nod, nearly napping, and then there came an abrupt tapping,
Someone gently tapping, tapping, and rapping on the classroom door,
’’Tis some teacher,’ I muttered, ‘rapping, tapping at my classroom door-
It is only this, and is nothing more.’

I distinctly remembered tis the fall semester of a bleak September,
And the teacher was a master of a musical lore
Consequently, I dreamed of morrow;- vainly I stood up to borrow
From the new desk, new from morrow- a desk of little drawer
The rare and passionate teacher that has come to teach us more
Remembered here for evermore

The students sat with a tensile rustling their number-two pencil
Pleased me- overwhelmed me with a passion never felt before;
So that now, to the still beat of my heart, I stood repeating
‘’Tis some teacher coming entrance at my classroom door-
Some talented instructor coming entrance at my classroom door-
It is only this, and is nothing more.’

My teaching filled my heart of passion; filled larger than before,
‘Sir’ said I, ‘I have a question that you must implore;
The truth is my heart was napping, and so gently you came tapping,
And so briefly you came tapping, tapping at our classroom door,
That I was sure I heard you’- here my heart is opened more before;-
And your passion has filled it evermore.

Our questions soon dis’pearing, our hearts he had us peering,
Seeking, dreams of music no mortal ever dared dream before
But the silence stood unbroken, a music filled with a teacher spoken,
And the only words spoken was that of our new teacher from before
We raised our hands with questions, to our teacher with good rapport,
Hearts filled with passion, and evermore.

Soon my mind was burning, all my heart was earning,
And then Mr. Holland came rapping louder than before.
‘Surely,’ said I, ‘surely there is more to music that I have heard;
Let me hear it then, this there is, and this mystery be explore-
Let my mind be filled a moment and this mystery be explore-
‘Tis only learning and evermore!’

In a memory of a teacher who "Reached for the Stars."

This young male teacher is the main character in Washington Irving’s famous novel “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” which was first published in 1819.  He is one of the earliest portrayals of a country schoolmaster in United States fiction. The diorama shown in the photo is a representation of a one-room schoolhouse constructed of wood, which was a typical school in this era.  Like most teachers of the time, the teacher was male and he stayed with the various families of his students.  (The teacher in Irving's story was in fact so poor that he carried all his personal belongings in one handkerchief!)  Other young men in the community looked down on him (since he didn't do men's work, i.e., physical labor) and poked fun at him, yet the women thought him to be a gentleman because he was intelligent, and compared to themselves, well read.  His teaching tools fill the scene.  For example, books sit on his desk with spare parchment; the dunce cap is on a stool near the corner, and hanging behind his desk like a prized sword is his birch rod.  An enlighted educator for his time, he prided himself on rarely using this method of discipline in his classroom.  He preferred to keep control of the class by stimulating the students’ minds by assigning challenging tasks that would keep them involved and interested.

Amanda Bowker created this diorama giving us a visualization for the outside-the-box approach and thinking of this famous educator.  On one side of the box are the traditional goals espoused by the school . . . on the other side of the box, standing atop his desk, looking over the pages ripped from the class textbook, are the goals of this controversial teacher.
 
 

This man was born in New York
destined to be a teacher
To make a movie about him
you would need a double feature . . .

His parents were Jewish
so he never did communion
But they were both hard workers
and they made their son pro-union . . .

His first teaching job
was as a per-diem sub
It was this "lousy job" in Harlem
that brought out the bear in this cub . . .

The teaching conditions were terrible
and it hit him like a punch
That the teachers lacked power
they weren't even allowed lunch . . .

So he quit his teaching job
in nineteen fifty nine or so
To become a local union organizer
a role the whole world would eventually know . . .

He first captained the United Federation of Teachers
and led them on a strike
To get some needed benefits
and an overdue pay hike . . .

He was then elected president
of the American Federation of Teachers
Where school reform and teacher professionalism
he developed as its primary features . . .

For years he wrote
a weekly New York Times column
While listening to his audiophile speakers
set to play at high volume . . .

Near the end of his career he came to support
return to the basics rather than innovative reform
Because support for such exotic new programs
was becoming politically lukewarm . . .

He died of cancer
in nineteen ninty seven
By now I'm sure that he's organized
all the teachers in heaven . . .
 

EDUCATOR #11
composed by Stephanie Cunningham, Rita DiGiacomo,
Julie Skripac, Tony Kilgore, Fall 1999

Here's a little story 'bout Maria Montessori
She designed a school called "Le Casa de Bambini"
Methods from her school are listed in this story.
Hey Montessori!

Reading and writing and algebra are taught
This isn't it believe it or not
Skills that are practical are used a whole lot
Hey Montessori!

She didn't like to follow tradition
Especially when she taught addition
She was Italy's female physician
On an education mission!

Tony, Rita, Stephanie, and Julie
All admire Marie Montessori
We hope to teach like her at forty
Hey Montessori!

Montessori, Montessori, Montessori! ! !

Do You Know What Song This Poem Parodies?
Clickto Hear the Song.

EDUCATOR #12
created by Liz Crew - Spring 2004

This three-dimensional sculpture represents the educational goals and perspectives of the first great advocate of universal education for children in the United States, an education to be paid for by the public because it served not only the interests of the individual but those of the community and country.  The foundational “box” of this creation is thus created in the patriotic colors of the American Flag . . . red, white and blue.  A variety of broken cups (representing young students not yet "together") lie on this base.  How does a society piece together these various individual cups to create solid, functional, individual persons who support and who are supported by the country?  The answer is education . . . represented by the partially open “Encyclopedia of Knowledge” book dominating the scene of broken cups.   As a lawyer and later a politician, he argued for not only for educational reform but he worked to end slavery.

Do You Know this Educator?
Horace Mann

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