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From the DOI: "Secretary Deb Haaland made history when she became the first Native American to serve as a cabinet secretary. She is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and a 35th generation New Mexican.

Secretary Haaland grew up in a military family; her father was a 30-year combat Marine who was awarded the Silver Star Medal for saving six lives in Vietnam, and her mother is a Navy veteran who served as a federal employee for 25 years at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. As a military child, she attended 13 public schools before graduating from Highland High School in Albuquerque.

As a single mother, Secretary Haaland volunteered at her child's pre-school to afford early childhood education. Like many parents, she had to rely on food stamps at times as a single parent, lived paycheck-to-paycheck, and struggled to put herself through college. At the age of 28, Haaland enrolled at the University of New Mexico (UNM) where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and later earned her J.D. from UNM Law School. Secretary Haaland and her child, who also graduated from the University of New Mexico, are still paying off student loans.

Secretary Haaland ran her own small business producing and canning Pueblo Salsa, served as a tribal administrator at San Felipe Pueblo, and became the first woman elected to the Laguna Development Corporation Board of Directors, overseeing business operations of the second largest tribal gaming enterprise in New Mexico. She successfully advocated for the Laguna Development Corporation to create policies and commitments to environmentally friendly business practices.

Throughout her career in public service, Secretary Haaland has broken barriers and opened the doors of opportunity for future generations."

From womenshistory.org, Mary McLeod Bethune was "one of the most important black educators, civil and women’s rights leaders and government officials of the twentieth century. The college she founded set educational standards for today’s black colleges, and her role as an advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave African Americans an advocate in government." Highly encourage reading her whole bio, she led such an impressive and interesting life!

For Women's History Month, we're highlighting past and present women who have created positive change as well as our own fictional heroines in our Playbooks® stories! Today, we're featuring our character, Princess Kristina. "The Littlest Princess and the Butterfly" are part of our Character Education series. Follow the littlest princess on her journey of self discovery and accepting differences. You can download a virtual version or order a print of this story on our website: readerstheater.com

Today, we're uplifting the two female finalists of the 2022 National Teacher of the Year Award: Whitney Aragaki and Autumn Rivera.

From EdWeek:
"Aragaki, a National Board-certified teacher who is pursuing a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction, teaches biology and environmental science in the same high school from which she graduated. She also works with the Hawaii Virtual Learning Network to ensure that students across the state have access to environmental science and computer science courses.

Aragaki’s instruction is rooted in an exploration of identity and is informed by place-based and anti-oppression pedagogy, a form of social justice teaching. For example, about half of Hawaiian adults will have diabetes or pre-diabetes in their lifetime, so Aragaki teaches students about the disease, its risk factors, and environmental and societal challenges. Because some Asian and Pacific Islander students have negative connotations about body size during these lessons, Aragaki also teaches about the feast-and-famine cycles of Indigenous communities before Western colonization to provide more context and cultural appreciation.

Rivera, who has been in the classroom for 17 years, wrote in her application that she considers her role as a teacher to be a facilitator in her students’ learning as they discover the answers themselves. Through hands-on experiments and group work, her students are encouraged to ask questions and be curious.

In her application, Rivera referenced a moment two years ago, when the nearby Sweetwater Lake was slated to be closed to the public and put into private ownership. Her students wanted to do something about it—so Rivera had them research all sides of the issue and then fundraise for a local conservation organization that wanted to purchase the land for permanent public use. The students raised more than $600 from bake sales and T-shirt sales, and Sweetwater Lake ultimately became a state park.

'The message the students received? You have worth. You have a voice. You can stand up for your values and opinions,” Rivera wrote. “Education as a profession can guide students into discovering their self-worth.'"

See the whole article: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/meet-the-four-finalists-for-the-2022-national-teacher-of-the-year/2022/01

For Women's History Month, we'll be highlighting past and present women who have created positive change in the education space as well as highlighting some of our fictional, female trailblazers in our Playbooks® stories! Today, we introduce Namid and Abequa: Two sisters on a path to find their place in the world, defying expectations. This month, "An Unexpected Path", is our free script download when you sign up for our newsletter! Subscribe on our website: readerstheater.com

Who better to highlight for our first female role model in Women's History Month than former First Lady, Michelle Obama?! She is a champion for girls' education and started the Let Girls Learn initiative which aims to help girls reach their full potential through their education. From the White House website, here's a full description:
"To educate a girl is to build a healthier family, a stronger community, and a brighter future. Unfortunately today, more than 62 million girls around the world are not in school—half of whom are adolescents. We know that countries with more girls in secondary school tend to have lower maternal mortality rates, lower infant mortality rates, lower rates of HIV/AIDS, and better child nutrition."

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Did you know that Playbooks® is a woman-owned company? Follow our channels as we highlight !

Follow Trent as he learns about different modes of transportation!

Looking for more Black History Month stories for kids? We're loving this list from Reading Rockets:

Celebration and Remembrance: Children’s Books About Black Lives This collection includes a comic-book re-telling of real Wild West characters, plus picture book biographies of a young boy who shipped himself to freedom during the Civil War, a teenage Civil Right activist, a trailblazing pilot, a brilliant writer — and a sensitive but honest retelling of the Tu...