← Speeches & Workshops

8:20 arrive

9, coffee 9:20 welcome…intros… Patty Walker does an icebreaker? 10? Me 11:30 lunch then spiritual walks 1-1:30…me: music 2:30 mass seats in semi-circle 25 elem, 15-20 high school

KOOSH BALL! Forgive me if I move around a bit… Lincoln Museum

Welcome to Green Pastures…42 acres and today is all yours… A short tour…. at least this room..

Brock Gwaltney plays piano here every summer and the 5th and 6th graders crowd in for a front row seat…

Autumn Brown teaches dance and mime here…. With Kendi Kline

Hug attacks…Caden Beddingfield used to take off running… Here’s where I caught him…and here’s where he now meets me voluntarily every year.

Patrick Doyle knelt here…

Here… Caitlin Smith and Morgan Spaulding are going to become counselors for the first time this summer.

Everywhere……..Josh Wilcox drives me crazy every summer.

I spent 35 years at Triopia, and I’ve always had an admiration for Routt/Our Saviors. My contact has been very little, but some… It’s a small sampling, I admit and it may sound strange, but when I walk into the high school foyer and kids are lounging around there, it’s a good feeling. I Many of my LLCC classes are in various high schools…I get to see a lot. No classes at Routt, but what I see….. Kids are happy. Kids nod and smile at you… they act like adults.

Traveling Theatre…. 17 schools in 4 days. Variety… from North Greene lady…to the guy who won’t go out there. The feeling when our Trav Theatre comes into OSS

Bottom line…always a good feeling at Routt/Our Saviors.

Every so often, teachers need an emotional boost… and spiritual enema. That’s all I hope to do today.

First…Why me? I’ve been wondering that myself. The bottom line, Father Tom called and even Presbyterians pay attention when a priest calls. We’re in the process of picking a new Pope and Father Tom is young enough to fit the bill…..and if he is elected Pope then I can expect free housing the next time I take kids to Rome. My trip through the Sistine Chapel… thanks to a JHS girl named Jodi…undershirt.

Ball Toss….What do you enjoy most about teaching at Our Saviors/Routt?

I sent queries to about 30 Routt grads, present-day students and parents whom I knew, asking them why they attended Routt/Our Saviors or while they sent their children there. Received 24 replies: Top answers: • Because my family has always gone there • I like the small school atmosphere • The sports program • It’s a good education • I didn’t want to send my kids to the public school • It’s a Catholic or Christian education Many responses named more than one of these… All are valid reasons

My focus today…..the last response… A Christian education…or more specifically, “A Christian atmosphere.”

Please stay with me…I promise not to preach…much.

This is such a weird experience for me. I speak to many teacher’s groups and those administrators who know me well sometimes warn me: “You’re in a public school setting. Easy on the faith stuff.” Today… like lunch hour at Old Time School Day. Too much freedom can be intimidating.

Ken Bradbury, a forty-year teacher in the public school, a Presbyterian, is not going to lecture you on how to teach kids to be good Catholics. Every time I hear that term…. Monsignor Driscoll once defined “Good Catholic” for me. “The Routt choir and band will be holding a concert at 7 p.m. tonight. All good Catholics will be there. ” (then) “I’m glad I don’t have to go to the damned thing.”

I’m not talking about teaching Christ is your classes…rather, what Christ can show us about how to teach. I’m simply going to suggest to you that you have an advantage that the public schools don’t realize…. You can openly follow the example of Christ in your teaching. And if you don’t already adhere to this philosophy, then trust me for a moment…it works.

BALL TOSS: Your best teacher…and why.

I know that Routt and OS are much different from the early days when the majority of teachers were Catholic. That’s the national demographic for parochial schools as well. That’s the way things go..

I simply want to remind you that despite the changing nature of the faculty, you still have an opportunity that’s not always afforded us in the public school.

After school conference with the Triopia superintendent, Mike Alexander & two Morgan County cops. One of our best students had gone nuts… found drugs, dad beat him… Dylan rushed in. “Hey, I don’t know what you guys are talkin’ about, but Travis is in trouble and I think we should pray.” I wished I were teaching at Routt at that moment. The cop immediately lowered his head and folded his hands.

3 pieces of advice today….3 pieces of advice that will benefit your students and greatly increase your joy in teaching…

Be kind. “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness … patience … Bear with each other … forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:12,13).

Kindness……a word that’s been overused so much that it’s become trite…almost without meaning…but simple kindness.

The Mantra for teachers in 2013 should be…. “If you have done it to the least of my these then you have done it to me.” In teaching, it’s not hard to find “the least.”

I seldom lose my temper…I’m too old. It does no good and I regret it later, but last week I lost it. Triopia lunchroom…kid by himself… new teacher supervising. “Why don’t you sit by him?” “I don’t know. He’s kind of a loner.” “I can see that. That’s part of your job!”

I have been blessed to teach theatre….It’s often the kid whose behavior the other kids can’t stand, that take the lead in the plays. That’s okay…that’s fun. That’s rewarding. What’s not fun…when other faculty members become irritated at the success of a student that seemingly doesn’t deserve it. Where is Christ in that equation?

You know what? Some teachers are stupid…they can be excused… but some teachers are simply just not very kind. We can be bullies. Call from the FBI:…. I told them that we need program to prevent bullying teachers. Didn’t fit their grant.

It’s the ability of a teacher to want to know what and how his students are feeling…what’s going through their heads….to care enough about them to be truly interesting in their feelings.

Mr. Grove…piano teacher.. Pepsi.

BALL TOSS: The kindest things one of your teachers ever did for you?

-----I taught with Dave Shaffer for many years. Time after time I’d see him befriend the lonely….to help the kid with no athletic or scholastic skills find a talent for music. From a boy who’s now in college… “My mom and dad were always fighting and I was always hurry to get to school so I could get away from it. But the trouble was, I was sort of a nerd in Jr. High and I guess you could say I got abused at school too…at least they kidded me a lot. But when I went into Mr. Shaffer’s classes it seemed like all my troubles would go away. I really found myself in music thanks to Mr. Shaffer.”

----Brock Gwaltney and I… gig in Michigan…6 hours each direction. Told me about a time in Merle Beddingfield’s class… 
Calculus class…smartest girl, Rachel White complaining…. If the smartest girl couldn’t get it we couldn’t it. Merle said, “Just stop, just close your books…don’t do anything that’s going to stress you out. Stop letting worry ruin your life…..just stop everything and ask yourself what’s really important.”

We thought…wow…a teacher just stopping in mid-class and asking us to think about our lives. Brock doesn’t remember what he learned about calculus that day, but he remembers what he learned about kindness.

---When Brock Gwaltney was picked for the All-State Jazz band, he gave all the credit to Kris Cox for her encouragement.

--- Routt/Triopia play… sat in a circle and asked the best thing about their school. Kendi Klein…Sue Tapscott and the way she does all those extra things for us. Simple…Kindness.

---I often think of the way Scott Maruna has kept the arts alive at Routt, no matter what obstacles he sometimes had to face. It used to be a guessing game…What’s Scott teaching this year simply because Routt needed the position filled.

---Talked to Patrick Doyle last week…He said, “Me and my brother were always fighting and one night after school we were arguing and he wouldn’t give me a ride home…or maybe I jumped out of the car, I don’t remember. I was mad and I wanted to be alone but teacher after teacher kept stopping to pick me up and try to make me feel better. Finally Mr. Beddingfield made me get in and we had a great talk.”

He went on to say, “The Our Saviors teachers were so nice to me, and I was just a jerk and little hell-raiser that I didn’t appreciate it. I do now.” --from Joe Schenck: One teacher that particularly stood out to me as compassionate and kind was Anna Nidey, who taught me Senior Religion. Like almost all high schoolers, my senior year was very turbulent and exciting and difficult and thrilling. My parents got divorced when I was a senior. I felt very embarrassed by this and didn't want to confide in my friends about the divorce. It made me feel like I was from a broken home and I didn't want my peers to know. There was something so warm and open and trustworthy about Ms. Nidey. I found myself dropping in her classroom when no one else was there more and more frequently throughout my senior year until we had established a wonderful relationship. She listened, gave advice, built me up and helped me to work through my feelings. Her empty classroom became a safe haven for me and she became my friend. Later on, I found out that she was having troubles of her own at home with her marriage. She trusted me enough to open up to me and I was able to return the favor (as best as a high school senior can) and be her set of listening ears and understanding heart. I appreciated her vulnerability and her willingness to reach right back to me for help. That’s my greatest memory of Routt… teachers weren’t afraid to establish a relationship that truly nurtured us. Addie Cox Gramespacher.. 
I can think of many occasions where a Routt teacher went out of his/her way to help me. When Dorothy Hack (now Amare) was at Routt, she really inspired me to pursue music. She took us to any choir workshops, festivals, etc, that she could; I'm sure this was not in her contract, as she was only employed part-time. Both she and Scott Maruna (who taught band at the time) worked after school with all of the music kids on whatever projects we were pursuing.
Scott Maruna is still one of my all-time favorite teachers. He was always willing to chat with the nerdy kids like me after school about bio or whatever adolescent squabbles we were having at the time. He was also my scholastic bowl coach, and inspired me to love life-long learning. 
Marilyn Merris and Marianne Kirkpatrick worked long hours after school coaching us on the speech team and we had great times traveling around to competitions. 
Really, nearly all of my teachers at Routt went above and beyond. More than specific instances, it was just a way of life for many of them to be present and available for their students. Josh Wilcox.. “Even if we didn’t do good on our papers, Mr. Jolly would write an encouraging comment. Then when we finished our sixth-grade year he wrote long notes to each of us about how he saw us going places in life.” ---One former student said, “I remember when our school community lost Brad Schone and Jill Lawless in the same year. Sometimes I wonder what I missed by not attending JHS with more course offerings, then I think of what I gained by being at Routt when those deaths happened…it was worth the trade off. “ I wish that all our students would tell us at time about the difference we made in their lives, but most wait until someone asks them many years later. But we must remember that simple kindness is the one great gift we have to give to our students. If you have taught your students kindness, then you have fulfilled the mission of Our Saviors and Routt.

2nd……How as teachers, we treat each other. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

History of Triopia….Chapin, Concord, Arenzville grade schools…then lost Concord….then built the new school and lost Arenzville and Chapin. All together for the first time. We found that we didn’t know each other.

Some in the high school looked upon the elementary teachers as those people who didn’t do an adequate job of preparing the kids for high school. The elementary looked upon us as those jerks who seem to determine the whole school’s schedule around athletics. Even when we were in the same building, someone had drawn an invisible line down the middle of the gymnasium… Thou shalt not associate.

THEN… Several years ago…teacher’s institute right here. Bluffs, Dosh, Triopia, Winchester… Ed and I asked to run it. What the superintendents had planned: ---a lecture by a guy from the State Board on meeting state goals and standards in the morning ----a workshop on curriculum development in the afternoon We proposed: 3 on 3 basketball tournament finger painting guided nature walks Joan Andras…stress management Greatest teachers’ institute ever….and we never did it again.

But then things started to happen…as a result of that and other things ---tutoring …HS to GS ---comp labs empty certain periods in the GS…HS came over ---shared art teacher ---speech team performances ---HS band needed two trumpet players…brought them up from GS (personal to me… me: 6th grade) ---Dave Shaffer started blending the music programs in various ways

We learned that we were a very tiny school and that we needed each other. … that we could each be better by cooperating with the other.

Do you have a mysterious line down the middle of the parking lot? Let me give you a clue: You can’t afford that. You are too small to let anything divide you.

When Triopia and Routt got together for the two theatrical productions, the conversations were fascinating… ---What’s it like to wear a school uniform? ---Are there nuns in the hallways? ---Do Triopia kids do anything but play football? ---Do some really drive tractors to school? ---How can you be a defensive tackle wearing baby blue? ---Do you guys use priests for your referees? ---If you guys from Routt got to church all day long, when do you do math? ---Do you really get out of school to go to Burgoo?

….But one night the Routt students started talking about their Service Hours Program…worrying about how they’d get enough in. The Triopia students were curious about that. One girl…Courtney Phillips was playing opposite a Triopia boy, Phillip Whited. She said she was short of hours. Phil said, “Why don’t you walk across the parking lot?” “Huh?” “Help the Our Saviors kids learn to read or something…” And then came other suggestions…the Routt players helping coach the little Shamrocks, tutoring, the music program.”

I don’t know your situation, but I know that often our greatest resource is often the closest. Years ago….OSS music concert…afterwards the parents got up and put away the chairs. I thought… Wow…how cool.

Perhaps the most important reason to be careful how we treat each other is the fact that we are being watched. Mildred Smith….

Sometimes as teachers we simply need to lighten up… I gave this advice to the Routt teachers at a workshop 13 years ago, but many of you weren’t here and the oldest among us have bad memories and have probably forgotten it…

Jim Kern...MRS. BROWN Matt…baritone

LIGHTEN UP.... ....go barefoot more often ....turn off the TV some night and pull taffy. ...eat nothing but ice cream for a whole day. ...wear underwear backwards...will break into uncontrollable giggles for no reason every time you think about it. ....walk up to biggest grouch you know and say “I just want you to know that I feel great!” It’ll throw them off all day. ...do some serious coloring ...break the dress code occasionally. My dad..banker: Christmas ties .....McDonnald’s “Have a nice Day” Why? … plan an all-out attack on the person who gives you the most problems in your life…even if you’re married to them. (Kidnapping kids at camp)

3 things in life are real...WHEN YOU’RE BORN, WHEN YOU DIE WHEN YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE in everything else...LIGHTEN UP.

3rd suggestion to use the teachers of scripture to become a better teacher….Be ye encouragers. I’m sure that if you’ve taught any at all, you’ve received a note from a student or parent, telling of their appreciation. When was the last time you slipped a note to a colleague congratulating them on something? Ed Anderson… Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11

Marie...salt and pepper shakers.

Tony Compello “Five years from now you’ll be pretty much the same as you are now except for two things: The books you’ve read and the people you’ve met.

Be an encourager. My 93-year-old father insisted on driving 40 miles this morning to meet me at 6 a.m. to eat Kiwanis’ pancakes. I’ve got to take off after today’s conference to do a piano gig at MacMurray tonight, I have four gigs this week plus teaching class and getting my newspaper column out to 14 newspapers. I don’t need anyone’s help, because I have to do these things myself. What I need…someone to say, “You can do this, Ken!”

For about 20 years I taught in the same section of hallway with the same two teachers….One would run next door to smile and laugh when she heard an explosion of laughter or furniture in my room… The other complained and slammed her door. One would greet me in the hallways every morning with a pleasant hello and the other was angry to be there. A huge flock of blackbirds…me: bloody face… appeared at each window. One laughed…the other didn’t. It’s simple…because one was an encourager, her life was happier. Because the other was eaten by jealousy, she was miserable.

architect Johnstone: (Charlie Rose show) 90 years old. Hottest place in hell for whiners and complainers ..... “If life were 100 times longer, there would still excuse for every getting bored by it.” Cultivate friends who are not bored by life.

Encouragement is like a shotgun blast. When you pull the trigger everyone in the vicinity gets hit. 
Finally…don’t get too concerned if you don’t get properly thanked for giving your life to this occupation.

Matthew wrote: Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Conway Twitty

FINAL BALL TOSS: What you appreciate most about one of your fellow staff members.

Our Saviors got off to a rough start. First mass … 1851.. land donated by Murray McConnel… 5th Auditor General of the U.S. Treasury. Shortly after that, someone walked into McConnel’s law office on North State Street and shot him dead. But Routt and Our Saviors survived.

In 1902 Routt consisted of one room, a few chairs and soapboxes, and a handful of Dominican Sisters. …and no tuition charge. Looking at the history of the Routt family, they didn’t donate their money like Sam Walton looking for a tax write-off. They gave EVERYTHING…Their entire estates when they died. They created a tuition-free high school AND college. The only school of its kind in the country, because the Routt family gave EVERYTHING. College closed in 1934 because Catholics were now allowed to enter most universities.

In 1966 your present high school building was opened. When your school celebrated it’s 100th birthday in 2002, your board president Bob Bonjean said, “Routt is not the high school building or the old high school building. It’s the people…the alumni, the parents, the teachers and the staff.”

I hope I’m not presumptuous in bringing this message today. There is no occupation that I admire more than teaching…none.

Every year, my college fraternity… me: by far the lowest paid.

END: Last Week’s Source…great article on Father Tom. It concluded with Father Tom’s own words: “God doesn’t call people into a life that wouldn’t be enjoyable or use that person’s gifts.” Father Tom could have saved you the time of listening to me if he’d simply repeated that this morning. God hasn’t called you into a life that wouldn’t be enjoyable or to use your gifts….so enjoy it. ..so use them.

Yellow Star The Jubilee.. 2 women Leaning…Brian As the Deer Beer Barrel Victory Closer Walk