← Speeches & Workshops

Aug 2013

Christ the King Teachers Springfield

Choosing Greatness…How to Model It

Teacher’s Workshops…I remember them. …and I cringe .. I can remember sitting out there thinking, “Oh dear God, never let me an opening day speaker for teachers.”

I promise to tell you nothing earth-shaking, no new set of goals and plans. No talk of testing.

Communicating: David. .basketti Beginning a speech: Bummy Teen Prostitution..selling yourself.

I’m not a professional speaker.. I’m a teacher, just like you.. Taught 37 years in public schools and now teach a few college courses.

Want some good news? This week USA Today polled folks to find which occupations were happiest with their job. Of the 200 jobs listed, teaching came in #3 behind bio-technician and customer service representative.

Every teachers’ conference talks about change… and it seldom does any good. One speech on the opening day of school won’t cause you to change your methods. I simply come to encourage you to bring the best of yourself to your kids.

I’m here to encourage, and not instruct. I may not look like a cheerleader, but that’s my role today.

Your theme for the year: Choosing Greatness. Beautiful. Simple and important and beautiful. That’s the good news. The “other” news is that your theme will become worn out and forgotten after the first month unless….. Your students see you model this greatness.

My teachers: Piano…Mildred, finger Trumpet: Jimmy Zimmerman You’re being watched every moment.

If you have any greatness in you, it’s probably due to the fact that you’ve spent some time around someone who was great.

My student teaching: a horrible experience. My critic teacher and I…exact opposites. Quiet and sedate, versus wild and noisy. I spent two weeks in the classroom and applied for embalming school…I’m not kidding. She finally …politely …asked me to get out of her classroom in the final week and arranged for me to observe other teachers. I went to math class…I’m awful at math. Roger McClintoch. Learning theorums to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic. I was mesmerized. I was in the presence of greatness. 20 years later I was chosen Outstanding Teacher in Illinois by two universities and I credit it all to Roger. I saw Greatness modeled.

Introduced a new class… Quest. Chicago training. Three day intensive. 12 hours of classes, assigned reading every night. Our instructor: wonderful. He was “on” for 24 hours… Then he took me to the airport. I saw what happened when Greatness was taught but not modeled.

Today…things we can do to model Greatness. Things that our kids will see. Things that our children will remember.

Our head football coach..former student. Biggest shock of his life. First year..tough guy..chewed kids out… Then the day when he divided the frosh up among the seniors..same attitude.

This is a smorgasbord … take what you like and leave the rest.

1. Great people don’t spend much time being negative. When in doubt, shut up.

Our teacher’s lounge For once, don’t get if off your chest Teacher I know..kids drive her crazy.. ..meet her in IGA...guess what she talks about...

Corrie Ten Boom “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, It empties today of its strength.” Skip your morning calisthenics. Every morning I do calisthenics...

Our kids are exposed to enough negativitiy. Think positive. Be positive. You must be the optimist in your classroom.

Uncle Pete…hay bales.

2. Greatness means knowing that you are not powerless. Realize that no matter what happens to you today, YOU are still the one who determines how the day will go.

Mom: Alcatraz … boats in harbor

My last senior class who had been the terror of our school ever since Jr High. I saw the list and it looked like a prison break. I never dreamed they’d make it this far alive. And when class begins, I was still the main determining factor of how that class goes.

In spite of everything that happened in your student’s home last night, inspite of your school’s finances, in spite of how you feel on any particular day, YOU are the one who determines the tone of your classroom and you can overcome everything I’ve just mentioned.

If you do no more than teach your students how to be civil…be human.. then you will have had a successful year.

3. Greatness means giving, not taking. If life’s bumming you out, chances are you aren’t giving enough of yourself. This is the opposite of what the self-help books preach. “Take care of your inner child.” …Whiney brat

Self-centeredness : depression. Becky...funeral... Carl Menninger JHS girl: CFS

A. Sweitzer: “The only ones among you who will be truly happy as those who will have sought and found out how to serve.” If life is bumming you out because you’re asked to give so much, give more. This school is called “Christ the King.” If Christ indeed is king, then let’s follow His example of real greatness…a life of sacrifice for others.

4. Great people surround themselves with great people. Great people encourage others to greatness.

As a profession, we are terrible about validating each other.. pumping each other up. So often, our teaching is judged by popularity …thus: jealousies. Ed A: constant validation….

Collect interesting and enthusiastic people. Marie...salt and pepper shakers.

Friendships don’t have to simply be things that happen...They can be created... Not alphabetical. I hope you have a support group among your colleagues. Some teachers try to create one among their students.. seldom successful … often dangerous.

Nuture friends who encourage you. Who take joy in your joy. Even if you must go outside your own faculty.

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.

And the best way to do this is to become an encourager yourself. My schedule… Teach at Lincoln Land College, tomorrow I begin the second weekend of a musical in Jacksonville where I’m the writer, director, choreographer and only musican, I need to send my newspaper column to 14 newspapers this week and next week I must have a new script done for my Lincoln Land group while I’m playing piano on a five-day paddleboat trip to St. Louis. Last night a Madrigral group here in S’field called and said they were in trouble…needed a script by next Monday. What do I need? Encouragers! People who tell me how we CAN get a job accomplished, not those who tell me why it won’t work.

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.

Recently led a retreat for the faculties of two parochial schools..the elementary and high school faculties of the same school. Their problem: they couldn’t encourage each other because they didn’t know each other.

Our greatest teachers’ institute…Green Pastures.

To be Great, to model Greatness, you need encouragement. And the easiest way to do that is to become an encourager.

5. To model true Greatness…. Don’t get so busy with the important things in your life that you forget the important things in your life. James Dobson..monopoly Dad...hay ...rain....

6. Greatness means setting priorities on whom you’re trying to please. Quest...Inner-Outer Self

HINEY THE MULE

Who do I please? The child? The parent? The principal? The Pope? The answer is “None of the above.” You’re there to please yourself by giving that child the best possible education this year.

7. True Greatness has a sense of humor. True Greatness knows how to Lighten up.... How can we expect our students to roll with the punches when they see us get upset?

Jim Kern...MRS. BROWN

Matt…baritone

I sent this plan to the State....NEW SIP..No reply. --Minus 10 points if your athletic facility is at least 40 times bigger than your special ed room --tour classes..2 points for every smile seen in class... --minus 10 points for every hour paperwork takes away from teaching time. --deduct 20 points if school still serves peanut better sandwiches with chili... no reason but it makes as much sense as the rest of the SIP --School earns 100 points for every teacher who’s been there for over 10 years...says something about the school --double school’s points for every parent who comes to the school for anything other than a ballgame or to complain. --1000 points for every teacher given the boot because they couldn’t teach. Now THAT would give you a score that told you something about the school.

Seriously … No matter what they tell you, teaching is not a science…it’s an art. No such thing as a “special needs child.” They all have special needs and it takes an artist…it takes a touch of Greatness to know that each student is an individual.

Lighten UP:

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 ...start teaching to succeed instead of fearing failure... ...break the dress code occasionally. Your own, not the schools. .....McDonnald’s “Have a nice Day” Why? … plan an all-out attack on your most serious behavior problem..bother them with affection, with attention, with love.. cause some real trouble in their life. (Kidnapping kids at camp)

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

8. True Greatness doesn’t take itself too seriously, because if you look around you’ll notice that no one else takes you seriously.

Chillochothe...”probably dead” Lincoln Museum…piano..wax figures Church lady...music at her funeral. Jeff W...Free Spirit..Robbed and tied. Travel LIghter...Your anxieties? Look in your purse or pocket or billfold...ME: comb. Roger Ebert.

9. To model Greatness, you must show kids how to live in the Present.

We ask our students to think ahead. We demand that our students think ahead. In pre-school.. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Some schools give pre-SAT tests to Middle School kids. The whole world is living in the future. Is anybody left in the here and now?

Some of you during my speech have been thinking about how long...., tomorrow, this weekend. When you drive home from school today, enjoy the moment you’re in. Yesterday…drove my Holy Road…Arenzville to Beardstown… Moon roof open…looking at the crops…Didn’t see the irrigation rig coming toward the road.

Show at New Salem one night.. turn out the lights and look at the moon. As Americans, our live is so filled with “things” that we seldom leave time to enjoy where we are and what we’re doing.

10. True Greatness can only be found in Faith. It’s not against the law for you to use whatever faith you have. You’re a teacher in a Christian school! There should be some difference in the way you handle things compared to the restraints put upon your friend who teaches at a public school. Otherwise…What are we doing here?

The Christ the King students go to mass and hear, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Then do they come to class and hear us say, “Just kidding! Now think ahead! Think ahead!”

His name was Jason. Abuse, violence, and now drugs. Emergency meeting: county sherriff, superintendent, counselor, and me. Dylan came in. “Hey, I know you guys are talking about Jason. I think we should pray.” Wow. Dylan led us in prayer.

There are no doubt kids who attend your school whose parents have little interest in a Christian education. They may like the school, dislike the public school, or have some other secular reason. But what an opportunity for you as teachers in a school called “Christ the King” to model the behavior of Christ.

Many of my camp counselors… products of Catholic schools…Quincy, Decatur, Jacksonville, Springfield… I often quiz them…Outside of going to math, what’s the difference? They’re often stuck for an answer. Come on, folks! We can do better than that! We have the key to Greatness.

My speech is done…but one more thing, a bit off the topic:

Once a year..my college fraternity meets.2 bankers, 1 builder, 1 prison warden, 2 Insurance executives, one lawyer, 1 impliment dealer, one state worker.. I am by far the lowest paid diner at the table…and the happiest.

We have beautiful wonderful people in our occupation and you’re one of them. Rochester church…Picked out the teachers.

I simply come to encourage you. No one in your entire community makes a greater impact on our future. Keep it up. Please. Please.

Great people become great because they have experienced greatness in others. Please…for the sake of your kids, have a GREAT year.

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