K The Ken Bradbury Foundation

← Speeches & Workshops

March 99

Decatur Conf.

David. .basketti Bummy Teen Prostitution..selling yourself.

I come to encourage you today. The more strange the world becomes, the more I love and admire and sometime fear for our profession.

I’ve been in school for 41 years. Began: 5. Taught for 26 years. Never a September out of a school building. 41 years of school lunches... not a good advertisement

Your principal said, “Nothing heavy.” Didn’t say whether you couldn’t take it or didn’t want it. Me: speak on weight loss

If I’ve learned one thing  We can’t do our best.... fulfill our purpose in teaching, until we learn to get rid of what’s holding us back. Education is not so much a process of “putting stuff in” as “taking stuff off”.... especially for adults... We’ve spent more time loading it on.

Me: Speech on weight loss… Like: Dr. Dovorkian… “How to lead a long and happy life.”

LET ME TALK TO YOU ABOUT LOSING WEIGHT... MENTAL WEIGHT... THE THINGS THAT HOLD US BACK....

Let me give you a list of resolutions for the new school year. This is a smorgasbord … take what you like and leave the rest.

  1. DON’T REHASH THE NEGATIVE

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 sorry, It empties today of its strength.” To lose weight, skip your morning calisthenics. Every morning I do calisthenics...

  1. Realize that no matter what happens to you today, YOU are still the one who determines how the day will go. J. Stephens...taught, sold, taught. whistles and sings... Mom: Alcatraz Monday: I am meeting with a senior class who have 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 will still be the main determining factor of how that class goes.
  1. 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.

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.

  1. Collect Interesting and enthusiastic people

Marie...salt and pepper shakers.

Friendships don’t have to simply be things that happen...They can be created... I hope you have a support group among you 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. I do theatre. Impossible theatre… 112 in cast in a school of 160 kids. We’ll be sold out to 2800 people.. I must surround myself with people who tell me how we can accomplish this… not why we can’t.

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.

  1. 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....
  1. Choose carefully whom you try to please. Quest...Inner-Outer Self

HINEY THE MULE

  1. Lighten up.... Jim Kern...MRS. BROWN

Post ..Jalepeno pepper

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 --30 points for each athlete who’s been coached to think they had a good time playing a game..even when they lost. 60 points for every coach who agrees. --double school’s points for every parent who comes to the school for anything other than a ballgame. --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 … I’d love to make a trip around the state and give each faculty one message… as both the state and federal gov. are now determined to make teaching a science, RESIST! Think of the finest teachers you ever had… it was not the goals of the Illinois Manufacturers Association which made them great. Keep the art in your teaching.

PHYSCIAL CHECKUP... Illinois Power

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?

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.

  1. Don’t take yourself too seriously.. chances are, no one else does.

Chillochothe...”probably dead”

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.

  1. Start living in the present. I’ve taught thousands of kids over the years, including summer workshops in self-esteem. I’ve talked to audiences of adults in tough situations: Caterpillar management and labor during their strike. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about success and what it means. I’ve known hugely successful people. ONE CONCLUSION: Success in life boils down to one thing... love. Success boils down to loving what you do and loving the people around you. The ability to live in the present. 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.

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.

  1. If you have faith, use it. Make this deal with yourself. For every minute you spend worrying about things, spend a minute praying my them. Atheist? Hire a nice Baptist widow to do your praying for you. We spend our life investing... Today’s paper... girl: Miss Illinois pageant... I know: Mom and Dad: $7,000 each to get as far as Springfield. We invest.

Please....please, drop the chains of stress and worry that you hang around your neck. No one in your entire community makes a greater impact on our future. Keep it up. Please. Please.

If the kids are the hope for tomorrow, then you are the hope for our kids.

Last year: teachers’ lounge… Dana Worrall.

Have a great year. It really is your choice.

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