Mt. Sterling Head Start
Teamwork August 8, 2002
I can’t believe we’re back at it again. I try to fool myself all during August..I put up June calendars. People ask me, “When does school start?” November.
Boy’s prayer at camp: Really, isn’t that all we want? Don’t let us screw up too badly. Bottom line: isn’t that what we want every day?
My best friend: Chuck. Camp. I spend about 11 months of the year with him and we are complete opposites. We even do things the opposite way. Moving 10 picnic tables this summer. I love to travel, he hates it. I love to try strange foods; he takes the lettuce and pickles off his Happy Meal. Yet we’ve worked as a team for the past 30 years.
Teamwork: You gotta have it. My Grandpa Orr said he had the two best harness horses in Illinois and when you put ‘em together they were the state’s worst team. They just wouldn’t pull together. A complete waste of horsepower.
Some tips on Teamwork…How to use your horsepower.
Mt. Sterling.. a funny place for me to speak of teamwork. Rock band in the 60’s. Below grocery store. Attacked by a wild drunk from Timewell. Distracted by one of our Go-Go girls.
To work as a team, we must respect each other. Twice a year I take my 8th-graders around to nursing homes. The real killer there is not heart disease or Alzheimer’s. It’s the lack of meaningful work. It’s the lack of purpose. It’s the feeling that you’re not needed any more. Rochester Retirement Home: Posts a list of jobs that need to be done around the place… great!
But it’s true of everyone: We are blessed to have work to do. Must simply tell yourself: I am important, but so is everyone else. If you feel that you work harder than those around you, you are blessed.
We must constantly remind each other how much we need each other.
My Dad.. March 14th.. 81 years old. Cleaning out gutters.
If you are extremely busy, then you are extremely blessed. Instead of being jealous of those who don’t work as hard, you should pity them.
Bob Brassell.. scrubbing pans… “If I worried about that, I’d never get anything done.”
2nd: To work as a team we must keep our 3 priorities in mind: The kids, The kids, The kids. I belong a prayer group of men… 6 a.m.! insurance.. farming… implement dealer… businessman… All noble professions. But they don’t get to serve and work with kids. No profession more irritating, more exasperating, more frustrating, more wearing on you… and none more blessed than helping kids become the best adults they can be.
But it’s like Johnny Appleseed The pictures are wrong! 49 years planting seeds and seedlings but he rarely ever saw the results.
Friend: Ginseng.. 5 years
Sometimes…we get to see the results: Bob Slavens…
3rd: To work as a team, we must bury jealousy. If we only knew how others thought, we’d be amazed at how much they are like us.. A test… Stand up.. or raise hand.. if: used to take one large step Used to cover up everything but Ever called in sick when you weren’t? Even during my speech have let your mind wander to what you’re going to do tonight?
We are more alike than we are different.
Wild Teachers’ Institute..a battle. Four school districts. Finger-painting, nature walks, games for the classroom, stress management. A 3 on 3 basketball tournament. What did we learn? That we were all very much alike. Ask any teacher about their most valuable institute day…that’s it.
No offense to anyone and I’m sure you need to cover these things, but I saw your program for the day: “Updates and Feedbacks on Intakes,” “Forms Revisions, Work plan procedures,” “Standard Operating Procedures Manual Changes, 2002-2003, Union Contract.” Whoa. Exciting stuff. Presbyterian church service.
Just a suggestion for next year’s Pre-Service Day: Have everyone do a little homework ahead of time: send in one paragraph: “A day in Grade School that I’ll never forget.” Serve peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch…and grape Kool-Aid.. Go out and eat in on the swing sets at North School. Get a panel of expectant girls and have them talk about what scares them about becoming a mother. Have a milk and cookies break in the afternoon. Break into circles and pass a Teddy Bear around the circle..ask questions like What scared you most about school when you were little? Talk about the best teacher you ever had? And who were your real-life heroes?
In other words, get to know each other and watch the jealousies and fears fade away. You’ll soon be all on the same team.
If you want to get rid of your jealousies, become truly interested in other people and what makes them tick. Dale Caregie: You can make more friends in a day by being truly interested in other people than you can in month of trying to get other people interested in you.
4th: To work as a team, we must learn to forgive others. Must be able to forgive people…not so much for what it does for them, but what it does for you.. I didn’t say forget…but forgive. We all screw up. You do it, so why can’t you allow it others?
Uncle Emery and son.
Family in our community…showplace..right on highway.. corn spilled.
Hello Dolly Waiter’s Gallop. “My fault?”
Last day of school I put seniors in a circle and ask them what they’d like to tell their friends…always..always they ask for forgiveness. At the last moment, but….
5th To work as a team, we must expect miracles. When you work with kids, you must expect miracles…because they will happen. Expect miracles: The story of Kenny Griping session in teacher’s lounge.. Dana’s comment. You could all tell stories of miracles you’ve seen happen. Last day of school. Conf on Darren. Dylan came in.
Last week I held a crying boy in my arms… Mick.
6: To work as a team, you’ve got to realize that the best idea may not always be yours.
This will be my 32nd year of teaching. I have the longest tenure of anyone on our teaching staff. I am very tempted to tell everyone what’s right and what’s wrong. And you know what? I still think I’m right…but here’s what’s made my life easier…. Unless it’s life or death or someone asks me, I’ve learned to let it go. I’m just starting to realize that someone younger or less experienced than me might have a good idea. Sr Trip sponsor for 18 years. One section of St. Louis to avoid. I was tempted to tell them. They went to that section to stay. They’d cleaned it up.
7: To work as a team, we must realize the importance of each team member. Recent class reunion… we talked of our days back at Perry. Sorry teachers, but most of our talk wasn’t about you.
About Emma Strauss the cook who’d always bake homemade rolls twice a week… who’d bake pies at home at night then bring them to school for dessert.. (I once helped her when I had to stay in: Mom, Gary, Mustard)
About Carl Quincy, the bus driver, and they way he’d always give us candy at Christmas. (Jim: Triopia bus driver…always dressed for the holidays… Dracula at Halloween, Santa at Easter, the world’s biggest bunny suit at Christmas.. At Christmas the inside of his bus was decorated with twinkling lights. When we played basketball in December our bus would look like the Mardi Gras was coming to town.)
About Fummy Turner the custodian, who could fix any fountain pen or notebook or tape up any gym shoe. My Dad’s Masonic sword…(Can you believe that?) I didn’t ask him if I could bring it. Broke the chain. Fumy fixed it. He saved my life. And he always had suckers in a Mason jar.
Everyone one in this room is a teacher. Sorry, but you have no choice. Your children begin learning the moment you say “Hello.”
My teachers: Piano…Mildred, finger Trumpet: Jimmy Zimmerman You’re being watched every moment.
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.
8: Finally, life is so darned much easier if we work as a team.
Hey! Do you want to go to bed happy tonight or miserable? It’s your choice! It’s mainly due to how you react to other people.
I’ve written over a hundred plays in the last 30 years. Then a well-known author came and wanted to team up. We tried writing together. Disaster. He: music playing. Me: quiet. He: talks while he writes. Me: Can’t even have a radio going. He: drinks Scotch. I want Diet Pepsi. He wants to sit on stools around the bar in his basement. I work best on the couch.
So now we each go home and write separately. Just finished our 14th play together. We’ve never written a single word sitting in the same room. Our last two plays: Florida and Arenzville. Email.
Life is so much easier if we work as a team. To wrap this all up:
Gosh I admire you and what you do. I’m cursed (or blessed) to live my life through a child’s eyes. Saw three moves in one day last week. Finally left Austin Powers because I was watching it through my Jr-High kids’ eyes. Working with children consumes you. This morning: Today show.. Chief of New York firemen. “Mayor Guiliani was a great mayor because he was a maniac. All the great leaders are maniacs. They’re totally devoted to their cause.”
I hope you’re a maniac.
I teach with some people whom I don’t like very well. I love them all, but there’s a few I don’t like. The day I told myself “Well, maybe it’s me who’s the problem.” Or “My kids are more important than how I get along with all their teachers,” or “Part of my job description is working as a team. It’s my job and I’m going to do it.”
That’s the day that I got happier, the day I became better and my job and they day my kids won. Please..please make winners of our kids this year. You can be the finest horses in the state of Illinois, but if you don’t work as a team, your kids will suffer.
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