New Berlin
August 20, 2009
At a nearby school district yesterday… walked by a teacher’s meeting on their first day of school…speaker up front..Powerpoint… the audience “Night of the Living Dead.” I thought.. “Oh gee…I’m speaking for a group of teachers tomorrow.”
Speaking of dead…. Lincoln museum girl. I’ll remember to keep moving today. And by the way: this morning I’m going to attempt the impossible…no PowerPoint
I taught in the public school for 35 years and today I’m going to talk about the worst mistake I made every year. I made the mistake so often I was really, really good at it. I was admired for the way I made the mistake worse than everyone else… And, unlike most opening teachers’ meeting situations, the new teachers are the only ones in here who’ve never made this mistake in teaching. Don’t worry.. You will. Despite the keywords across the podium every time Barak and Hillary spoke, I don't like the word “Change.” It’s always bothered me. Church camp… Mom said “change underwear every day.” ..So I did..with my bunk mate.
I used to dread the arrival of a new administrator… After years of developing our own system, we suddenly had to adapt to a new system…never any better… but taught in his or her course in grad school. I’m talking about change that you initiate..change that’s completely personal with you.
Traveling Theatre class always a dozen kids at most…this afternoon… 20..from four different schools. I saw the number and it irritated me. Because it was too many? No..it was a change. Young bride..ham.. pan. In other words, I’m nearly always wrong about change. Nearly every time someone has asked me to do something new in education, it’s irritated me. If it’s a fellow teacher I growl. If it’s an administrator, I throw things. If it’s the state, I use language that my Presbyterian Sunday School teacher never taught me.
I don't like change…at first. Don't like surprises..usually. Some of you remember the story I told about Matt: baritone.
If I were smart, I’d realize that the best things I’ve done have been the result of change. Went to college to become an undertaker… didn’t work out. Trained to be a teacher of literature. I’ve never taught literature. They asked me direct plays…not what I’d planned… I’d seen one back in high school. Asked me to teach speech… I’d had a course in the history of broadcasting. New class…Quest.. took much intensive training. Without doubt the best teaching experience of my life.
I have been wrong every time. Every time. Every time I’ve been knocked out of my mental box, I’ve become a better teacher..sometimes a better person. I see a funeral hearse going down the street and think, “Gee..that could have been me.”
Travel in summer with students..if you’ve traveled, you know that change is the name of the game.. ---Air Italia ..ended up in 1st class ---Tahiti..Jeremy… won photo contest..National Geographic, Jr. Division ---Susan and Jodi… unisex bathrooms in Madrid…Susan called, “Named my first child after you in memory of our bathing together in Spain.”
There’s nothing I hate worse than being thrown out of my normal pattern, and there’s nothing that’s helped me more as a teacher.
No, I’m not talking about a change in the state goals & plans, but about your attitude toward teaching… We are now in Round 349 of the re-vamped plan for School Improvement… we’ve been promised that this is the final plan. If you remember, plan # 345 was the (USIP) Ultimate School Improvement plan #346 Was the USIPR… Ultimate School Improvement Plan, Really! #347 was the …. WNK , The We’re not Kidding this time! #348 the JSUDO “Just Shut Up and Do It”
Why don’t they just come out with the #350. Called: “Look, the manufacturer’s lobby put pressure on us and we had to do something or we’d loose their political contributions!”
I have devised an IGAP test to send to each educator in Illinois: Question # 1) How many hours have you spent on the SIP program? How much smarter are you kids as a result? 2) Now that you’ve taught them to write to pass the state standards way how many have died from boredom? 3) How many Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners or Rhoads Scholars have you turned out since they learned to skim the material and fill in the bubbles more clearly? 4) If it’s called the School Improvement plan, please list the ways your school has improved.
But despite all the state regulations, we are still a rather autonomous bunch of rascals. Few have anyone looking directly over our shoulder…. Let me recommend a new method of teaching…something to think about this summer…perhaps you already use it.. The only time you’ll hear me quoting the Bush Administration..It’s called Shock and Awe.
Your kids will be watching YouTube tonight after watching you use a chalkboard. Get with it.. Shock ‘em. Awe ‘em. 1st year of teaching… Mrs. Aufdenkamp.. standing on desk. ---Bob ….the drug dealer ---Biology teacher… a genius. Class that wouldn’t take notes..so he announced, “You are forbidden to take notes in this class!” Simple as that. They started hiding their notes on their laps..and started paying very close attention. ---The “Impossible class.” Born: Mt. St. Helens.. Old-Time school day. ---Break your dress code..not the official A/C Central rules, but your own private code. Fred Snodgrass…tie church ---Any experienced teacher in this room could tell you this one. Be ready to identify your most serious behavior problems next fall and attack them. Kidnapping kids at camp.
My dad was a John Deere dealer…went to a computer system…showed his employees a tape of the Beverly Hillbillies… Granny…new kitchen..washing clothes in a tub.
For your own mental health…get out of your rut. Change for the sake of change? Heck yes! We are blessed to be in an occupation where we still have a great deal of say-so as to the methods we use. We’re in a job where in general our administrators care about the same things we do.. And we’re in a calling that truly makes a difference.. If we can’t change, then the world is in trouble….
And like it or not, you are being watched…how well you adapt to change is being observed. My teachers: Piano…Mildred, finger Trumpet: Jimmy Zimmerman You’re being watched every moment. …including how you adapt to change.
Spend some time this summer planning escape routes for the rut you may have fallen into.
Every year…my college fraternity meets in Jacksonville.. an architect, a builder, an undertaker, a banker, a prison administrator, two insurance salesmen and a newspaper editor… I am by far the lowest paid member of the group…and I am by far the happiest.
Please…do yourself a favor… look around and find out what ruts you’ve fallen into.. Climb out.. The change will do you good.
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