← Speeches & Workshops

Oct 03

Shelbyville Teachers’ Conf

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

I’m not a professional speaker.. I’m a teacher, just like you.. A couple hours up the road. Tomorrow I’d like to encourage you to come to my school and give me this same speech.

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 47 years. Began: 5. Taught for 32 years. Never a September out of a school building. 47 years of school lunches... not a good advertisement

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

Most October teacher’s conferences talk about putting things on.. new programs.. new mandates… this morning I’m missing a fun-filled 3 hour lecture on how to deal with handicapped children in the classroom. Instead, I want to talk to you about taking things off… 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.... In other words, how to remove some of the stress from your job. (I thought about asking you to name the one thing, that if removed from your job, would make it less stressful..but afraid you’d name somebody in this room.)

But first..in case you’re a bus driver or cook or secretary and think I’m not speaking to you, let me tell you about my last class reunion. 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. …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. Let me give you a list of resolutions for the new school year. Weight reduction…dropping the stress…. This is a smorgasbord … take what you like and leave the rest.

1. Thou Shalt Not 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...

2. 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 … boats in harbor I going to have 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.

In spite of the School Improvemennt Plan, inspite of President Bush’s totally unrealistic goals for education, in spite of your administration and board and parents, you must be in charge of your class’s education this year.

3. 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.

4. Collect Interesting and enthusiastic people

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…. Marijuana bust…Me: Christian. Ed: atheist.

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 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… I’ve been in rehearsal for a play since June…finished five days ago..Jr. High speech team.. 70 kids.. contest is one month away, tomorrow: artists workshop, Monday: annual physical exam, I have two plays to write before December, and my back hurts from spending all day yesterday with 40 7th-graders in a one-room school house. When your supt called I thought, “Yes! A break!” 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.

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

HINEY THE MULE

7. Lighten up.... 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. --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.

Lighten UP: PHYSICAL 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? … 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)

TRAVIS: how he wants to die..18 gun shots in back then stabbed twice in the chest.. We’ve decided to attack Travis.. notes in locker, call on him every day. Compliment clothing.. “Curt Cobain” .. tough

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. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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. Next year, don’t hire a long-winded speaker like me. Sit in small groups and talk about these things… Your favorite teacher… describe them. Your fondest memory of last school year. A current student who inspires you. One skill that would make you a better teacher. Other than vacations, paychecks, and weekends, the best thing about your job. An Shelby County teacher whom you admire.

Encourage each other. There are enough forces working against us…let’s not be one of them. If the kids are the hope for tomorrow, then you are the hope for our kids.

Have a great year. It really is your choice.

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