This is my 200th official piece. I have written others and posted a few of them, too, but this is the 200th week in a row that I have posted my writing. I set out the first year to write about the first twelve years of my life. I don’t remember much before 1950 so it is really the decade between 1950 and 1960. That was the first fifty-two stories. Then I wrote one each week for a year about the 60s. That was followed by fifty-two about the 70s and now this one is the forty-forth of the 80s.
When I get these done I’ll move on to the 90s. After that I may take a break for while. More on that later. The more recent they are more sensitive I need to be. When I write about experiences in education I can expect to touch on some pretty sensitive issues.
The more recent the more I remember so the more I can write about. I kept a lot of notes as a principal as well as a journal. There is a wealth of stuff to write about!
My original intent was to tell stories about my youth that might be of interest to our children and grandchildren and beyond. Now retelling the stories of my life are as much for me as for anyone. Some are interesting and others are dreadfully boring but need to be told. Some are not really stories but musings from my journal.
I have discovered that it is impossible to cover a decade of your life in fifty-two installments. I left out many things and did not elaborate on others. I think when I get through the 90s, which will be about a year and a half from now, that I will go back and revisit the decade and tell some of the things I left out.
My intent initially was not only to tell the stories but also to practice being a writer. I am really convinced that to be a successful writer you have to do a lot of writing to practice the skills. I don’t know if I have improved or not? Some of my stories have been published in the Mt. Pleasant paper. I haven’t sought to publish them beyond that.
One of the things I had hoped for was more response from readers. I have gotten very little of that. I don’t know if the writing is so bad that people don’t know what to say or nobody is reading it.
I know some of my recollections are not accurate and I have expected people to correct me on a few points but that hasn’t happened. I can see why journalists like even negative response about their writing because they at least know someone read it even if they didn’t agree with them.
Oh well! Response isn’t everything. I’ll keep writing and maybe seek a wider audience at some point. For now the process has been fascinating for me.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Storytelling
I think I have always been a storyteller. For that matter I think everyone is a storyteller and many just don’t realize it. Some are more truthful than others. Some tell for the sake of the story and others endeavor to tell the truth. The former are entertainers and the latter are historians.
My Mom laughed about my storytelling abilities when I was younger. I could mix the truth with fiction with great skill. That is not to say that I lied all of the time because I didn’t. I was basically an honest kid but could twist the truth from time to time. Often I didn’t expect people to take me seriously.
As a teacher, sometimes people did take me seriously when I never expected that they would. The school district had purchased a small but powerful telescope for us in the classroom. In fourth grade we had a science unit on the earth, moon and the planets. I used the telescope a few times with good success.
I don’t remember exactly what the particular phenomenon was but do recall that the moon was supposed to be brighter or closer than usual for some reason. I decided to invite students and families to an evening event at Manning where we would look at the moon with and without the telescope.
I prepared a note to go home with the kids and then tried to pitch the event with the students. There were lots of questions about what the moon would look like and what details we might see. Someone asked if we would be able to see the flag the astronauts planted there several years earlier. In my zeal I said, “Sure! Not only that but we will be able to see the footprints they left on the moon.”
That evening during supper at our house I got a call from Jake Iles, the father of one of my students. He was trying to unravel the tale his son had come home from school and told him. “What’s this about the moon tonight” he said. I explained that families were invited to come to the school and take a look at the moon that evening. “I understand that part but what’s this about seeing the astronauts footprints.” He was dead serious!
I burst out laughing! Then I had to explain that I had in fact said that but never expected the kids to believe me much less go home and tell their parents. I think Jake was only slightly amused. He knew it couldn’t be possible but his son was adamant that was what I had said. He did show up that evening with his son and took a look at the moon through the telescope. By then he was joking about it himself.
I learned to be a little more cautious about what I said realizing that people will believe just about anything under the right circumstances, even when the tale is so far fetched that you think no one could possibly believe it. My story “Grandpa’s Catfish” is a good example. I will tell it in a future piece.
My Mom laughed about my storytelling abilities when I was younger. I could mix the truth with fiction with great skill. That is not to say that I lied all of the time because I didn’t. I was basically an honest kid but could twist the truth from time to time. Often I didn’t expect people to take me seriously.
As a teacher, sometimes people did take me seriously when I never expected that they would. The school district had purchased a small but powerful telescope for us in the classroom. In fourth grade we had a science unit on the earth, moon and the planets. I used the telescope a few times with good success.
I don’t remember exactly what the particular phenomenon was but do recall that the moon was supposed to be brighter or closer than usual for some reason. I decided to invite students and families to an evening event at Manning where we would look at the moon with and without the telescope.
I prepared a note to go home with the kids and then tried to pitch the event with the students. There were lots of questions about what the moon would look like and what details we might see. Someone asked if we would be able to see the flag the astronauts planted there several years earlier. In my zeal I said, “Sure! Not only that but we will be able to see the footprints they left on the moon.”
That evening during supper at our house I got a call from Jake Iles, the father of one of my students. He was trying to unravel the tale his son had come home from school and told him. “What’s this about the moon tonight” he said. I explained that families were invited to come to the school and take a look at the moon that evening. “I understand that part but what’s this about seeing the astronauts footprints.” He was dead serious!
I burst out laughing! Then I had to explain that I had in fact said that but never expected the kids to believe me much less go home and tell their parents. I think Jake was only slightly amused. He knew it couldn’t be possible but his son was adamant that was what I had said. He did show up that evening with his son and took a look at the moon through the telescope. By then he was joking about it himself.
I learned to be a little more cautious about what I said realizing that people will believe just about anything under the right circumstances, even when the tale is so far fetched that you think no one could possibly believe it. My story “Grandpa’s Catfish” is a good example. I will tell it in a future piece.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Professionals
Teachers have demanded to be treated as professionals over the years. For the most part I have supported and actually fought for that kind of recognition. I have hated axioms like: “Those who can do. Those who can’t teach.” I think they are unfair and misrepresent the truth. I have heard things like “if education was run like a business things would be a lot different.” Given businesses track record over the years, especially recently, I don’t think we want education to emulate it.
There are, of course, plenty of areas where we can improve. One that I wrote about at length in one of the 80s journals was my frustration with teachers who didn’t want to take any professional development classes or graduate courses. They complained loudly about continuing education and claimed that it was a waste of time. If they did take a class they wanted it to be easy, quick and cheap. They don’t want to do any work. I could hardly believe it when I heard things like that from teachers. I always wondered what they would say if their students acted like that. I wondered what sort of educators could fell that way about education.
I taught a whole language class at the elementary school in Crawfordsville. I remember at the first session the room being full of teachers. There were to male teachers in the group from Morning Sun or Wapello. I can’t remember which?
My practice was to outline the course and my expectations at the first session. I thought folks should know what to expect. I did that this time. It included that each person would have a project; there would be lots of group work and reading.
During the break the two guys came up and said they were dropping the course. They were disgusted that they would actually have to do something during the class. They told me they expected me to lecture and all they had to do was sit there and listen. One of them even said, “I’ve paid the money! Teach me! I don’t want to do anything. Just tell me what I need to know.”
That kind of attitude is a crime against education and goes against all we know about learning. I felt it was unethical, unprofessional and deceptive since they were going to get paid more after completing the class. I can only imagine what kind of teachers these guys were. Others in the class told me the guys were lazy and had bad reputations as teachers. I knew the type from personal experience.
The boldness of the two guys startled me. They didn’t take the class and I was not a bit sorry to see them walk out. Educators, in order to be professionals, need to eagerly, aggressively pursue continuing education. If teachers were paid better they might take more classes, but they should be making enough that they don’t take a course just for the money. Unfortunately, nothing much has changed since I wrote about this twenty years ago.
There are, of course, plenty of areas where we can improve. One that I wrote about at length in one of the 80s journals was my frustration with teachers who didn’t want to take any professional development classes or graduate courses. They complained loudly about continuing education and claimed that it was a waste of time. If they did take a class they wanted it to be easy, quick and cheap. They don’t want to do any work. I could hardly believe it when I heard things like that from teachers. I always wondered what they would say if their students acted like that. I wondered what sort of educators could fell that way about education.
I taught a whole language class at the elementary school in Crawfordsville. I remember at the first session the room being full of teachers. There were to male teachers in the group from Morning Sun or Wapello. I can’t remember which?
My practice was to outline the course and my expectations at the first session. I thought folks should know what to expect. I did that this time. It included that each person would have a project; there would be lots of group work and reading.
During the break the two guys came up and said they were dropping the course. They were disgusted that they would actually have to do something during the class. They told me they expected me to lecture and all they had to do was sit there and listen. One of them even said, “I’ve paid the money! Teach me! I don’t want to do anything. Just tell me what I need to know.”
That kind of attitude is a crime against education and goes against all we know about learning. I felt it was unethical, unprofessional and deceptive since they were going to get paid more after completing the class. I can only imagine what kind of teachers these guys were. Others in the class told me the guys were lazy and had bad reputations as teachers. I knew the type from personal experience.
The boldness of the two guys startled me. They didn’t take the class and I was not a bit sorry to see them walk out. Educators, in order to be professionals, need to eagerly, aggressively pursue continuing education. If teachers were paid better they might take more classes, but they should be making enough that they don’t take a course just for the money. Unfortunately, nothing much has changed since I wrote about this twenty years ago.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
More from the Journal
Simple words
Spark thoughts
That strike the mind
With a clamor,
And churn the heart.
Sometimes I kept more than one journal. One was a study journal for my Ph.D. comprehensive exams. Another was a journal about my teaching. Another one was about my life in general and there was one for the “Journaling Your Faith” class I was facilitating at church. Crazy! Things kept spilling into the wrong journals. Sometimes I wrote about family things in the teaching journal and teaching things in the family journal. It was impossible to keep things separate and a poem could pop up anywhere.
Catapulted back to my youth
What sight or scent or sound
Triggered the flight
I do not know.
Was it the taste of springtime in the air
Or the sight of new life growing all around?
Or was it muffled music
Carried on the wind?
I can’t be sure by what it was prompted.
But for a moment
Thought transcended time.
I wanted to see a face, talk to a friend
But I was back before I realized I was gone.
My recommendation would be to keep one journal and use it for everything. It may be a little harder to find things but it is much easier not to have to worry about which journal you are writing.
Angie graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in the spring of 1986. We had a family gathering on our Patio to celebrate the event. It was fun and we were very proud of Angie. She was off to Iowa Wesleyan that fall.
I took my Ph. D. comprehensive exams that summer. There were in three exams. One was a general exam of education. The second was in reading because that was my area of emphasis and the last one was in school administration because we have to have one in a cognate area. I had three hours to answer the questions in each area so the entire exam was spread over two days. You study for these things by reading everything you possibly can for about two years and hope they ask you questions you know something about.
I was just amazed that I had made it this far. I wasn’t sure I was going to get through high school and now I was knocking on the door for a Ph. D. Many who do make it this far, through their comps, never finished the dissertation. I was bound and determined that wasn’t going to happen to me.
When I went to defend my answers the committee welcomed me into the room and then sent me out for their deliberations. In a few minutes they asked me back into the room. I thought that was a bad sign but they surprised me by saying, “We have no questions. Let’s talk about what you might do for your dissertation.” I was thrilled!
In May of 1986 I wrote: “I think journaling had a profound affect on my growth. Through journaling I’ve made connections I would have never made and discoveries have evolved that may not have happened otherwise. Journaling isn’t for everybody, but it sure is for me. Besides the growth and discovery gained from the journaling they are priceless records of life experiences.”
Spark thoughts
That strike the mind
With a clamor,
And churn the heart.
Sometimes I kept more than one journal. One was a study journal for my Ph.D. comprehensive exams. Another was a journal about my teaching. Another one was about my life in general and there was one for the “Journaling Your Faith” class I was facilitating at church. Crazy! Things kept spilling into the wrong journals. Sometimes I wrote about family things in the teaching journal and teaching things in the family journal. It was impossible to keep things separate and a poem could pop up anywhere.
Catapulted back to my youth
What sight or scent or sound
Triggered the flight
I do not know.
Was it the taste of springtime in the air
Or the sight of new life growing all around?
Or was it muffled music
Carried on the wind?
I can’t be sure by what it was prompted.
But for a moment
Thought transcended time.
I wanted to see a face, talk to a friend
But I was back before I realized I was gone.
My recommendation would be to keep one journal and use it for everything. It may be a little harder to find things but it is much easier not to have to worry about which journal you are writing.
Angie graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in the spring of 1986. We had a family gathering on our Patio to celebrate the event. It was fun and we were very proud of Angie. She was off to Iowa Wesleyan that fall.
I took my Ph. D. comprehensive exams that summer. There were in three exams. One was a general exam of education. The second was in reading because that was my area of emphasis and the last one was in school administration because we have to have one in a cognate area. I had three hours to answer the questions in each area so the entire exam was spread over two days. You study for these things by reading everything you possibly can for about two years and hope they ask you questions you know something about.
I was just amazed that I had made it this far. I wasn’t sure I was going to get through high school and now I was knocking on the door for a Ph. D. Many who do make it this far, through their comps, never finished the dissertation. I was bound and determined that wasn’t going to happen to me.
When I went to defend my answers the committee welcomed me into the room and then sent me out for their deliberations. In a few minutes they asked me back into the room. I thought that was a bad sign but they surprised me by saying, “We have no questions. Let’s talk about what you might do for your dissertation.” I was thrilled!
In May of 1986 I wrote: “I think journaling had a profound affect on my growth. Through journaling I’ve made connections I would have never made and discoveries have evolved that may not have happened otherwise. Journaling isn’t for everybody, but it sure is for me. Besides the growth and discovery gained from the journaling they are priceless records of life experiences.”
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