The Butler Way

I am a proud graduate of Butler University.  Great school.  Great education.  Great relationships.  I never heard of Butler University until one week before the state Track & Field championships in 1976 when I received a note from Butler’s legendary coach, Stan Lyons, who wrote that he wanted to visit with me after the meet.  Two weeks later, he offered me a scholarship and I said yes.  I still remember the look of pride on my Dad’s face.  Four years, lots of studying, championships, the Lambda Chi house, great friendships , student teaching, outstanding commencement ceremony.  It was hard to say good-bye to Coach Lyons on that last day.  What a great man – God rest his soul.  Butler gained much notoriety in 2010 and 2011 with back to back trips to the NCAA Men’s’ Basketball Championship game with a “David vs. Goliath” story.  Over the years, Butler has developed a culture incorporating five pillars and recruiting players that have outstanding character.  Those five pillars are core values and really are biblical principles.  “The Butler Way” is Humility - go about your business in a humble way without self-exaltation, Passion – do not be lukewarm; pursue excellence, Unity – do not divide the team as the team is first, Servanthood – make those around you better, Thankfulness – learn from every circumstance, and Accountability - no excuses, no explanations.  I am proud to be associated with this school – Go Bulldogs!

There is a lot to learn from these core values and perhaps much to aspire to.  As teachers, we demonstrate humility when we really don’t care who gets the credit for outstanding results.  As teachers, we work at things with a passion as we pursue excellence in our students; however that is defined.  As teachers, we must have the demonstrative attitude that we are serving others and not the other way around.  As teachers, we must show thankfulness no matter what comes our way and understand that failures make us stronger IF we do something about it.  Finally, we have to be accountable for what happens, good or bad without excuse.  More than teaching, what a great way to live your life.  Live this way and people will notice.  They will see something different about you.  Hopefully, they’ll want to follow your example.  Guess what we’ll have then – a better school and a better society.  Who wouldn’t want that?  I am proud to be associated with this school – Go Bulldogs!

Greenhouses

It’s that time of the year – people start to get wound up about flowers, grass, and new plantings.  After a long winter, you just can’t help yourself.  It’s okay – no 12 step program is necessary.  You’ll notice more ads about trees, seeds, and plants.  You may also notice greenhouses more.  The greenhouses that you saw operating throughout the winter are really “Hothouses” because they have sufficient heat for the plants to grow. Greenhouses have been around since the 13^th century and were called botanical gardens.  You see that term being used today, but not typically with a greenhouse.  Greenhouses are structures with both the walls and roof made of a transparent material.  There is a huge size variance.  These are placed with full sun exposure. Solar radiation passes through and is absorbed by whatever is on the inside.  You know, that photosynthesis thing.  The purpose of greenhouses is plant growth. 

Schools should be greenhouses of learning growth.  But, what is it that we want our student to grow in?  The obvious answer is that we want them to grow academically.  Okay, fine.  What the heck does that mean?  Does that mean higher grades? Higher test scores?  Higher levels of understanding? Mastering the standards?  All of these are good except for the grade part because I can tell you that after 37 years in education, I have no clue what a grade actually means as there is much variance among classes and teachers.  How about student growth in these ways: (1) Growing in their  competence in the world – that is why real-life examples are so vital in the classroom. (2)  Growing in managing emotions – do we really want the middle school “drama” to be present when these kids are older?  (3)  Growing in learning to think for themselves – eventually, you have to tie your own shoes.  (4) Growing in working with others – unless they want to pull the Hermit’s card, working with others is inescapable.  (5)  Growing in their relationships – those awkward “tweener” years need to go away sometime, right? (6) Growing in a purpose – getting them ready for their careers. (7)  Growing in integrity – that “Do what is right…avoid what is wrong” theme provides a good moral compass.   And you thought we were just growing academics.

Grandpa's Stories

For Father’s Day 2016, my grandson, Jude, gave me a gift that I had to give back by design.  The gift was a book entitled, “Grandpa. His Stories. His Words”.  The idea was for me to answer the questions in the book in my own handwriting. When I finished, I gave it back to Jude for his first birthday.  He will have a record of his Grandpa’s thoughts and can pass this down to his own children and their children.  Of course, before that, he has to learn how to read!  I answered questions about my ancestry (part Scottish), what my own grandparents were like, the personalities of my parents (incredible servants), what my bedroom was like when I was a kid (shared a 10 x12” room with both brothers), what school was like, the finances of our family (we were financially strapped just like everyone else on our block), my first car (A 1969 Opel Kadet purchased for $200), who I first voted for President (Carter/Ford election), my hobbies as a kid, chores, nicknames, favorite holiday, family meals (every night at 5:31), my first job (shoveling manure for 75 cents/hr), major events in my life (there are a lot), how I met Grandma (great story if you want to hear it), memorable vacations, disappointments, people I looked up to, how the world has changed for the better, and an important lesson that my parents taught me (they taught me much through their actions).  I love our little guy.  Being a Grandpa is a wonderful experience…except for that dirty diaper replay.

Imagine if your students, current and past, wrote stories about you.  What would they write?  What would they write about your personality?  Outgoing or a stick in the mud, approachable or feared, funny or distant, fearful and a crabby pants?  What would they write about your classroom?  Inviting, well-decorated, clean or cold, Spartan, or a pig sty?  What would they write about your teaching?  Learned a lot, made learning fun, challenged me or didn’t learn squat, boring, and didn’t care?  What would they write about impactful events in your classroom?  I”ll never forget….or we never did anything except worksheets.  Whether or not your students write their thoughts down on paper is immaterial.  They are writing thoughts about you in their minds every day.  Last August, I attended my high school reunion – 40 years.  Thank God for name tags!  We talked about the present – jobs, kids, grandkids, etc., but guess what we talked about the most?  That’s right – our teachers.  Your students will talk about you at their class reunions one day.  The biggest memory that they will share is how you treated them.  Make great memories today, tomorrow, and forever.   Being a teacher is a wonderful experience…and no dirty diapers.

Fears

What are your biggest fears?  Spiders?  I know this lady, ( Let’s call her Mary), that will wait until her husband (Let’s call him Tim) comes home to kill a spider that has been in the house since 6:00 a.m.  Snakes?  Heights? – can tall people actually be fearful of themselves?  Germophobic?  Airplanes?  Reminds me of the scene from A Charlie Brown Christmas where Lucy is asking Charlie Brown what he is afraid of when he discovers that he is afraid of everything. Lucy had him prepay the five cents.  Water?  Abandonment?  Blood?  Clowns?  The number 13?  Bridges?  Bees?  Belly buttons? (Omaphalophobia).  None of you have Didaskaleinophobia – the fear of school.  I read a study of the biggest fears that people have.  Shocking results.  The number 2 fear is death and the number 1 fear is public speaking.  What?  What?  So, at a funeral, that person would rather be in the box than giving the eulogy?!  Where am I going with this?  Read on.

In school, kids are afraid of the unknown…or if their locker combination works or if their friends have the same lunch period.  No, it is fear of the unknown.  It also is a “subject-based” fear.  We have kids who absolutely hate going to P.E. class.  This is not because we have crummy teachers. We don’t.  Their hatred stems from them not being too athletic and some think that is what P.E. is all about.  It is not.  To those whom Mathematics comes easily could not imagine that anyone would be fearful of getting along well in that subject because the concepts being taught are not in their wheelhouse.  Some kids don’t like to write…because they’re not very good at it. Some kids are not very good artists and the thought of attending Art class raises their heart rate because “I stink at Art.”  Science?  I may have to touch a frog and I am afraid to death of frogs therefore I hate Science.  If your subject is not listed here, don’t worry – some kid is fearful.  Fear usually stems from a lack of confidence.  Even as adults, people do not participate in things that they aren’t very good at. The things that they are good at is because they are confident in their skills. Part of our job as educators is to instill confidence in our students.  Confidence must come before competence.  We need to take advantage of the time that we have to build confidence in our students who are lacking from it. We can never expect them to just “magically” get better at something without feeling confident in it first.   You may have to spiral back at different development levels and pitch it where they hit it.  That builds confidence in moving forward.  If you choose not to do this, then prepare for a long list of student failures.  Confidence must come before competence.  

I Wish You a Paul

I had the privilege of working with Paul Mehling during my teaching career.  As a special education team member, we were searching for a different model of the delivery system within the continuum of services.  We decided to use a “Collaborative Teaching” model for students who were identified as having learning disabilities and general education students who were having difficulty academically with traditional methodology and blend these groups into one class.  At Lake Central High School, members of our department partnered with general education teachers in the areas of English, Math, and Science.  I was given the assignment of developing the program with two Science teachers in both Principles of Chemistry and Physics as well as Biology.  Elizabeth Hasan and Paul Mehling became my co-teachers.  Paul was the Science Department Chair and a veteran teacher.  We worked hard to prepare lessons where difficult concepts could be presented through easier to understand hands-on activities. We thought outside the box; sometimes way outside the box. We developed assessments where we could use the results to determine if our plan was working.  We sought feedback from the kids.  I learned a whole lot more than teaching Punnet squares and balancing chemical equations.  I learned that the most important part of “collaborative” teaching was a “collaborative relationship” between the adults. Without that, the chance of a successful program is diminished. Paul became not only my friend; he served as one of the most important mentors in my life. He was a father figure to me. We shared personal struggles and held each other up.  We were there for each other and never let the other down in doing his part in the classroom.  Paul and I both left LC in the same year; he to retirement and me to an administrative career. I cherish those years spent with Paul in the classroom. Paul Mehling passed away on February 16, 2017.  He left behind a wife, three children, and three grandchildren.  Did he make a difference in the lives of countless kids and a certain special education teacher? Without a doubt.  Paul Mehling made a huge difference in my life.  Rest in peace, my friend. 

We have an opportunity each day to function as part of a team.  I am sure that you feel that through our “School within a school” concept with multiple academic teams dispersed throughout the building.  I am also sure that you grow close to the members of your team because you share one very important thing each day = kids.  Many days it must feel that you spend more time with your teammates than you do with your own family.  Maybe you are an LRE teacher doing all sorts of things – push-in, pull-out, resource, team-teaching and throughout your daily journey is the need to develop relationships with those teachers that you share kids with.  Maybe you are in an encore department and wonder how you can get closer to the people that share your subjects.  Take an opportunity to visit their class, share some ideas and maybe attempt to team-teach a lesson or two.  When you get closer to the end, you will begin to look back on perhaps several decades of time in a school.  Here’s what you will remember – the relationships that you formed.  Sure, you may recall a killer lesson or an activity that you swear should be patented.  Every teacher has that.  But, all along its been about relationships.  If you have built great relationships with your colleagues, keep on not only doing that , but adding to that list.  If the relationship part has been lax in your teaching life, the time has come to reach out and begin that today.  I hope that you have a Paul Mehling in your life.  I thank God that he was in mine.