The Inspiring Teacher Series: Interview with Greg Henley

Welcome to The Inspiring Teacher Series - a tribute to inspirational K-12 teachers and college professors, and what we can learn from them and each other about the craft of teaching. Now let's meet...

L. Gregory Henley, Ph.D.
Director, International Center for Entrepreneurship

Robinson College of Business
Georgia State University
Atlanta, GA

Bio
Dr. Henley is the director of the Herman J. Russell, Sr. International Center for Entrepreneurship at Georgia State University. His passion is to help entrepreneurs succeed and his experiences have prepared him to do so. With a BS from MIT and an MBA and Ph.D. from Columbia University, he’s been blessed with opportunities in both business and academia. Prior to joining Georgia State University, Dr. Henley taught at the University of South Florida’s (USF) Center for Entrepreneurship, helped start the entrepreneurship undergraduate major at the University of Tampa. He worked in the Center for Entrepreneurship at Columbia University while pursuing his Ph.D.
Dr. Henley’s entrepreneurial experience includes starting a mortgage company, an investment advisory firm, acquiring a community bank in Alabama and another community bank in Florida. Although he began his career working for large companies, including Procter & Gamble, Chemical Bank, and New England Telephone Company, entrepreneurship has always been his passion. Dr. Henley has held positions of President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. His consulting assignments included evaluating bank acquisitions, working with de novo banks, E-commerce start-ups and implementing the installation of a web site for a bank client. He is an active investor in small businesses and real estate.
He is interviewed frequently for his views on a wide-range of entrepreneurship topics by the media and has been quoted in media outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal, Atlanta Journal Constitution and the Christian Science Monitor to Heart & Soul. Dr. Henley also wrote a monthly entrepreneurship column for Business-to-Business, an online publication for Atlanta executives.
Community involvement is an important part of Dr. Henley’s life. He is an active member of St. James United Methodist Church. He has served as a judge for business plan competitions for organizations including the National Black MBA Association’s Entrepreneurial Institute, the Youth Entrepreneurs of Atlanta at Morehouse College, and the Future Business Leaders of America. Dr. Henley also speaks to youth organizations throughout the nation and recently has addressed the Piney Grove Baptist Church youth program, the Atlanta After-School All-Stars, the Montgomery, AL chapter of Jack and Jill of America and M3Boys in Berkeley, CA.
He has begun a multi-year initiative, “Dr. Henley’s Road Trip,” in which he intends to interview entrepreneurs in all 50 states for a book. His goal is to also host the monthly entrepreneur forums that he currently hosts in Atlanta during his trip around the country.

What inspired you to teach?
During my business career, I noticed that a lot of people, especially people of color, have started businesses. However, many of the same people seemed to have trouble running the businesses effectively. I thought that I could help people (of all colors) run businesses more effectively, so went back to school with that objective in mind. Since my Ph.D. program, I have been teaching entrepreneurship and business strategy at business schools and, hopefully, my students can run a business better than if they hadn't taken my class.

What teaching methods are most helpful in guiding students towards their goals?
In the classroom, since I teach business courses, I try to relate everything back to the real world so students can relate to something they are familiar with. This includes bringing in businessmen, using case studies and talking about some of my business experiences. In addition, whenever possible, I like students to reach out to the business community. Examples of this include assignments for students to interview entrepreneurs and internships. For business classes, application of the material is critical to prepare students for the real world. So, telling them something and asking them to take a multiple choice question may be good for some things, but is a poor method for many business concepts. Getting the students to apply what they've learned is a goal. Often, this can be done via case studies and sometimes by working on projects for businesses. Some of the more challenging (for me and the students), but rewarding courses I've taught involved students working for real businesses. The students are able to apply business concepts, but see how businesses are actually run - the good, the bad and the ugly.

What would you like to improve about your teaching?
It's very important that I reach the students on their level. If I can get their attention, then I can teach them. Improving my teaching requires that I get constructive feedback to insure that what I'm doing is working. As I get older, using tools that are consistent with the way students learn can become more challenging, so I need to work to make sure that I'm communicating in ways they grasp. So what I'd like to improve is my knowledge and understanding of what is important to our students.

What skills should be emphasized in high school to succeed in your college class?
The skills that should be emphasized are certainly business skills. But, more broadly, I'd like for students to be able to think more analytically and in more depth. Other specific skills are a basic grasp of math and, importantly, writing skills.

What is the one thing you wished you would have known when you started your teaching career?
The value of testing early whether the students understand the material I'm presenting. In one of my first classes, I presented the material and got the verbal feedback I hoped for when I asked questions that indicated the students understood what I was telling them. However, when it came to apply the material for an assignment, the students did poorly - and my hopes and expectations were dashed. What I learned is that some of the early exercises, questions and tests that I needed to implement should be better tied to what I expected the students to learn. Also, that I needed to implement those exercises, questions and tests earlier in the semester so that I have time to make adjustments if I need to. The other thing I learned is that quite a few students are in the class to get a grade, but not necessarily to learn. This is in contrast to me whose primary reason for being in the classroom is because I want to teach.

The Inspiring Teacher Series: Interview with Jody Blanke

Jody Blanke
Professor of Computer Information Systems and Law
Director of Undergraduate Programs
Stetson School of Business and Economics
Mercer University
Atlanta, GA

Bio
Jody Blanke has been a full-time college professor for the past 27 years. He earned a B.S. in Computer Science and Psychology and an M.S. in Computer Science at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and a J.D. at the Emory University School of Law. After practicing law and clerking for a judge for several years, Blanke starting teaching full-time at St. John’s University in Jamaica, NY. After two years at St. John’s, he came to Mercer University to chair the Computer Science Department at the College of Arts and Sciences in Atlanta. After five years there, he moved to the School of Business and has been there ever since.

Blanke has had law journal articles published in the Columbia Science and Technology Law Review, the American Business Law Journal, and the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal, among others. His main areas of research are privacy law and copyright law. He is currently serving his second stint as Director of Undergraduate Programs at Mercer. He is most proud of twice receiving the Outstanding Faculty Award, which is bestowed annually based primarily on the voting and comments of graduating students.

What inspired you to teach?
I don’t believe that there is any one thing that I can point to. During my school years, I always seemed able to explain things well to my fellow classmates. While I was in graduate school, I had an opportunity to be a Teaching Assistant and I enjoyed that a great deal. After practicing law for a few years, I looked into the possibility of teaching a course or two as a part-time instructor. As it happened, St. John’s was looking for a full-time instructor and I gave it a shot – no master plan here.

When I look back at teachers I had when I was in school, two names pop out at me. The first was an Earth Science teacher I had at Linden Junior High School – Harvey Moder. He was a retired fireman and was very dedicated to his students. I happen to have him the year of the Teacher’s Strike in New York City. We missed almost two months of school. He invited students to his house during the strike so that we wouldn’t get too far behind. He also arranged a trip to a science lab at his alma mater – Hofstra University. It was the first time most of us had been to a college campus. He went out of his way to help us learn.

The second great teacher I had was Robert Greenman at Madison High School. He taught English and Journalism. He also went way beyond the job description in his teaching and his supervision of the publication of the school newspaper. Back in those days, we had to bring the content to a typesetter to set up the pages for publication. He would drive a few of us to the printing press in Manhattan and we would spend many hours laying out the pages. Mr. Greenman cared greatly about his students. In thinking back on it today, I realize that he understood that each student was different and that he needed to treat each student differently.

What teaching methods are most helpful in guiding students towards their goals?
One thing that I have come to realize is how differently people learn. There is no “One Size Fits All.” There are visual learners, auditory learners, kinesthetic learners and probably other types as well. It becomes particularly challenging because most of my delivery comes by way of four-hour lecture periods. It helps to have PowerPoint presentations for people to read, but it is absolutely necessary to get students engaged in the discussion.

I generally start off all my law lectures with Legal Show and Tell. Students are supposed to bring in stories about legal news that they read, heard or saw during the past week. For the most part, these are about current events, about which many students have at least some interest. And almost always, I can tie the legal issues to some topic that we will be exploring. It also helps to get as many students as possible involved in the discussion.

I like to teach by example. I think it is much easier to understand an idea if you can see it in action, rather than merely in the abstract. Quite often you can discuss the nuances of the topic by simply varying the facts of the example. Also, I believe that it is imperative to explain why we have certain laws and rules, rather than merely what they are. It is much easier to learn something if you understand the rationale behind it.

And finally you must not lose sight of the forest for the trees. It is very difficult to learn about something in a vacuum. You must be able to step back and look at the big picture, to understand how and where the rule fits in. I try to do this as often as possible in each lecture.

What would you like to improve about your teaching?
One of the biggest challenges I face is to keep the material fresh and entertaining. The last thing I would want someone to say about my class is that it is boring. When I first started teaching, I taught probably 8 or 9 different computer science courses each year. I much preferred that to teaching the same course over and over again. I was continually learning new material and changing my courses because the subject matter changed so rapidly. For the past 15 years or so, I have pretty much been teaching the introductory legal and ethical environment course in our various business degree programs – the BBA, the MBA, the Executive MBA and the Professional MBA. While each course is somewhat different, the basic topics in law remain very similar.

I think it was Joe DiMaggio who, when asked why he always played baseball so hard, responded that someone at the game might be seeing him for their one and only time, and that he wanted to make sure that that person saw him play the game the way it should be played. Before I teach something like contract law – which I could probably start teaching within seconds notice if awoken at 3:00 in the morning – I have to get myself excited about the subject. I have to realize that my students probably don’t know much about contract law and that I have to bring energy and enthusiasm to the classroom to make the subject as interesting for them as it is for me.

What skills should be emphasized in high school to succeed in your college class?
As a college professor, I have to emphasize how important it is to be able to write clearly and succinctly. It is extremely important. But I also would like to mention two other skills – probably more accurately described as traits – but traits that can be learned and honed. The first is inquisitiveness. Asking questions is of utmost importance to successful learning. You must ask questions in order to learn. The second is persistence. To truly learn something you must never give up. If one approach to learning something doesn’t work, try another approach. (And by the way, one of the most effective ways to learn something is to have to teach it.)

Do you have any last bits of wisdom?
Yes. For those high school and college students who do not yet know what they want to major in – don’t worry! Take a variety of courses. Take courses that sound interesting to you. Ultimately, you will be most successful in learning about something that interests you or for which you have a passion. Try something different!

Teaching Justice in Class through Documentaries

When my class studies The Buffalo Creek (coal mine) Disaster in West Virginia from the 1970's, I try to bring the book to life in my Introduction to Law class with clips from a documentary on the subject.

As an extension of that book, we also follow the plight of Marsh Fork Elementary School, and how a grandfather in West Virginia took it upon himself to move a school (which sits downstream from a river of coal sludge held back by a dam) away from danger. See my March 25 post: Move Elementary School out of Harm's Way .

Now, a new documentary highlighting the efforts of that grandfather (Ed Wiley) is available, and I will be sure to add this doc to my class on teaching justice: http://www.oncoalriver.com/

Mr. Wiley's efforts took awhile, but the forces of justice, leverage, and political embarassment eventually led to funding for a new school:

Goodbye Massey Coal Dust: Welcome to the Ed Wiley Elementary School!http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/goodbye-massey-coal-dust_b_559167.html

There has always been a "marriage" between Justice and Documentaries - the latter serving as a slow vehicle of change for the former. The documentary referenced above (On Coal River) was screened at the AFI/Discovery Silver Docs conference in June. The conference featured several workshops including this interesting sounding session which should be taught in every film school:

TEACHING FILMMAKING, TEACHING JUSTICE: CONNECTING STUDENTS TO THE GREATER COMMUNITY

The University of Alabama–Birmingham works with students across the arts and sciences who have never picked up a camera for anything more serious than a snapshot. They use a collaborative critique process to hone their eye and encourage a community co-authorship process to help them shape their stories. This session will give participants a look at new pedagogy on student civic engagement and techniques for introducing and incorporating filmmaking in all subjects. PRESENTER Michele Forman, co-director, University of Alabama, Birmingham Digital Community Studies Program

http://silverdocs.com/conference/about-conference/

Never-say-quit teacher leaves a final lesson

Quick to smile, always armed with a sense of humor, a tireless advocate for children’s education and the “best teacher ever,” students and faculty say. On June 17, [Steve] Birdsall will stand in front of his fifth-grade classroom for the last time. He is retiring after a 23-year career in the Issaquah School District — 21 of those spent at Maple Hills....

But unlike other classrooms, this teacher stands in front with a walker.
Birdsall, 51, was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease, known as multiple system atrophy, last fall.

CONTINUE READING: http://www.issaquahpress.com/2010/06/15/never-say-quit-teacher-leaves-a-final-lesson/

Never-say-quit teacher leaves a final lesson

Chantelle Lusebrink: clusebrink@isspress.com

Elementary School Teacher Publishes Reading Response Activity Sheets

Erica Bohrer (who graduated from my alma mater, Binghamton University) published her first teacher resource book Just-Right Reading Response Activity Sheets for Young Learners: 50 Reproducible Graphic Organizers That Help Children Write Meaningful Responses to the Books They Read (Scholastic, 2010). She sells lessons and teacher downloads online at teacherspayteachers.com. Erica is a first-grade teacher for Lindenhurst Public Schools on Long Island, and an adjunct off-campus professor at Brooklyn College.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Just-Right-Reading-Response-Activity-Learners/dp/054513370X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1276804984&sr=8-1

Amazon Product Description:
Help kids extend and deepen their reading experiences with these delightful, comprehension-boosting graphic organizers. Designed for use with fiction and nonfiction books, the simple formats help young readers really think about what they read and record their thoughts in an organized, meaningful way. Topics include identifying story elements, sequencing events, drawing conclusions, summarizing, making connections, examining words, and more. Encourages critical and creative thinking! For use with Grades K–2.

Former HS Teacher's dream led her to career as astronaut, seat aboard shuttle

When Dorothy “Dottie” Metcalf-Lindenburger tells students to reach for the stars, she means it literally. ... Metcalf-Lindenburger, who taught five years in Vancouver, Wash., completed astronaut training in 2006. She is a member of NASA’s Teacher in Space program and visits schools to inspire teachers and students to think more about space, science, math and technology.

Continue Reading: http://www.gazette.com/articles/led-99025-aboard-seat.html

See also: The Teachers in Space program
http://www.teachersinspace.org/

The Teachers in Space program is working with many new spaceflight companies to make sure that teachers are among those who have a chance to go. As a new age of opportunity unfolds, who better than teachers to lead the way? Unlike NASA's Educator Astronaut program, which takes teachers out of the classroom to join the NASA astronaut corps, Teachers in Space will allow teachers to “keep their day jobs.” Training will take only a few weeks; and many teachers will be able to complete the program during school breaks which will eliminate having to take time away from the classroom.

The Inspiring Teacher Series: Interview with Travis Tingle

Welcome to The Inspiring Teacher Series - a tribute to inspirational K-12 teachers and college professors, and what we can learn from them and each other about the craft of teaching. Now let's meet...

Travis Tingle

Band Teacher

Union Grove Middle School

McDonough, GA

Bio
Travis Tingle has been a middle school and high school band teacher for 8 years. He taught at Hull Middle School in Duluth, GA; Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, GA; Stockbridge Middle School in Stockbridge, GA; and is currently the band teacher at Union Grove Middle School in McDonough, GA. Travis received his undergraduate degree in K-12 Education with a concentration in instrumental music from Georgia State University and his Master’s in Business Administration degree from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.

Travis was awarded the Business and International Education Scholarship for overseas studies in International Business in spring 2008. He spent 16 days in South Africa with the J. Mack Robinson College of Business studying the social, educational, and economic landscape. He perceives the global business community as a large contributor in aiding countries both financially and socially by producing jobs and partnering with the academic community. His students have been selected to participate in the University of Georgia Honors Clinic, the Georgia All State Band, Troy State University Honors Clinic, Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Wind Ensemble, Atlanta Youth Wind Ensemble, and the Music USA Contest in Orlando Florida. His students have consistently received excellent and superior ratings in all Georgia Music Educators Association large group performance evaluation categories.

What inspired you to teach?
Much like Bridget Robbins, one of the other bloggers for the inspiring teacher series, teaching was the last thing on my mind when graduating high school. My dad was an assistant principal and my mom was a world history teacher. Dinner discussions were not at all inspiring or very positive!! Don’t get me wrong, they did a great job in their fields but the schools they taught in were very difficult. The communities around the schools were plagued by drugs, alcohol, and broken families. I remember finding a baseball bat in my dad’s closet in his office and I was immediately reminded of James Belushi playing the role of Ricky Latimer in the movie “The Principal!” Who in their right mind would want to enter the teaching profession after hearing those horrifying stories at dinner every night!! Not me! I was dead set against being a teacher or a pastor! In my teenage opinion, both were underpaid and had to deal with crap being shoveled on them every day! Who needs it!!

I had no idea what I wanted to do as a career and after two quarters I dropped out of college and decided to work at a restaurant waiting tables until I figured it out! Several months later I decided I would give the college of education at Georgia State University a chance seeing as several of my friends I attended high school with were education majors there. I went in as a K-12 Music Education major because I was very involved in music through my school years as a kid. During my middle and high school years I was fortunate to be selected as a member of the Georgia All State Bands 8th-12th grade and was also selected to attend the Governor’s Honors Program in Jazz Studies at Valdosta State University. The opportunity to teach private saxophone lessons afforded me the break I needed to quit waiting tables and still make a living as an undergrad! Then the unthinkable happened: I actually started to enjoy teaching and watching the kids get better! I was full force going to finish my undergrad in education and get a job teaching!

I was VERY fortunate to have great mentors that taught and still teach in the Atlanta area. While watching them teach I took endless notes and my mentors allowed me to teach their classes and gain experience using their techniques!

**Here’s the most important facet of learning to teach in the classroom for people currently teaching, student teaching, or just registering for your first education courses as an undergrad: You must have mentors that have held successful teaching careers from surrounding schools and from the University you attend. Go ahead and fight the pride and understand you know nothing about teaching in the classroom until you have copied their techniques and molded and developed them into your own over several years by trial and error (I call it “Trial by Fire”)!! Then give it some time and hang in there! Hey, it takes 5 years of teaching to get over the shock of it and then things in the classroom will get a little easier and VERY rewarding!!

What teaching methods are most helpful in pushing students towards their goals?
I teach 6-8 grades, so Character education is something my students and I practice in the classroom. It may sound old fashioned to many, but students by and large do not know how to address adults or each other. We spend a considerable amount of time in the first two weeks of school going over my expectations and role playing them in class. It’s simple stuff like, being in your seat on time, raising your hand before you speak or get up, do not play your instrument until the director begins rehearsal, and do not touch anyone’s property except for your own. The big one is, you must answer with yes sir or yes ma’am, or simply yes or no. There is no yeah-uh huh business that goes on in our classroom!! Another crucial expectation is disrespect with gestures like smacking lips and sucking teeth!! I use Bon Qui Qui (look it up on You Tube) at Burger King as an example of this and the students think it’s hilarious that I am re-enacting Bon Qui Qui!! I have a student act like the teacher and I act the part of a student. They call on me for misbehaving in class and I respond by smacking my lips and sucking my teeth. Then, the student (acting like me the teacher) gets up and writes my name on the board! Hey, it gets the point across and they get to see how ridiculous people look when they behave this way! I have the students demonstrate the wrong way and the consequence of me writing their name on the board and they receive what we call in my school a “citation”. Of course, they don’t really receive a citation from me while we are role playing the expectations! The first 2 weeks of school is perfect for this because the environment is not threatening and most students are not misbehaving yet!! Basically the procedures of the classroom are ingrained in their minds so they become second nature to the student. Now, it’s not as easy as it sounds, the first few weeks will be a little difficult and there will be quite a few names on the board!!!

What is the one thing you wish you'd known when you started your teaching career?
I wish I had known how mentally and emotionally draining it was going to be. If I had considered the emotional drain and the pay scale, I would have majored in something other than education. I wish I had known how many years of experience (5-6 years) it would take for the shock of teaching to wear off! Presently, I enjoy my job at my new school and am happy teaching, but I had no idea how much of an uphill struggle it would be to get there. Most jobs, careers, and life in general are common in that way. Unfortunately, Generations X and Y were not well prepared for the reality of the world. Our teachers and guidance counselors painted a very rosy picture of the world and told us everything was going to be okay if we work hard and pursue our dreams. That is partly right but it was definitely not the whole truth!!

The Inspiring Teacher Series: Interview with Barry Hantman

Welcome to The Inspiring Teacher Series - a tribute to inspirational K-12 teachers and college professors, and what we can learn from them and each other about the craft of teaching. Now let's meet...

Barry Hantman
Homebound Instruction Teacher
Queens, NY

Bio

Barry Hantman won his school spelling bee in 5th, 6th, and 7th grades. His inexorable decline began shortly thereafter and he’s been trying to make a comeback since 1973. Barry graduated from Bayside High School (Go Commodores!), Binghamton State University (Go Bearcats!) and received his teaching Masters degree from NYU (Go . . . ?). Barry has worked as a Home Instruction teacher for the NYC Department of Education since 1984. Relevant quote: “If Perry perceives me as an inspiring educator, I fear we may already be in trouble.”

What inspired you to teach?
Teaching was not a calling that beckoned me. I had always been interested in politics and government (so-called “political science”), thus I’d assumed I wanted to practice law. But the dull reality of law school inspired me to find a better way. I don’t believe in reincarnation so if I only have one life to live, I decided it would not be as an attorney. Since my parents were teachers, the field of education seemed like a natural option to explore.

Please explain the “day in a life” of a homebound instruction teacher.
A homebound instruction teacher educates students who cannot attend school for physical or emotional reasons. A typical case is a broken ankle/leg for about 7 weeks, but I’ve had students recuperating for months from heart surgery, a kidney transplant, leukemia, etc. Or a pupil might get expelled from school and is at home awaiting placement at a new school. Once I even taught a youngster in the Witness Protection program! I work with students from grades 7-12, but occasionally teach even kindergarteners or first graders (and have proudly taught 3 such children to read). Not only do I instruct students of various ages and home environments, but I also teach kids from the most diverse possible ethnic backgrounds. I work in Queens County, New York City – according to the US Census, the most diverse area on the planet!

A Home Instruction teacher is like a basketball point guard – you must know when to speed things up (such as reviewing for state exams) and when to slow down the pace (at times that a child isn’t feeling well, whether physically or emotionally). You start to get adept at readings faces and moods; within 20 seconds of walking through the door you can usually tell how productive the day is going to be.

I love my job but of course, it has its own peculiar set of hassles. Driving from apartment to apartment means finding several parking spots a day, no easy feat in congested parts of the city. I might only find a one hour meter but the lesson is for another half-hour. Then I have to remember to go back downstairs to feed the meter or I’ll return to find a nice orange parking ticket slapped on my windshield. Building elevators are frequently out so I have to walk up and down several flights of stairs. And driving in the snow is a hassle. I have a fuel-efficient Nissan Sentra that squeezes into tight parking spots but it doesn’t like heavy snowfalls.

What teaching methods are most helpful in guiding students toward their goals?
I have the luxury of working one-to-one so I try to take full advantage. I assess student strengths/weaknesses in order to focus on areas of concern. Many classroom pupils who failed a course or state exam and now must retake it will suddenly flourish with their own tutor. It’s incredible what a difference the extra private attention makes. This is true for the math and creative writing instruction I give but also for the tennis and guitar lessons I arranged for my son; there is no comparison between one-to-one and thirty-to-one.

I also utilize what’s around me. I scan a home’s walls and tables for homework essay ideas. For example, a Sikh student’s apartment displayed a large drawing of the Golden Temple at Amritsar. I asked Chami to write about the Temple’s significance and to outline some of his faith’s tenets. I read Chami’s essay the next morning while sipping chai tea his mother had prepared. Another pupil’s family were Afghan refugees. They had an enlarged photo of the father in between President George W. Bush and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai. Detailing that treasured photo was Shaheera’s writing assignment. Even the smell of a delicious meal being prepared could very well lead to a recipe request for homework (and to a free sample for the teacher).

What skills should a teacher training program emphasize? De-emphasize?
The most critical factors can’t be taught – intelligence (both IQ and even more importantly, EQ – emotional intelligence), motivation, creativity, sense of humor, and character. But all those qualities can be enhanced. I believe the best teacher training involves hands-on experience mirroring the actual job you seek. My teaching Masters degree courses were a joke, consisting of either theoretical jargon or somewhat interesting concepts that I could’ve easily grasped on my own. I would eliminate such grad school requirements and instead mandate a two year “student teacher” training program in classrooms led by outstanding educators.

What would you like to improve about your teaching?
Nothing. I’m done. Actually, my view is that as soon as anyone in any profession grows overconfident, it’s the start of that person’s downfall. The ancient Greeks were right – we must guard against complacency (hubris). I’m still always learning from my students, National Geographic, the Science section of The NY Times, museum exhibits, The History Channel, etc.

What is the one thing you wish you’d known when you started your teaching career?
I’ll just relate the sage advice of a retiring veteran homebound teacher fondly known as Bamby. At the annual end of June luncheon, Bamby was called to the microphone to deliver a few parting gems of wisdom. Perhaps he would reflect upon the meaning of his 35 years in the program. As Bamby cleared his throat, we all attentively leaned forward. His gaze met ours. Then Bamby uttered his immortal final words as a Home Instruction teacher: “In the winter, park in the sun. And in the summer, park in the shade. I’m moving South tomorrow. Bye.”

Never Crush Anyone's Dreams

I never dreamed of being a college professor. Does anybody?

In fact, I always gave my teachers fits in school, as evidenced by grade school report cards:

- Second Grade: Improvement needed in self control

- Fourth Grade: Perry needs to exert more self control

- Sixth Grade: Perry needs to exercise better self control

As a little kid, I dreamed about playing professional basketball. I played and played for hours. In third grade, we had to write an essay on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wrote that I wanted to be 6’10” and play in Madison Square Garden. When the teacher handed back my paper, she laughed out loud and said “You can’t do that!” That was the first time someone had crushed my professional dream.

Why would a teacher be so unthinking? She may have been right about the 6’10” part, but this molder of young minds lacked the understanding of what negative reinforcement can do to little kids. She also lacked the understanding that height isn’t everything for a basketball player. Teachers, especially in the impressionable K-12 years, are my personal heroes. But they need to be dream builders, not dream destroyers. It’s healthy to discuss rational backup career plans, but why spoil youthful exuberance which could flower into the unexpected?

Take Away: Your words can stay with a student for his or her entire life.

Note: That's me at age 25, playing basketball with former NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Mark Eaton (7'4" center for the Utah Jazz)

© 2009 Perry Binder, J.D. This article contains excerpts from my book:

Unlocking Your Rubber Room: 44 Off-the-Wall Lessons to Lighten and Transform Everyday Life http://www.yourrubberroom.com/

What qualities make a great teacher?

Reader comments from Minnesota Public Radio.

My favorite: Never-ending understanding. Non-judgmental. Accepting. Encouraging. Inspiring. Dedicated. Driven. Knowledgeable not only in subject matter but life lessons as well. Has desire to continue learning. Levelheaded. Ability to see from any angle needed. Patient.

Continue reading...
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/todays-question/archive/2010/04/in-your-view-what-qualities-make-a-great-teacher.shtml

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SPEAKING OF GREAT TEACHERS:
TAFFEL TALKS KINDERGARTEN BLOG
Here is the blog of Arleen Taffel, an inspirational teacher for 40 years who recently passed away.
http://mtbethel.blogs.com/taffel/
A kindergarten teacher for 40 years, including 30 memorable years at Mt. Bethel Elementary School in Marietta, Georgia, Arleen taught up until nearly her last day and will always be remembered for her love of teaching. She will forever serve as an enduring inspiration for the countless children, parents and teachers whose lives she touched.

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Here's some...
GOOD NEWS -- UPDATE ON MARSH FORK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Thanks to a generous $2.5 million grant from the Annenberg Foundation, the long march for a new elementary school for children in the besieged Coal River Valley hamlet of Sundial, West Virginia, has come to an end: A new school will now be built in a different location. ...
Along with the Annenberg funds and a gift from the Coal River Mountain Watch, the school also received commitments of $2.6 million from the West Virginia School Building Authority, and $1.5 million from the Raleigh County Board of Education and Massey Energy, which is responsible for the whole mess of coal dust and the dangerous coal slurry impoundment.

Continue reading...
Goodbye Massey Coal Dust: Welcome to the Ed Wiley Elementary School!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/goodbye-massey-coal-dust_b_559167.html

See my posting

Thursday, March 25, 2010
Move Elementary School out of Harm's Way

This is a follow up to my Saturday, January 23, 2010 post

I follow the Marsh Fork/Massey coal issue very closely -- in April, there will be a school board vote on needed funds to move this school.
In West Virginia, the Marsh Fork elementary school sits 400 yards downstream from a dam holding back billions of gallons of water/coal sludge. The West Virginia government has refused to build a new elementary school in a safer location. The community, afraid for its children's lives, began the organization Pennies of Promise to raise the funds themselves. In April 2010, the school board will vote on funding for a new school. Are you willing to lend your voice to support these kids?

My students have joined the Facebook page below, and I am reaching out to other schools in an effort to elevate media awareness and the importance of a new school.

The "Pennies of Promise" Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2256931294