I Learned More than I Taught

Many of you know that I wrote a novel and published it.  Some of you actually read it.  It doesn't matter to me that it will never get wide recognition because finishing it and following through with the whole process gave me such a great feeling of accomplishment.

That didn't stop me from writing; in fact, I started another book.  It was going to be a type of memoir of the times in my teaching career that I learned from my students and colleagues.  In this second of my series of blogs, I confess that a blog makes more sense.  So the first thing that I will share is the name of the book "I Learned More than I Taught."

That title has been lingering in my head a long time.  I remember when I was in my first year of teaching high school English.  I was teamed with a social studies and science teacher.  We were assigned the 90 juniors and seniors who were behind in credits and were less than motivated.  I realized that this assignment was one that I couldn't really screw up, because no one else had been successful with these students.

It was Orville Schlatter, the social studies teacher, who steered my career in the right direction when he took me aside when I was struggling with the apathy and non-compliance.  I envied his relationship and success with these students, but I couldn't figure out how to duplicate it.  His message was simple - "take the time to learn from them."

I remember being perplexed.  It seemed too simple.  But he was right!  After years of listening to what students say (and don't say), I know that I have learned so much from them.  As a result, I feel comfortable with the fact that I reached them.

A focus of our school year in Fort Wayne Community Schools is building culture.  Maybe one idea I would suggest is that we learn as much as we can from the students as we can.  Thanks Orv!