Mrs. Brennen, first grade.

Mrs. Airey, second grade.

Mrs. Mooney, third grade.

Mrs. Torp, fourth grade.

Mrs. Swenson, fifth grade.

Mrs. Long, sixth grade.

These were my elementary school teachers. I may be spelling their names wrong but their memories have lasted for around 50 years. Why do I remember them? Let’s see: Mrs. Brennen pushed me out of line in first grade after sweetly asking me what I was doing standing in the wrong place. Mrs. Long came over to my home to support my parents’ lecture to me after I was caught shoplifting at a neighborhood drug store. It was Mrs. Torp, however, my fourth grade teacher, who left the greatest impression on me. She inspired me to be a teacher. It was because of her firm but sensitive handling of her classroom that I knew, at ten years old, teaching is what I wanted to do.

In my subsequent career as an elementary school teacher, I tried to recall the lessons of my former teachers. Some of their teachings I tried to replicate, some I made sure to avoid. I never pushed anyone. Most of all, I tried to inspire my students to become humane, to challenge their thinking, and to love to learn.

I don’t know if I’ve left a legacy with any of my former students; I hope I have. I realize that the inspiration of teachers in younger grades may be dwarfed by the more recent memories of students’ high school teachers. Yet, I’d like to think that those of us who teach younger students do plant seeds, seeds that grow into healthy plants, thriving because of our early contact.

In a recent article in The New York Times, NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF writes about just such an impact in HOW MRS. GRADY TRANSFORMED OLLY NEAL. Read the article and then follow the links to his blog comments. Teachers have made impacts on many lives, as demonstrated by the memories touched by this article.

Do you recall teachers whose impact on you remains to this day? Have you received feedback from any of your former students commenting on your impact on them? Please let us know your thoughts and experiences.

A bus driver named Dennis Stricker has discovered not only how to provide a safe ride, but how to keep his passengers (students) engaged by playing a trivia game with them. Sue Powell, principal at Garlough Elementary in West St. Paul, Minnesota claims, “The students who ride Sticker’s bus arrive at school excited and ready to learn. It sets the tone for the students’ day.”

If all students arrived at school ready to learn like those on Mr. Sticker’s bus, student achievement would certainly rise. While we are constantly looking at new ways to improve student achievement, it might behoove us to take a look at how we might begin the students’ day not when they enter the school, but when they board the bus.

To read the article on how Dennis Sticker helps prepare students for school please go to:

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_19619252

Note the article below. A local teacher wins a prize for his quality teaching. Now read the comments (comments, by the way, that were written just two hours after the posting). Some of them are congratulatory, some are critical of teachers, and some are critical of the critical (which, existentially, is what I am being right now…).

It bugs me when people turn a positive announcement into a platform for their sociological or political views. It bugs me when people are uncivil to each other when they are commenting on positive stories….or negative stories, for that matter. Maybe that’s what I’m really bugged about: how uncivil people seem to have become because they are filtered by the anonymity of the internet.

So, within two hours of this posting comments such as these appear. Are the writers sitting at their computers just waiting for stories to appear so they can attack them? Would someone please enlighten me as to what this is all about? I’m eager to understand what drives people to do this.

By the way, congrats to the teacher. He sounds like a cool guy.

Middle school math teacher wins $25,000

Seth Brown, a math teacher at Wayzata West Middle School, won a $25,000 educator award in a surprise ceremony at the school Monday morning.

The award was presented in the school gym, where fellow teachers and students cheered and clapped as Brown’s jaw dropped as his name was announced. He was quickly mobbed by students.

“What an honor. This is awesome,” he said.

Brown, 31, is a graduate of St. John’s University and has taught in Wayzata schools for his entire10-year career. He is known for his innovative teaching and use of technology in the classroom, including iPods. He said he decided to teach math because it is one of the subjects a lot of students have trouble with.

“I ask a lot of questions,” he said. “It’s not really instructing; it’s a lot of inquiry. We talk about what students might need to solve a problem and how to do it differently.”

Brown said he will use the $25,000 to help pay for graduate school and will give a gift to the middle school’s PTA, which supported his iPod project by buying a couple of the devices.

The unrestricted award is from the Milken Family Foundation of Santa Monica, Calif., which has distributed more than $63 million in cash to more than 2,500 teachers over the past 24 years.

Often called “the Oscars of teaching,” the Milken Awards were developed in 1987 to recognize outstanding teachers and encourage young people to enter the profession.

Mary Jane Smetanka, MPLS StarTribune 10/10/11

What does he teach?! Just a little short on actual information, Strib. Great he is being recognized, but it would a story if there was some actual substance…

Thank you, Seth Brown, for the lives you’ve touched and transformed. So glad to see good teachers rewarded.

Congratulations Seth, now the jealousy will start. Most teachers feel that everyone should be paid the same, I disagree, some are simply better than others and deserve a bonus!

Read the first line of the story. “Seth Brown, a math teacher at Wayzata West Middle School, won a $25,000 educator award in a surprise ceremony at the school Monday morning.”

In the first sentence it states Brown is a math teacher. (Maybe the article was updated since you pointed out the missing info?)

I’ve watched him in action and agree this is a good choice. He is one of many Wayzata K-12 teachers who could have won this award. Its not so difficult to support schools when you are supporting teachers like this. (Math, silly, second word after his name in the body of the article. Read more than headlines, please)

“Most teachers feel that everyone should be paid the same” How do you know this? Are you a teacher? Didn’t think so.

Do bad teachers get money taken away?

Weird, it takes a private sector foundation to reward good teachers… Can we learn something from this? Not according to the unions…Top of Form

Congratulations to him. Maybe now he can afford to live in Wayzata as well as teach there.

…maybe you missed the first sentence of the article? It says he teaches math.

Good for him, He probably deserves, does he deserve it more than other teaches that have dedicated their lives to our children?? Probably not!! But what kills me here is that he seriously he gets recognition for the IPod use?? Now he is going to purchase some for the PTA… That’s amazing (sarcasm). I personally would love the slap the IPad, IPod, Cell Phones and etc… out of these young kids hands.. They seriously do not even know how to communicate these days with out them. My neighbor kid of 2 houses away sends me text messages to see if he can come and swim in my pool… Cannot even walk two houses to ask. Then when he is at the pool he sits on the side and texts his friends. Then actually texts me in the house to if he can have some more friends come over to hang out…

He should be tested for performance enhancers immediately.

I’m sure he absolutely deserves this award but, does anyone know the statistics of the recipients of these awards? Are the majority of teachers from inner city schools or rural areas where there are no funds for each student to possess an iPod? If the situation is what I think it is (where a district like Wayzata would probably have a budget that can include iPods), then it’ll be nice to see a teacher be awarded from a school district where fancy resources are out of the question. BUT, nonetheless, I’m sure Mr. Brown is very deserving of the reward.

You people leaving a thumbs down on my post do yourself a favor and next time you are in the supermarket, grocery store, anywhere look around you and count how many kids are on a phone, Ipod, texting, tweeting (i am at grocery store with mom) etc…. Better yet it is probably easier to count the kids that are not on these…. Then again these are probaly your kids and you do not mind because then they are not bugging you for something..

Yes I was a teacher for many years and I have been a school board member. Some teachers support bonus pay, others prefer that everyone is paid the same, mostly die-hard union members. My comment was meant to be pro-change on the salary front for teachers. Reward them if they go out there way to teach and improve education. Some teachers beat the kids out the door at 3:15 and how do I know that, I watched it out my classroom windown happen every day!

Good teachers seek to understand how kids think, what motivates and inspires them, and how to meet kids where they are and help them improve. We can debate whether iPod’s and iPhone’s are beneficial to society or not, and I tend to agree with you that they often are not. That doesn’t change the fact that these devices are very influential in kids lives, and a good teacher will understand that influence and use it to his or her advantage, not just scold kids and “slap them out of these young kids hands.”

Do you think this plan is a sound idea? Does the district have a responsibility to fund schools based on their needs? If this plan is followed through, my guess is there will be quite a few upset parents who want what is best for their children. Is this still a responsible decision for the district to make?

Although my knowledge of school policy is limited, I do believe that children deserve an equal start in life or an education that is comparable to other children.

As a former St. Paul teacher, I was always amazed at the inequities that exist between the district’s schools and these inequities pale between the differences between district to district and between state to state. Children in our country do not have access to an equal education. These inequities go back to the time of our Constitution, which did not include education and therefore is a power reserved for the states. Wealthier districts have a greater tax base to support education than poorer districts and if a financially secure neighborhood wants their school to have something new, they can often find ways to raise the money that are not possible in a poorer district.

Will the St. Paul School District decision help to provide greater equity between schools and is this a decision that should not only be made in St. Paul, but a decision that should be made nationwide?

Please offer any insights or opinions you have regarding this decision.

Those of us who work in schools are surrounded by colleagues every day. We often see these people day in and day out for years. For some of us, these work-friends become our social life. For others, they remain only acquaintances, distant though familiar. A few of us may even work with school personnel who become combatants, enemies who cause us stress and grief.

How many of you see the same people each day for years, maybe even decades? Do you know them well? Are they friends, acquaintances or enemies? Perhaps there are ways to enhance our working relationships while still preserving our boundaries (keeping our work and non-work lives separate).

Think about the people that you see each day. What would your work life be like if people made more of an effort to connect with each other? What would happen if people asked each other about their lives? Would people welcome an opportunity to talk about their aging parents, their new children, their health, TV, movies, music?

As we approach this new school year, consider making an effort to reach out to your colleagues. Make some kind of connection with those that you see each day. Bring someone a cup of coffee, tell someone a story, inquire about his or her life. See if it makes an impact on the quality of your year.

In June, we offered some summer suggestions for you. This month we want to offer some ideas for the upcoming school year. Our suggestions are not directly for your students, although we guarantee they will benefit from them!

The suggestions are for you. You deserve it! So take out your pen and write down which suggestions you will commit to and post them on your refrigerator. Go on! Get the pen! Now!

School Year Suggestions for Teachers from ChildSense:

1. Start your day with a healthy breakfast
2. Read for pleasure
3. Walk with a partner on a regular basis
4. Go out for coffee on Friday morning before work
5. Go for a monthly massage
6. Continue or establish an exercise routine
7. Get a good night sleep
8. Set a time to leave school at the end of the day and keep to it
9. Take time to eat a healthy lunch
10. Write daily affirmations of what you did well each day
11. Plan team meetings at a site away from school
12. Smile at your students and enjoy their company

Go ahead and write one more! Write one of your own that will help take care of you. We guarantee that if you take care of yourself you will reap the benefits and so will your students.

Have a wonderful school year.

Jeff and Jon

One myth we hear about a lot is the idea that a classroom community can be established quickly, especially through the use of some of the following other falsehoods. There is a myth that by using “tools and tricks,” teachers can create a commune-like environment were everyone likes each other and conflicts rarely occur. Some people think that to build such a classroom community, teachers need to possess dynamic personalities to maintain engagement and harmony throughout each day. It’s also untrue that to create a classroom community, students must be easy to manage and eager to learn. Unfortunately, many current classroom management programs promote the idea that by following these ideas and others, classroom community can be achieved.

We believe that building classroom community is a process that requires more than tricks and tools. To teach kids to take responsibility for themselves, for their learning, and for the learning of others involves the creation of a safe environment that promotes success for all students.

We invite readers to submit their own CLASSROOM COMMUNITY MYTHS and their ideas on how to create and foster effective CLASSROOM COMMUNITIES.

Here’s one actually worth watching.

Make sure you watch to the end.

Attacks on Teachers

Ten Summer Suggestions for Teachers from ChildSense:

1)   Read books for pleasure

2)   Find a walking partner and go on nice morning or evening walks

3)   Discover a new restaurant or hang out at a coffee shop

4)   Get a massage!

5)   Go to the farmers’ market or plant your own garden

6)   Try something new – find a new hobby

7)   Travel

8)   Get into a exercise routine

9)   Call some old friends you have lost touch with

10)  Get a good night sleep or sneak in an afternoon nap

As the summer moves along and you feel relaxed, begin slowly looking at next school year. Here are a few realistic ideas:

1)   Affirm what you do well

2)   Read a book or take a class on a topic you want to improve on as a teacher

3)   Set three goals for the school year

4)   Have coffee with a colleague to discuss teaching goals and problem-solve issues

Thank you for all the work you do with children. Have a wonderful summer.

Jeff and Jon
ChildSense

The Fathers’ Group was born of parents believing that there should be a place where dads can go to talk about themselves, especially to talk about their most important investments: their children. These brave men started to drop into our group sessions, often at the “gentle pushing” of their parenting partners. Many of them seemed surprised by how the hour meeting flew by and by the depth of the discussions. Therapy was not occurring, pressure was not put on anyone to share, but something unique was occurring for many of these dads.

It became evident to me that those of us who work in school settings and those parents who are able (or comfortable) to participate in school events are used to talking with others about issues related to children. While fathers are just as interested, forums for such discussions rarely exist for them; they are not naturally occurring in their work settings.

Our Fathers’ Group does not have a huge membership: some core attendees, some drop-in participants and even an occasional faculty or administrator parent. Our discussions remain rich and the feedback gives testimony to the value of giving fathers a place to connect.