by Dr. Larry Moses
No one asked me but…. There are six real teachers leaving Moapa Valley High School this year. Mary Bulloch will be going into town to take a similar position in a larger high school in Las Vegas. She is the teacher who put together the award winning foods program at the high school. Sherry Whitney, a long time teacher at the high school, will be retiring. Sherry is one of the best teachers I was ever associated with. Not only was she great academically with all levels of students, but she is just one fine person for students to be around.
Joyce Olsen is an excellent math teacher who will be hard to replace. She taught many of the upper level math classes and was a true professional. Rita Brinker who taught upper level computers, physics and chemistry has decided to retire. Rita has been an integral part of the Moapa Valley High School programs. She is a very bright teacher who will be truly missed.
I had the opportunity to watch Jennifer Messina develop into one of the best art teachers I have had the privilege of working with. Jennifer, also, did the year book and photo classes. Her student’s art work is displayed throughout the school and one of my son’s paintings, done in her class, is in my office. Jennifer is an artist in her own right who has ceramics on sale in stores as far away as Ely, Nevada.
Harold Tusler was one of the best teachers, period. ‘Tus’ had already retired from a Montana school district and I count his decision to take a full time position, rather than just substituting, as one of the coups of my administrative career. Not only was Tuss a great English teacher, but he also revived a once great Speech and Debate program for the school. His teams took on all comers at all levels and won many a trophy for the school.
Librarian Charles Bossard has decided to call it a day. Charles’s library was always well run and a place where a student could always get help. Sandee Marshall, who was the banker when I was at MVHS, is also calling it quits. I understand she will be moving to St. George to be near her children Sandee was there when I arrived and after I left. I have no idea how many years she worked but it seems like she was always there and the school will miss her.
Reflecting on the loss of these teachers got me thinking about what I had learned about Real Teachers over the years. Some of these thoughts came from an old mimeographed (yes mimeograph, remember those old purple things) document I have in my collection of educational topics. It was originally an attempt of Logan, New Mexico, teachers to define what makes up a real teacher. I have listed below some of their thoughts, thoughts I have collected from other teachers, and some thoughts of my own.
Real teachers grade papers on the bus, under hair driers, during commercials, in assemblies and most assuredly during faculty meetings. I was delivering a speech to student council advisors from all over the United States one July and a teacher was grading papers. I didn’t have the heart to tell her school had been out for two months. Grading papers for teachers is like doing knitting for grandmas.
Real teachers don’t volunteer to chaperone the dance but are picked by the kids anyway.
Real teachers have a disjointed neck from writing on the board while not turning their backs on the students.
Real teachers jump off their desk in symbolic suicide in March and then finish the year with a flourish.
Real teachers always react to the sound of a bell or buzzer but never stand by a door when classes are about to change.
Real teachers’ years begin in September and ends in June. January is merely the half way mark. I still pride myself on the fact that my mental calendar is still set on these benchmarks.
Real teachers can’t read a book without making marginal notes or read a magazine in the doctor’s office without tearing out a really neat article to reproduce for their kids.
Real Teachers could all be convicted of violating copyright laws in spite of those memos from administration; it’s amazing how quickly administrators forget the survival instincts of the classroom teacher.
Real teachers never sit without checking the chair.
Real teachers call their principal by his/her first name and hold him/her accountable when he/she forgets they and the staff are in this together. When I was the principal one day, I was feeling the faculty was not paying much attention to my wishes and challenging all my rulings from on high. So I put a sign on my door that said: “I am the Boss, that’s why!” When I came back from lunch, one of my real teachers had written on my sign, “Your wife called. She wants her sign back.”
Real teachers are never too busy to listen to a student. When I was student council advisor, I had a girl say, “You’re a guy.” That in itself was an interesting evaluation. “My boyfriend is going to be 18 years old next week and I would like to give him something nice for his birthday. What do you think he would like?” I told her, “Never mind what he would like, buy him a tie.”
Real teachers educate children. They don’t train them. Training is for dogs.
Real teachers know that some students learn by listening, some students learn by seeing, and some students have to touch the electric fence for themselves.
Real teachers have a problem walking past a group of kids without trying to place them in an orderly line.
Real teachers know that they will never be paid what they are worth or be given the money they need for supplies but they do the job anyway.
Real teachers have come to understand that everyone feels teachers are under-paid except during contract negotiation time.
Real teachers know that it is not the curriculum or special programs that make the difference. It is the person at the head of the classroom.
Real teachers know that all learning is a one on one effort no matter how many students are in the classroom.
Real teachers know that it does not matter what a student is supposed to know when they enter the classroom. What is important is what he/she knows when he/she leaves.
Real teachers know the fads of education will come and go, but the needs of the student stay the same.
Real teachers know that doctors bury their mistakes, lawyers send their mistakes to prison and teacher’s mistakes end up in the legislature passing education laws like No Child Left Behind.
As parents and community members, we can hope our youngsters have the privilege of being in the company of some real teachers throughout their educational careers. We can also hope the support personnel, up to and including the superintendent, realize they are support personnel for the real teacher and act accordingly.
There will be a retirement celebration for these Real Teachers on Tuesdayt, June 3. It will be held in the library at the high school at 6:30 pm. I plan to be there and hope to see a large number of people who have been affected by these real teachers and support staff.
Thought for the week… If we value independence, if we are disturbed by the growing conformity of knowledge, of values, of attitudes, which our present system induces, then we may wish to set up conditions of learning which make for uniqueness, for self-direction, and for self-initiated learning. -Carl Rogers.
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!
Comment on this story. Send a letter to the editor by email, click here: EMAIL US
