Entry 612: A Quarter Century

Well here I sit on the eve of the start of my 25th year of teaching.  I remember back all the way to 1993 when I began my career at Howard County R-III Schools in Glasgow, Missouri.  I was hired to be a BD teacher for all students in grades K-12.  I signed my first contract for a whopping $18,000 and I thought I had struck it rich.  I taught there for three years and it was trial by fire (the highlight was a student bringing a knife to school in his boot).  After Glasgow, my next stop was Kirksville, Missouri where I was a grades 6-8 special services teacher.  There was a little controversy there because I was originally hired to be a K-5 special services teacher, but two days before school started up I was reassigned to the 6-8 building.  I remember the elementary school was not very happy about that.  I was in Kirksville for four years and that brought me to my last spot; Liberty, Missouri.  Throughout my teaching career I have had many highs and lows:

• I have been recognized numerous times for things that I have accomplished in my career.  I was one of the Northland Chamber of Commerce Excellence in Teaching award winners, a finalist for the Time Warner Cable Crystal Apple award, been written up in many articles for the work I have done, run the best middle school broadcasting department in the state of Missouri, and have been lucky enough to receive grants to further the things I could do with students.
• I have met many great people and unfortunately lost many great people at the same time.  I have been lucky enough to meet and marry my best friend, Julie, during this time.  She is by far the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.  I also lost one of the most important people in my life during that time: my mom.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of her, but I also remember how my DMS teaching family rallied around me and made me feel so loved.
• I have been reminded that teaching is just a job and that I also need to take time for me.  2003 was a difficult year for me because I had a pretty big medical problem.  The summer of 2002 I was diagnosed with a heart issue and was scheduled to have open heart surgery to fix it.  I am going to make a long story short and say that in the end I was told that I was going to die if I had the operation, but at the same time if I didn't have the operation I would die.  The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota saved my life and made me a much humbler person.  Whenever I think I have something bad I will always remember seeing the little girl in the elevator going through cancer treatments. I would see her quite frequently and she would always have a smile on her face.

I know this is a longer post, but there are a few people that I would like to blog about that made a big difference in my career:

• My mom.  She was the reason that I got into teaching.  She was a teacher for over 30 years and she absolutely loved her job.  She was respected and loved by her students and fellow teachers and I remember wanting to be just like her.  I remember telling her all the things I was doing and how proud she was, but she always reminded me to keep pushing myself to become better and never settle.
• Sallee McAnelly:  she was my mentor for my first two years of teaching and she was so patient with me.  Not many people would have been as patient as she was with a 22 year old kid who thought they knew everything.
• Greg Langston:  he was my sounding board when I was in Kirksville.  He was the high school BD teacher and we would frequently sit down and bounce ideas off of each other.  Plus I think we kept each other sane.
• Scott Carr:  he gave me the chance to start my career in Liberty.  He and I still laugh about my interview because as he was walking me through the school I had to actually step out and take a call from my school because they had a student out of control and they had no idea how to calm him down.  I am told that is one of the big reasons I was hired.
• Dee Wynne:  she taught me humility.  When I came to Liberty I was a very arrogant person and Dee in her patient way taught me that I needed to be a part of a team in order to make an even bigger difference.
• Brad Armstrong:  this was the first person that entrusted me to be a department chair of a special services department.  I didn't think that I was ready, but he encouraged me and for that I am truly grateful because he caused me to get out of my comfort zone.
• My wife:  she is an extremely patient person that allows me to spend the time needed to make all of my crazy ideas come true.  She truly is my soulmate and best friend.
• Eric Langhorst:  I refer to this man as my Yoda.  He caused me to rethink everything I thought I knew about education.  He showed me how technology could be used in the classroom to make learning more meaningful.  This man took me along on his crazy ideas and without his innovative ways I wouldn't be where I'm at today.  Thankfully I never joined him on his buffalo chips idea though.

I know I have forgotten quite a few people that I have met along the way, but I could be writing this entry forever.  Tomorrow is the start of year 25 and hopefully it will be as meaningful as the past 24 years.