Wednesday, May 31, 2006

A few words about teachers







When you enter the world of blogging, the first thing you learn is courtesy is almost non-existent.
When people disagree with you, they often do not believe it is enough to state the reasons for that disagreement. They also have to launch personal attacks. I accept that as part of the game, though I regret the lack of civility in the blogosphere. What should serve as a starting point for enlightened, even spirited discussion, usually turns into name-calling.
Again, I have accepted that. Usually if someone verbally attacks me, someone else will come on the site either to defend me or just to verbally attack the other person. It usually runs about 50-50.
I have no problem with some local journalists, both of the print and broadcast varieties, who denigrate my style of reporting and commentary, and take advantage of every opportunity to let me know. They can say whatever they want; I'm just happy they continue reading The Turner Report.
That being said, one of the commenters crossed the line earlier this week and I waited to say anything, hoping that someone else would pick up the sword and join the battle.
The comment was left on my post about the KSN crawl and its mixing of the story of the deaths of a soldier and two journalists in Iraq with the birth of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby. The commenter said:
"Maybe Randy could find something legitimate to do with his time instead of ragging on the REAL journalists in our area. You know what they say: those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach."
Readers did reply to the journalism portion of the comment and I appreciate their responses, but so far no one has responded to those last eight words, one of the most hideous and baseless sayings in the English language: Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach."
Everytime I read George Bernard Shaw's famous quote, or hear someone saying it, it angers me. It did long before I ever stepped foot in a classroom.
A good teacher could be a success in any field he or she chooses to try, but I don't know of any successful people who made it where they are without good teachers influencing them somewhere along the way.
I was fortunate in my schooling to have had good teachers in elementary, junior high and high school, and a few more in college. I hate to start naming names, because I will leave people out, but these people deserve the recognition. Unfortunately, many of them are no longer with us.
I was fortunate enough to have good teachers all through elementary school. We didn't have kindergarten at Midway, but I was lucky enough to have Mrs. Minnie Weems as my first and second grade teacher. I recently read that she is still hanging in there at age 93.
The rest of my elementary teachers were also skilled. Mrs. Nettie Cummins, Mrs. Sue Cole, Mrs. Irene Relf, and my teacher both for sixth grade and then later for English in seventh grade Mrs. Jean Rowe. No one who took Mrs. Rowe's class will ever forget how she brought "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" to life reading from the book with her pronounced Southern accent.
At East Newton High School, I was lucky enough to learn from Mr. Charles Goade, whom I had for two classes, world history and comparative political systems. Mr. Goade was an excellent basketball coach, but he was an even better classroom teacher.
Science was never my favorite class, but Mr. Bill Keith kept me interested for an entire year. He even turned me into a B student in his class by the end of the year.
My English III and English IV teacher, Mr. Don Bogle, selected me for the "Fife and Drum," East Newton's school newspaper, when I was a junior, and afforded me numerous opportunities to develop my creative writing skills in class.
I was lucky enough to have Mr. Burney Johnson as a teacher for three years, taking civics my freshman year, and Spanish I and II my junior and senior years. Though I was the recipient of several of his 1,000 word punishments my freshman year, there was never a time when I didn't know I was in the presence of an excellent teacher.
Perhaps the teacher who influenced me the most was Mrs. Janice Matthews, now Janice Johnson, who was my speech and drama teacher during my sophomore and junior years.
Up until my sophomore year, I was unable to pronounce words that began with the letters "th" and had the sound found in words like thick, thin, and Thursday. Mrs. Matthews took the time to put me with a speech therapist (it was the first year East Newton ever had one) and my problem quickly vanished.
Later that year, Mrs. Matthews decided that East Newton was going to put on its first musical, the old Cole Porter classic, "Anything Goes." I didn't mind the singing, but I was not looking forward to the dancing. She talked me into trying out for the play. When the musical tryouts were held, I sang one line and the music teacher with virtually the same cadence as Bette Davis, said, "This boy will not sing in this play."
And I didn't, but Mrs. Matthews still gave me the third biggest part in the play as Moonface Martin, Public Enemy No. 13, the comic relief. I didn't sing and my dancing was limited, but it was a big moment for me and it was all due to Mrs. Matthews.
The next year, she showed enough faith to try me in a dramatic role and that, too, was successful. Unfortunately, she was not there my senior year, but her influence continued. Becky Hildebrand and I took one of her favorite duet act selections, from Archibald McLeish's Pulitzer-Prize winning play, J. B. and qualified for the state speech tournament during the District Speech Tournament at SMS. The best thing about it, was despite the fact that Mrs. Matthews, who by this time was teaching at Kickapoo High School, was no longer our teacher, she was there to watch us. She told us, "You're not in my classroom any more, but you will always be my students."
Those words remain as clear to me now as when Mrs. Matthews said them 32 years ago and they are the words I told my students at South Middle School earlier this month, and have told my students at South and at Diamond Middle School each year since I began teaching.
When I did my student teaching in 1981 at Diamond, I was fortunate enough to have Mr. Randy Switzer as my supervising teacher. I still use some of what he taught me.
I was lucky enough at Diamond to work closely with a crew of eighth grade teachers who not only imparted information, but also took a genuine interest in their students. Mr. Grant Reed's projects made American history come alive and spent hours of his time tutoring students. Mrs. Renee Jones conveyed her love of literature and high expectations for proper grammar usage, and actually had her students writing novels as a classroom assignment. She also sponsored a Student Council which collected more than 1,500 books to stock the school's first library. Mrs. Nancy Berry not only taught math and algebra to her students, but also managed to show up for nearly all of their activities.
For the past three years, I have been fortunate enough to work with the faculty at South Middle School. In fact, I spent the last two days with most of them, attending a seminar at Joplin High School. These teachers are there because they care about the children and want them to succeed.
Let me just mention a few of those teachers:
-Mr. Rocky Biggers, who is in the class next to mine, not only teaches American History, but each year he works with his eighth graders on Project Citizen, which gets them involved in helping the community.
-Miss Sheri Medlock, the eighth grade reading teacher, has sponsored reading and creative writing clubs, without pay, to benefit her students.
-Mrs. Valerie Doerr, the math teacher, probably spends as much time tutoring students, and e-mailing and calling parents as any teacher I have ever seen. She takes every route possible to make sure her students succeed.
-Mr. Jason Weaver, whom I have assisted as quiz bowl sponsor for the last two years, takes students to Florida each spring break as part of a Living Classroom project. He also takes the time each year to write personalized letters to each of his students at the end of the school year. In the classroom, he makes world history come alive.
-Mrs. Linda Weaver- I don't know of any teacher in any school who fights to improve reading as much as Mrs. Weaver. Each year, she holds a successful reading promotion, and she fights to keep reading at the forefront of everything we do at South.
-Ms. Joyce Wall- The successes Mrs. Wall, a special education teacher, has had reaching troubled kids who could not be reached by any other teacher, is legendary at South.
I probably should go down the list and keep naming teachers, and I will apologize to those whose names I have left out, but the point has been made.
These are people who are not only successful teachers, but they could be successful (and many of them have been) at anything else they attempt.
I have been lucky to have been associated with excellent teachers for most of my half-century on this earth. Only someone who never paid attention to his teachers would actually believe that quote, "Those who can, do. Those who can't teach."
Those who can, do...and they owe it to those who teach.

(Photos: From top left, Mr. Burney Johnson, Mr. Bill Keith, Mr. Grant Reed, Mr. Rocky Biggers, Mrs. Linda Weaver, Miss Sheri Medlock)

15 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:08 PM

    I agree with Randy that the post regarding teachers was improper. Educators, like journalists, deserve additional respect. Rather than unjustly insult the entire teaching profession, the commenter should've said something like "Randy couldn't hack it as a journalist so he had to turn to a different career."
    I've never had Mr. Turner as a teacher so I can't speak to his ability as an educator. But his skill as a journalist is questionable judging from this blog. Yeah, he may have done it for a bunch of years, but if the peak of his career was being fired as editor of the Carthage Press he didn't attain much.

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  2. Anonymous11:09 PM

    Well said, Mr. Turner...

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  3. Anonymous3:34 AM

    I agree with you totally Randy, and I wish that the ones who always just want to slam you would just go away. I read this blog to hear about things the big three don't bother with reporting and I could really do without the stupid postings that have nothing to do with current events. Some of us are from bigger cities and we know what good news casts are like, these wannabes can cry and yell all day but they are not impressive and until the day they do a whole story, with sentences longer than 4 words, and get a few reporters that don't look and talk like they should be arrested by the fashion police I will not watch local news tv.

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  4. Anonymous4:56 AM

    Randy Turner:

    One year experience, thirty-two times.

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  5. Anonymous6:23 AM

    Very well said Randy! I did not read the comment or I would have responded to that one! My grandmother was a teacher for 32 years....It takes a special person to teach know-it-alls (and I was one of those know-it-alls@!) that long! We all are at some point!

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  6. Anonymous12:53 PM

    Debra LaFave, Pamela Rogers, Sarah Suzanne Bench-Salorio, Stephen George Kennedy, Deanna Bobo, Margaret De Barraicua ... Shining stars of education.

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  7. That was cheap and easy (just like the people you mentioned). Those teachers' names only became known because they were so far from the norm, not because they were examples of it. That would be like judging all American soldiers by the actions of the ones at Abu Gharib.

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  8. Anonymous2:33 PM

    I'm merely pointing out that teaching, journalism, policing, etc., aren't always practiced by the most noble of individuals. Teachers aren't some saintly band of martyrs who forgo riches and fame to sculpt the minds of tomorrow's leaders. A lot of them are lazy dullards looking for a job with summers off. There are many good teachers, few great ones, some that are just plain awful and too many average ones.

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  9. Anonymous9:33 AM

    Unfortunately for Turner, he falls into the "awful" category that you just described. He likes to complain that people usually resort to name calling and negative comments on this site when they are simply stating their opinion. My opinion and many others who know him is that he is incompetent as he has proven after being fired from nearly job he has ever had. His evaluations were bad when he "taught" at Diamond and I suspect not much better now. He is gutless and takes shots at others after he leaves the district but from what I hear Mrs. Bridges will make his life a "living hell" when she enters the district. Guess Dr. Simpson will find out first hand what a sorry hire you were.

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  10. As someone who actually HAD Mr. Turner for a teacher (and how many of you naysayers fall under that category, giving you room to judge his abilities? oh yeah, that's right...), he has plenty of space to speak. Ask anyone who was in his class and they'll tell you he was a fantastic teacher.

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  11. Anonymous10:30 AM

    Hey,anonymous,if-your-head-wasn't-so-far-up-your-butt-maybe-you-could-see-the-effort-he-puts-into-his-teaching,his-writing,and-his-life.
    Go-do-something-with-yours.

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  12. Anonymous3:14 PM

    Randy's students from both Diamond and Joplin would attest that he is an incredible teacher, not just because he teaches them to value and share their opinions and thoughts through written expression, but because every student in his class knows that while in Mr. Turner's room, they are respected and will be pushed to succeed. That can't be said of every teacher to the degree that Randy's students can say it of him. The staff at Diamond (several of whom I've met) along with the staff at South (of which I'm proud to be apart) would echo that he is a valuable asset to the most important part of our schools...our students. This is evident in the hours before school Mr. Turner puts in maintaining this and several other blogs because, quite respectfully, he doesn't expect his students to write daily if he's not willing to do it himself. Also, you can see it from the hours afterschool he works with students sponsoring a journalism club which encourages students of all backgrounds to question their environment and learn through investigation and reflection.

    I teach students the lessons of history. One of the most important that I instill from day one it that a person must always have respect--respect for others and for oneself. I know that this is important for students to see if they are to become successful and worthwhile human beings.

    My students know I also am fond of sharing the words of others to encourage them to think, like these of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well." In my classroom, I would ask students what such a statement implies about respect due others, what it might have to do with them and what advice it offers that a person might use to better him/herself. My question to you is simply, among all the comments you anonymously write, can this be said of you?

    And, Randy, if no others respond, let me share my personal thoughts: I read as you did, became angry as you did, then thought of all the things I might right back. I thought of the potshots I could take, the cliches I could return (afterall, teaching is the profession that creates all others). I thought of countering the challenge by demonstrating that, like several others in our building alone, I could easily find hosts of other positions and professions more financially or politically rewarding because I am easily qualified, but still I chose teaching. I finallly settled myself though with the realization that I've tried to impress upon my students in many cases when they've been faced with unwarrented, heated critisism: your sense of value and worth comes from within. There are those who would make you think their impression of you is important enough that you should take their critisism to heart. While there is value in taking steps to always become a better person; not everyone who offers that critisism is a valid source. The students who you reach each school year know better. Whose opinion is more creible and valuable, theirs or the "anonymous" bloggers who blast you and other teachers then steal away into cyberspace? Not all teachers are great. Not all students can say they've had a teacher who made a difference to them or really cared about them. Fortunately for your students, they can.

    Signed (taking ownership of my opinions and thoughts without being ashamed or uncertain as the students in Mr. Turner's classes are taught),
    Jason

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  13. Anonymous7:59 PM

    Was this this Grant Reed the one who went to Liberal school and lived in Iantha at one time? Always wondered what happened to him. Wonderful to see he has achieved so much as a teacher. Amen to ALL teachers - it's not an easy job.

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  14. Anonymous12:29 PM

    Having been a student at South, I can honestly say that Mr. Turner is by far, one of the best teachers that I have yet to come across. Before I stepped into his classroom, I had no idea what I would possiby want to do with my life. While in his class, he showed me the passion that i've always had for writing but, had never been able to see. Mr. Turner taught me to be a better writer. As I walk into the Joplin high school as a freshman next year, I know what I want to do with my life and that was possible with the help of Mr. Turner. I have no place to argue whether he was a skilled journalist or not, but, in order to counteract the rude comment made to him earlier, I will simply say thank you.

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  15. Anonymous8:49 AM

    I was only in South Middle School for two years, better yet I've only been in Joplin for two years, but that's a different story. I'm going to try to make this as smart as I can, because a lot of teachers have left terrific comments in full sentences and paragraphs, and they don't use internet slang lol like I just did. Hey at least I try, which is hard to say for most students, but then there are a lot of students, and I hope I'm one of them who respect students, and teachers, because I could never do what almost all the teachers at South do everyday, Mr. Weaver takes time out of his already busy schedule to make World History fun, easy to understand, and to learn. He does after school activites as well, almost to many to mention, and he talks, and understands us and listens to our problems, he and other teachers were more than teachers they were friends. Mr. Biggers does Student Concil, and Project Citizen which I went to, and got state with 1st period, I would have never got to have the experience of something so great with out him. Mr. Turner takes time away from his life as much as the other teachers to find intresting things to write about, some of the topics were so fun, interesting, many things I would never even dream about writing about at my old school. Ms. Medlock takes time out of her schedule to again have after school activies, and shares her love of reading with students, and picks wonderful books to read, some I didn't agree with, mostly because they dealt with issues that I care a lot about, and had to take different sides of the matter, which I didn't like either, but I still gotta learn to be open minded. Mrs Doerr, oh I've always hated math, oh I hated it so much, and at the first open house she told all her students that she was going to be hard, and work us everyday, I thought oh great, the first class I'm going to fail in my life, got an A in that class almost every quarter, because she was tough, and worked the whole hour, and really believed in me, that I could finally get math, and learn it, and better yet understand it. Mr. Barnes, I had him for the full two years, and had the greatest time, learning how to play different instrments, and learning the internation language of music is awesome to begin with, but as much as he worked to make our band the best, he still listened to us, and talked to us like he'd know us all his life, he cared as many other teachers did about our problems. And again he took his time, and money to make his class more enjoyable. Mr. Wallace,Mrs. Weaver,Coach Clark I missed him this year,Mrs. Chariez,Mrs. Mense,Ms. Wall, I think that's all of you people lol, geeze I did it again with the internet slang. So, I guess the whole point of this comment really is that of other comments by many people, that teachers are some of the most important people in the world, really, and I even agree with a lot of students that some aren't the best teachers ever, and these teachers, and other teachers take your criticism, and still have the heart to teach you, and try to help you succssed in everyting you do in your life not because they're getting payed, not because they have to, it's because they want to, not because of the breaks they get during the summer. Anonymous has the right to his/her opinion, and they had the right to say it, I'm just crushed they feel that way about teachers. And, I'm stateing my opinion on how I feel just as everyone else, these people have made a difference in my life and I'll never forget that, well that's all I have to say, wish me luck in High School teachers, I'm going to need it, but I think your teaching has taught me well. So, in conclusion Those who can, do, Those who have already done, teach those who haven't yet. Yeah, that probably didn't make any since at all lol dang it, not again, I need to work on that.

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