"Werewolves of London"

I first knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in elementary school.  My mother was a college professor at Dean College; and she would occasionally bring my brother and me to her office and classroom while she finished up her planning and grading.  I remember thinking it was so cool how neatly she wrote on the chalkboard, and so I would practice and practice writing on her chalkboard pretending to be a teacher.  Don't worry, this was not the sole reason why I wanted to become a teacher; it does go much deeper than that. 

I also would see students stop by to visit my mom and even in my young age, I observed how the students respected, trusted, and enjoyed my mom.  And she respected, trusted, and enjoyed them through their laughter and exchanges of empathy.  That is why I wanted to become a teacher--to teach, to support, to awaken, and to validate my students.

So when I started teaching in 1996 while in my early 20s, I believe I truly had the gift of starting my teaching career with a wonderful group of students.  I taught several freshmen classes (Class of 2000) and the way in which my teaching schedule fell each year, I ended up teaching some of the same students I taught that freshmen year a couple of times throughout their high school career.

Some of these students I taught and their friends were:  Shano, Tony, Cerne, Woody, Kristin K., Pedro, Sags, Mark, Lister, Mikey, Bradley, Sticks, Skippy, Mike P. to name a few...

Often as a teacher you look for "the thing" to connect with your students--for even a small connection can go a long way in developing your relationship with your students.  Sports, music, movies, and tv are always great topics to connect over--and since at the time I was only eight years older than most of my freshmen, I liked a lot of the same things they did. 

So I connected with Mike P. over the movie "Top Gun,"
I cheered on Tony at his wrestling matches,
I coached Kristin K. in soccer and Lister in soccer and softball,
Cerne and I owned the same make and model car (more about this in a future blog),
And for Shano, one thing we connected to was Warren Zevon's 1978 song "Werewolves of London."
Go figure, right? 

And when you connect with your students, often you will see an improvement in their motivation in academics, kindness towards others, and self-confidence.  I will contend that this group of students had those skills to begin with, but perhaps I was able to enhance some of those skills over the years.

We shared a lot of laughs over their four years of high school because humor is so important to have at this critical stage of adolescent growth.  We laughed over silly things like whenever Shane ate anything it would end up on his shirt, how gullible Kristin K. was, or how red Mark got when he was embarrassed. We laughed at the crazy stories from my first and second years of teaching.

And then there were hard times when we talked about some of their parents getting divorced, family illness, and even death.  I remember specifically when Woody's father passed away--his soccer team and many of his friends were so supportive.  I watched as these young people navigated one of the hardest life events--death of a loved one--and yet, they were so compassionate, caring, and loving with Woody. 

And so as the students came of age, I came into my own as a teacher.

One may notice that in this particular post that I'm not citing specific academic lessons from traditional classroom learning.  Of course, that did happen...however, quality student/teacher relationships aren't formed based on a vocabulary quiz or thesis paper.  A quote that I'm reminded of by the late poet Maya Angelou really sums up the importance of how we teach teenagers:  "People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did.  But people will never forget how you made them feel." My students most likely won't remember the specific assignments I gave them, but hopefully they will remember that I cared about them, wanted the best for them, and was willing to laugh and cry with them.

The truly amazing thing about teacher/student relationships like the ones I'm grateful to have forged is that they withstand the test of time.  A positive of social media like facebook is hearing from my former students about how they are doing today.   For some of my former students,  I have been able to serve as a job reference, attend their weddings, participate in their weddings, meet their children, and exchange day to day life stories.

Last spring Shane asked me to meet his girlfriend because he was going to propose to her in the near future.  He wanted me to meet her and give him my approval so to speak.  I couldn't have been more honored.  I first met Shane as a 14 year old freshman and to see him over twenty years later to meet his soon-to-be fiancée and him for dinner was such a gift.

Below is a pic from 2000 of Cerne, Patrick Scott (a fellow teacher), Shane, and me.

Then in 2016, reuniting with Shane to meet his now fiancé Giana.

Disclaimer:  To my former students and colleagues:  if I didn't mention you in this particular post, please note that I'm sure you will appear in a future one.  I have a lot of stories to share.  Also, please feel free to reply, message me or email me with any stories you remember that you would like me to share at eldykm@comcast.net