Stories I Told: Link to my podcast (it's on the right)

I taught middle school for 30 years.  I discovered early on that the job was much more than teaching mathematical equations or subject/verb agreement.  Middle school is a time when students start to develop ideas and accompanying actions based more on what they experience than what they are told.  For instance, students have been told not to lie every year and can repeat reasons without thinking about it.  So, why do they still lie?  It’s because they really don’t think it’s wrong.  Oh, they will tell you it’s wrong, but actions do speak louder than words.  They have seen adults tell them one thing while modeling different behaviors.  I’ll never forget my father telling me he would kill me if I ever smoked as he lit one cigarette from the last.  Telling students they are only cheating themselves when they cheat sounds good, but in reality if cheating gets someone praise instead of punishment, it’s hard to see it as cheating oneself.  Getting caught cheating is a different matter, but let’s hope the lesson is not just to cheat more carefully.  The point is I discovered I had an opportunity to help my students decide how to act.  While I did not feel it my place to direct students down a particular path, I did feel comfortable making them examine issues in greater depth than usually they had before.  The vehicle I used for this examination was my own life experience.  I tried to make most of the time in my class entertaining whether I was teaching integer operations or telling a life story.  Of course, I hoped the stories would lead students to consider their own decision-making in a new way and help them realize the power they had to both improve and harm the folks they shared class with.

I divided the stories into 7 categories with three stories in each. 

Limits: We are what we will allow.

Self-efficacy: Grab your end and let’s get this done!

Trials:  Some pains never end.

Lessons:  Seize the day, but know how hard to hold.

Changes:  Painful and worth it!

Warnings:  What I feel strongest about.

Peace:  Slow down there, Turbo!

I will begin with one of my favorite stories about my mother, a little old lady schoolteacher who died much too young at age 56 over thirty years ago.  Probably like many readers, I was sure my mother couldn’t possibly surprise me.  But she did.