early childhood education
Opportunity: Then and Now Rick Townsend, WMEA State Chair, Early Childhood Education
It was my first year as a teacher. I was in northern Michi- gan, and every noon I would drive six miles from Grayling High School to a small, consolidated elementary school in Frederic. There,
I would teach the fifth and sixth grade bands, before returning eight miles to the Grayling elementary and middle schools to teach beginning and junior high bands. It was easier than it sounds.
That entire first year of teaching was special, but one group, the six students in the Frederic fifth grade band, was a particularly memorable group. These six players moved so fast through the begin- ning book, and with such an enthusiastic spirit, that 40 years later I still think of them as extraordinary. They were my only beginning band ever to complete the entire 72-page Silver Burdette Beginning Band Method.
But they weren’t perfect. Like most begin- ners, periodically someone would reply, “I just can’t – (fill in the blank).” It might have been a clarinet bridge crossing, a high note on the trumpet, an awkward fingering, or a rhythm. For fifth graders everything about band is a new challenge.
Like most teachers, I try to teach beyond the formal curriculum in ways that might have lifelong positive impact on my stu- dent’s lives. I decided that this would be a perfect opportunity to teach these begin- ners a lesson in perseverance and hope.
Practical Pointers 10
Whenever one of the kids would say, “I can’t…” I would reply, “Remember to finish your sentence.” They soon learned to add “yet” to the end of their can’t sen- tences. Eventually, the lesson took hold, and by the end of the school year, I would typically hear:
I can’t get this bridge crossing – yet. I can’t play that high note – yet. I can’t figure out that rhythm – yet.
My year was a success.
The next year rolled around, and I soon found myself back in Frederic, ready to teach this same group of students as sixth graders. I looked forward to seeing them on the first day of school, but as they came down the stairs into the band area, dark clouds came with them. Rather than hearing the chipper, enthusiastic sounds that I had come to expect from this group, I heard something else:
This stinks!
She’s going to ruin our year! She’s mean! I can’t stand her!
I’m going to hate school this year!
Their beloved fifth grade teacher had been replaced by a new sixth grade teacher. And they did not like her. “She’s a BAD per- son!” exclaimed a normally quiet young clarinet player named Julie as they settled into their chairs.
I had already wondered what new opportu- nity I might have to teach a sixth grade life lesson to these children, so I was ready for this. Sensing the perfect opening, I replied in my most patronizing voice, “We can
always find good qualities in anyone – even your new teacher. Nobody is ALL bad.” And with a sense of great satisfac- tion, I readied myself to begin the lesson. Until I saw Julie’s determined hand shoot straight up into the air.
Yes, Julie? I asked.
She’s not ALL bad – YET! exclaimed Julie.
Point, game, match. I would look for an- other opportunity on another day.
The old two-story brick schoolhouse is gone, replaced by a modern elementary school. And after all these years, the stu- dents from those Grayling/Frederic bands have found me on Facebook. They upload photos of our band camps, scan in old newspaper clippings and photos of the marching band – and of one another. And we try to remember all the names. They talk about having a reunion, which I will move heaven and earth to attend if I can.
Transformation: Education’s Greatest Opportunity Forty years of teaching have changed my personal teacher-student interactions very little, but new forces are transforming the broader educational landscape very rapidly. This is our new opportunity. Brick and mortar is losing ground to the World Wide Web and to a host of new online learning options. Yesterday it was 8-tracks, cassette decks, CD players, and MIDI. Today it is the race for compet- ing protocols in Internet-based learning systems. In very real ways, educational
Continued on page 12 ~ Rick Townsend
Compliments are nice to receive, but as teachers, it helps to remember that when we receive a compliment, it is really a reflection of the person giving the compliment.
April 2012
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