LSW 2006 - What I Learned In Lutheran Schools
She would let me sit at her desk and color a picture each morning when weepiness and that homesick feeling came over me....just a few minutes and then I was all right to return to my seat. That was 2nd grade, and what I learned from her helps me with younger students today.
He felt Nebraska was the greatest place on earth and told us lots of stories about growing up there on a farm. For a kid born and raised well within the city limits of Chicago, this was quite educational. Oh, and he didn't like chicken - had his fill of that on the farm, and I still remember this 40 years later...even though I can't recall what Diane asked me to pick up from the store on my way home tonight.
She kept various sized manila construction paper hearts in a box, and we had to color one black whenever we got into trouble - the bigger the sin, the bigger the heart we had to select... Not the best theology, but Lutheran Teachers aren't perfect. Besides, I always knew she loved us; she was my first Teacher, my first grade Teacher (no Kindergarten back then) and always one of my favorite Teachers!
He kept a large antique curio filled with stuffed birds in the front of the classroom - his hobby. My favorite was the owl - it's eyes followed me. It was great, and I had this Teacher for 3rd and 4th grades.
He would borrow a tiny black & white TV, and we watched all the early space shots, Alan Shepard, John Glenn.... "T-minus 3 minutes and holding" (for an hour and a half). He also taught us about computers - in 1966!, and I remember how badly I felt when I saw him selling shoes in a store at the mall one evening and realized his Teacher pay was inadequate. He taught me in 7th and 8th grades and was also my Principal.
She only had one hand but could play the piano and had the most beautiful handwriting in the whole world. On the chalkboard, too! And I had her for 5th and 6th grade.
Oh, and 20 years later I had supper with this former Teacher at a picnic table in our next door neighbor's back yard. My next door neighbor was the 1st grade Teacher on my staff at that time and the best friend of this Teacher with the beautiful handwriting. I couldn't get over how young she was! It is a small Lutheran world.
He taught us to weave baskets...made me wonder a bit how he viewed our future.
All my Lutheran Elementary School Teachers played the piano and organ...but still couldn't teach me how to sing!
He was my Lutheran High School Principal, and for four years I do not recall a time when he was not standing by the door at the end of the day smiling, bidding us goodbye and checking that we were taking books home. I don't believe he owned a sweater or sport coat, and I think he wore a suit even when mowing the lawn.
She wasn't my favorite teacher, but I finally learned the parts of a sentence in Junior year because she used the overhead projector with colored overlays! It made all the difference.
I figured him for about 110 years old when he taught me Geography at RF. He wrote textbooks used in both public and Lutheran schools, had a dormitory named after him, and was a most distinguished professor....but after Geography class he often took several guys from the football team over to the student center for milkshakes and to talk about the football team's chances for that year. He took me along even though I wasn't on the team; he liked vanilla shakes and so did I, especially when he was buying.
He made the chemistry room smell like rotten eggs, and I was impressed that he worked for a chemical company, a "real job," during the summer.
He probably talked to us more about the Track Team than anything else, but somehow I still learned a lot of geometry.
She was pretty, really pretty, and I'm glad I had her for a Teacher in the late 1960's when skirts were short.
He came into my classroom almost every day after school that first year, took a seat atop a student desk right in front of me, and asked: "What did you like about how things went today?" "What didn't you like?" "How can I help?" He was my first (and only) Principal; three years later he handed things over to me and went to the Sem. I've been a Lutheran Principal ever since.
He had a doctorate, taught at one of our Concordia's and brought in various colored grease pencils one day to help with his lesson on the overhead projector. "Now, look at the red circle, the blue one, and the green one and tell me.... Why is everybody laughing?" Like I said, Lutheran Teachers are not perfect. Besides we did learn something about overhead projectors and grease pencils that day.
"Chuck, it is the middle of your Senior year, and I've called you in today to find out why you have not taken the SAT yet. Uh huh, well early on a Saturday morning is the only time they give the test. Hmmmm...well, yes, I understand what you're saying, but regardless, you ARE going to college...." His daughter was a classmate, and I had been over to his house many times, so I guess he figured he could talk to me that way....and he was right.
He taught German I and would not allow us to speak a word of English once we entered the classroom - the best thing for us. Wow, did we learn!
In speech class she taught me to stop saying: "Dese, dat, dose, dem..." and switch from speaking 'Chicago' to speaking English.
"There are two hallway doors on this classroom, each with a large pane of glass, and people who are here in the evening for meetings can look into the room. The way the classroom looks greatly influences how people think of you." He was my Supervising Teacher where I student taught and the main reason why during fifteen years of Teaching, janitors never had to sweep my classroom.
He was a Pastor who also taught World History and Church History, worked at a nature center out in the forest preserves of Cook County AND drove a snowmobile across the gym floor one evening prior to the Donkey Basketball Game. For a kid living in Chicago in 1968, that was my first look at a snowmobile! He was one of my favorite teachers...and, one day in study hall, he gave me my only high school detention.
She was NOT one of my Teachers but an upper classman, a good friend who helped me with some of my studies and eventually became a Lutheran Teacher and Principal and, was probably sitting next to me the day I got that detention mentioned above......oh, and she married Ed Grube! Go figure....
Lutheran Teachers develop disciples, and what you do makes a difference for eternity.