The Touch That Multiplies
Submitted
by Galen R. Boehme,
Ph.D.
Kinsley High School
Kinsley, Kansas
Present
Teaching Assignments
English 11, English 12, Composition I
and II, French II
Multiplication
works more effectively than addition.
The
topic of “What Do We Do When
Adults Refuse to Be Good Role Models for Their Children?” contains a number
of absolute terms. First, the
“we,” likely referring to professionally trained educators, suggests that
the teachers are solely responsible for handling the current negative
situation. Second, the term
“adults” suggests an opposition; two parties are in conflict and refuse to
cooperate towards a common end. The
phrase “good role models” suggests an ideal in mind.
A difference exists between what is occurring and what is expected. If
the current practice continues, the educator feels that the student will
suffer negative consequences; the opposing adult may not foresee any harm
developing or may not care what the consequences could be.
Educators
who have worked within the field for a period of time know that the words
stressed in the theme do not have absolute definitions.
Variations of meaning do exist. The
“we” of any community consists of more than the educators who have a
vested interest in the children and teenagers.
A team approach becomes essential in providing a quality educational
setting. Religious leaders,
business leaders, public officials, as well as every family leader share a
common interest in training the youth of today to be the quality adults of
tomorrow. Some adults of the
community may exert negative influences upon the youth of the community, but
even the lives of these individuals teach the youth what not to do – a
valuable lesson for today’s youth to learn.
And when do the children and the teens realize that they have
encountered or been around “good
role models”? Frequently
the teens have to leave the local community and encounter other experiences
before they as individuals realize the quality of training that they have had
in the first place.
These
ambiguous terms within the topic, however, invite us as educators to consider
how we can be better and more
positive role models for the students that we serve.
We have limited time with each student.
We will continue to encounter those situations where we will feel that
we are the only positive role model for the student.
It will be easy for us to lower our standards of excellence in order to
be more accommodating with our own schedules as well as with the system in
which we operate. But to do so
may be compromising what is good for the student in the long run. Thus, for me
as a professionally trained educator to be a good role model when the other
adults surrounding the student may not be, I need to have my vision expanded,
I need to stress accountability, and I need to believe that the “seed will
develop into the flower.”
As a Bible-believing educator working within the public school, I add a religious dimension to my definition of a “good role model.” Students and parents may not be able to verbalize my definition of a “good role model,” but the definition guides my actions within as well as without the classroom: Each person reflects the image of God. We are gifts to one another as together we seek constructive ways of showing respect, loyalty, understanding, and grace. The academic and extracurricular activities that we pursue are tools for developing and for using constructive ways of showing the respect, the loyalty, the understanding, and the grace that we need in understanding and appreciating one another.
When
those times come when I feel as though I am the only one who is influencing
the student to be a “good role model,” I need to stop and consider the
message of Elijah who felt that he was the only divine prophet ministering to
sin-sick Israel. He became discouraged. At
his lowest emotional point, God took him aside and showed him 7,000 other
individuals not serving Baal. Elijah realized how limited his vision initially
was. Elijah was trying to do the
ministry by himself – using the process of addition.
God’s vision showed Elijah that the Word is spreading through the
process of multiplication. The story shows that we are responsible for
handling positively the current moment. God
has other individuals fulfilling their tasks at the same time to produce an
overall worthy result.
In
the rural community where I teach, a spirit of cooperation exists in working
with our students. Employers
within the community frequently contact me about how they as employers can
work more effectively with our students to create more positive adults.
Having employers present classroom lessons shows the students that the
employers and I as the teacher are working together for a common end.
Philanthropists of the community frequently ask me to write letters of
recommendation for scholarship applicants; the applicant knows that the
philanthropic organization and I share common guidelines for the applicants to
meet in order to receive scholarship funds. Alumni frequently return to share
with current students about how their high school instruction has worked to
their advantage in post-secondary training programs.
Participating in these cooperative efforts allows my vision to expand.
I am touching lives in a positive way – one person at a time who then
touches the lives of other people. The
process of multiplication works in creating more effective adults.
Second,
I as an educator must foster accountability.
Occasions arise frequently when I could sell “my soul for a mess of
pottage.” I could use some
excuse to explain why a student should be passing a course when the real
reason is that the student did not do the work and should therefore fail.
Using the excuse keeps the parents and the administration away from an
unhealthy confrontation. Accepting
the true reason involves making a personal commitment to a student. We
discover a dimension of courage when we handle these situations.
We find that Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird” uses an
appropriate definition when he says that courage is “when you know you’re
licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter
what. You rarely win, but
sometimes you do.” Atticus does
not win his case of defending Tom Robinson, a black, facing the charges of
raping a white Mayella Ewell. But
Atticus tries because he feels accountable not only to himself but also to his
children and to his silent supporters within the community, Miss Maudie and
Miss Stephanie. He tells his
children that he cannot expect them to be morally ethical if he does not
practice his own sense of ethics. My
actions must also stress self-responsibility.
I
deliberately seek out individuals to whom I can be accountable.
First, I use God’s Word as a standard for evaluating my actions.
If I sense that I have not been true to the Word, then I seek
restitution. Furthermore, I use
the Word as a guideline for handling daily matters.
I am called upon to treat individuals with charity, respect, sincerity,
and commitment. Second, I rely
upon the advice of my administrators and my fellow teachers.
For the last three years, I have worked with students individually to
help them complete the requirements for the English 11 and the English l2
classes. Each semester some student and his/her parents do not sense the need
for the individualized help until one or two weeks before the end of the
semester. One year our approach
did not work in time to meet the graduation deadline.
We had four students who did not complete their requirements in time to
meet the deadline to walk across the stage at graduation.
These four students had missing English assignments.
The principal supported my thinking, saying that the students should
not walk across the stage unless all assignments for the classes have been
completed at an acceptable level. The
students could work with me a week after graduation to complete their
assignments. Only when the work
is completed can they as students receive their high school diplomas. One
parent fought the decision. The principal and I had the support of the Board
of Education. One community
individual made a special trip to see me to give his support of our decision.
These students did not walk across the stage, but these students did
receive their high school diplomas – a week after commencement exercises.
With an accountability system in place among the Board of Education,
the principal, and myself, the students in this case learned that they are
responsible for their own actions and have to live with the consequences of
their actions. That experience
has become a landmark within the community for stressing personal
accountability.
Third,
I need to believe that the “seed will develop into the flower.”
Time can bring maturation. I
am responsible for utilizing the moment at hand to plant the seed of
responsibility.
I
am not responsible for bringing forth the harvest although I have been blessed
with the testimonies of several students.
One high school senior had quality intellectual skills, but he was
placing himself in jeopardy of not
graduating from high school because for the second time around he was not
completing the English 11 requirements. Three
weeks before graduation, he began applying himself diligently and completed
the work at the “final moment available.”
The next week, he sent me a letter containing these comments:
Another
student receiving her master’s degree in social welfare wrote as she
reflected upon her high school career six years earlier:
Not
all students represent success stories, but I sense that the seed of
excellence has been planted. When
I see former students in public and they make a very brief acknowledgment, I
sense that they as people are still toying with ideas of excellence that I
stressed. One student wrote the
following – unsigned: “Anuther
Briliant Mind Diztroid By The Publik Edukashun Sistem.”
He too remains a very capable individual who has yet to find unity
within his life. The irony is
that his two younger siblings have. His siblings are now challenging him to
accept the principles of excellence that I stressed.
So we continue the touch for excellence by expanding our horizons, by stressing accountability, and by waiting for the “seed to become the fruit.” The touch continues because of the process of multiplication – touching one life at a time so that that particular life can touch another life for excellence.
Answers To Questions
Question #l: Comment on the
six-year-old with a telescope and his interest in abstract ideas.
How unusual was he? Have
you encountered students with similar focus and reasoning abilities?
Discuss. .
Instead
of considering the student unusual, let us consider the adult teachable in
that he realized that as Tolstoy would say, “A child can be the father of a
man.” This teacher listened to
the child and realized the truth that the child was saying.
Children may be more uninhibited than some adults in discussing such
abstract ideas as we find here, but no child will verbalize the thoughts
unless someone exists who will listen to the thoughts and consider the impact
of those thoughts. Every student
that I have and have had teaches me some insight about life – whether that
insight relates to me, to my surroundings, or to the cosmic world.
What makes the thought profound is that I leave that experience with
the student as a better individual. I
may not realize for some time how my life has been touched by that student’s
presence, but a contact has been made. I
am a better person because of that touch.
One incident that I recall now occurred when our church congregation
lost one of our stable male leaders two days before Christmas.
Edgar was a key individual within the community.
His final illness and death came within a week’s period of time.
His funeral was two days after Christmas.
The following Sunday, Bret, a five-year-old, told his Sunday school
teacher, Edgar’s wife, that Edgar was enjoying Jesus’ birthday party.
Edgar had a privilege that Bret did not have.
A week later, I used this example in a funeral oration that I gave in
another community for a superintendent of schools who had unexpectedly died.
The key point in my funeral oration was that God uses children to speak
words of wisdom and comfort to us as adults when we need that touch.
The family found comfort in that thinking since their deceased family
member had devoted his life to working with children.
Question
#2: Were you surprised to read that young children might be “ethically
introspective citizens”?
No!
is death Hi
Even though the mental capabilities of children may be limited as far
as physical and emotional development may be concerned, children speak verbal
as well as non-verbal words of wisdom that we as adults need to appreciate.
The word “ethically” suggests rightfully that children have an
understanding of what is right and what is wrong.
The word “introspective” suggests that children reflect upon their
actions to determine the appropriate ethical way of handling a matter.
Perhaps the Master handled this matter most appropriately when He used
children as a standard for determining who will enter into the Kingdom of
Heaven. He said this: “I tell
you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18: 3).
He defines a child as marveling at the beauty of what we as adults may
sense to be insignificant, but to the child is significant.
This child represents the traits of honesty, forgiveness, integrity,
beauty, and generosity. The child
has a teachable spirit. The
Master’s comment contrasts with what Paul writes in I Corinthians 13 when he
says, “When I became a man, I put away those childish things.”
In short, young children can be “ethically introspective citizens”
in that they can easily put away anger, revenge, falsehood, deceit, and
selfishness and cloak themselves with honesty, integrity, simplicity, and
love. In cloaking themselves with
these traits, these children teach us as adults the beauty of living a life of
peace and simplicity. These are some of the traits of the “ethically
introspective citizens.”
Question
3: Do you agree that morality can be taught in all kinds of classes?
Give examples from experience.
Morality
definitely can be taught in all classes.
One is teaching morality even when he thinks he is not teaching morals.
When I first began my teaching career, I attended a seminar where the
presenter stressed that we as teachers can lead a "double” life – a
life following one set of morals within the classroom and a life following
another set of morals outside the classroom. The two sets of values could be
totally opposites. Perhaps
that individual felt that he could since he lived in a large metropolitan
community where more anonymity exists. In
the rural area where I teach (a community of 1800 individuals in a county of
approximately 4,000 people), it is impossible to lead life of double standards
and be a worthy public servant. Since
we the people know each other very well, we are held accountable to one
another in a very direct way. I
have seen teachers removed from the public school system because of their
double standards. I have seen the
local press cause the public to remove an individual from office because of a
life of double standards. So
the best way that I teach morality within the classroom is by living a life of
high integrity not only within the classroom but also outside the classroom.
In Harper Lee’s classic “To
Kill a Mockingbird,” Miss Maudie Atkinson tells Scout the reason why
Scout’s father Atticus has been chosen to defend Tom Robinson:
“We’re so rarely called on to be Christians, but when we are,
we’ve got men like Atticus to go for us.”
The community knew where Atticus stood on the racial matter.
He lived that quality of life within his home as well as within his
community.
Besides
living a life of integrity within as well as outside the classroom, how else
can I as a teacher stress morality in my classes?
For me, morality relates to my personal convictions about myself and
about the people that I serve. I
see those people around me as gifts of God; we are here to serve one another
in a way that will produce constructive growth and respect wherever I am.
I demonstrate this set of morals by how I handle students, by how I
represent the administration, by how I represent the public. Most of all, I
reveal my standards by how I conduct myself.
The students know how sincere I am; students can sense through my
actions my level of sincerity. The
students are my best sources for determining how genuine of an individual I
truly am. In short, I live an open book to the public.
Among
the many personal examples that I could give comes this one relating to Ben
who experienced difficulty passing the English 12 class.
He needed the class to meet graduation requirements.
Ben was not a good speller. Three
weeks before graduation, I noted that Ben’s spelling suddenly had improved.
I also noted a different writing style on the papers that carried his
name. The principal and I met
with Ben and his mother where Ben confessed that not only was he plagiarizing
the assignments but he was also using a “cheat
sheet” to take the spelling exams. During
the visit, Ben shared with me that one of his goals in life could be to become
a truck driver. We then discussed
which trait would cause a truck driver to lose his business: The improper use
of spelling or the lack of personal integrity (here, stealing or
misrepresenting another individual). Ben
confessed that he can compensate for the poor spelling, but to retain his
customers, he has to be an individual of integrity.
Becoming that person must begin in the classroom by doing his own work.
His mother summarized the visit by saying to me, “We may forget some
of the principles of English that you teach, but we can’t forget the moral
lesson that we learned today.”
Question
# 4: What was meant by the phrase encountered in your required
reading” “We are all moral
witnesses”? Describe an
instance in the classroom when you were a good moral witness.
If
I have engaged the students in a provocative activity (whether it be within or
outside the classroom), the activity is designed to challenge the students to
think, to respond, to reflect. With
that situation, each student participating brings with him/her a set of
values, of morals. We define
morals here as how each individual feels each one should respond to the matter
at hand in order for positive growth and understanding to occur.
We reflect frequently more individually than collectively upon that
matter once we have completed the activity to determine whether the growth or
insight has been positive or negative. Thus,
we analyze not only our own thinking and actions but also the thinking and the
actions of the other individuals involved.
As
a teacher, I have unconsciously provided opportunities for students to be
their own moral witnesses. A case
occurred at the beginning of my teaching career when I had the students do a
journal entry on what they appreciated about Christmas.
Connie’s response surprised me since she took the negative approach.
Connie felt Christmas should be abolished since the Christmas Biblical
message was a hoax. Her comments
perplexed me, as her parents were active lay people in their church.
The father was publicly respected in the community for his solid
religious convictions. I made no
comment to Connie about her content; I gave her credit for the writing and
commented positively about her writing style.
Four years later, Connie returned to the community at Christmas time to
see me. She came with her husband
of three years and their two pre-school children.
She said to me, “You remember that Christmas log that I wrote five
years ago? I’ve come to ask for your forgiveness, as what I wrote that week
was not what I believe. I wrote
that to see if I could get a negative response from you.
You didn’t respond negatively – and that has been troubling me
since then.” Perhaps my silence
at the time caused Connie to reflect and to affirm even more her strong
beliefs concerning the importance of the Christmas story as depicted in the
Bible.
In
short, each day becomes an opportunity to be a good moral witness.
Each day we plant seeds of growth.
When the seed matures into a fruit, we know that a life has been
touched profoundly.
Question
#5: Define courage. Tell of a
youngster who has had the courage to stand up for his/her beliefs/values.
Courage
involves acting independently upon a belief or a conviction that gives meaning
and stability to one’s life.
The
seeds of acting courageously are likely planted early in one’s life, but the
fruit of courage in its purest form may not come forth until a later time.
Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird” brings this point out when
he has Jem and Scout read to Mrs. Dubose while she successfully weans herself
from her morphine habit. After
Mrs. Dubose dies, Atticus explains to his children why he had his children
involve themselves with Mrs. Dubose:
“I wanted you to see what true courage is. . . It’s when you know
you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no
matter what. You rarely win, but
sometimes you do.” The children
understand the implications of this definition later on in the book when
Atticus defends the black Tom Robinson in a jury case within a community that
illustrates strongly white supremacy.
Kenton
as a high school student had an immature definition of courage.
Courage at first for him carried a touch of revenge.
He detested my giving him an F on a research paper even though I had
explained to him in advance how to improve the copy.
Therefore, for several nights he [rapped rapidly] on the door of my
home. His long-slender legs
allowed him to escape before either the police or I could identify the
individual doing the act. In
short, I was not his favorite teacher. I
demanded more from him in the classroom than he wanted to produce.
Five years later, 10:45 p.m., I received a long-distance telephone call
from Kenton, now a graduate student in theater at the University of Southern
Illinois. That particular
evening, the Lord had spoken to Kenton about making restitution, especially if
Kenton wanted to lead a Christ-centered life.
Kenton called to apologize for his way of treating me.
That step took courage. Since
that call now l5 years ago, Kenton has taken other courageous moves, including
his now teaching English as a second language in Beijing, China.
He currently finds his work very rewarding.
His monthly letters are filled with humorous experiences where he
relates the joys that he now has as a classroom teacher.
He summarizes his experiences by saying that it would take more
personal courage for him to return to live within the States than to remain in
China. He has learned to
appreciate the simpler lifestyle of the Chinese people.
Kenton’s definition of courage now gives him meaning for his life.
Question
6: Comment on the discussion on courage that took place during a 4th
grade history lesson…
Every
teacher longs to provoke the quality of discussion that the author describes
relating to courage. When the
students become so involved in the discussion that one comment causes another
student to explore the subject in a deeper dimension, the teacher knows that
the students are exploring the subject with depth.
In such a situation, the teacher has become a facilitator – one who
has prompted the students to explore the subject.
The questioning and the discussing that the students do provoke
additional student involvement. This
quality of discussion frequently is never planned.
The quality spontaneously evolves.
When this quality emerges, the teacher sits back and marvels how the
student-led discussion helps the students to find the real essence of learning
– exploring a subject through interacting.
I
wish that my classroom illustrated this type of student interaction more
frequently. From the students’
viewpoint, perhaps this student interchange occurs more frequently than I
realize. I did experience this
kind of dialogue with a group of high school juniors one-year with the study
of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery.”
I began the unit on the short story by having the principal of the high
school come into the classroom without the students’ knowing in advance that
he was coming. He silently
directed one of the students to the back of the classroom and set that student
in front of the sink. The student
found herself facing away from the classroom.
She sat there for l5 minutes while I continued the lesson plans already
prepared – the subject not related to Jackson’s short story.
The principal left the classroom quietly after he had the student
seated in front of the sink. He
then returned 15 minutes later, went directly to the student sitting in the
back of the room and ushered her without saying a word to her seat within the
classroom. When he finished this
task, he left the room.
Shortly
thereafter, I began a class discussion on isolation and exclusion.
How did Shelly feel sitting in the back of the classroom, looking
toward the wall and away from the students while the remaining students
remained involved in a separate classroom discussion?
How did she feel following the instructions of the principal when she
was the only one given those instructions?
Within a short period of time, students took control of the discussion,
debating such issues as these: What is fair?
Who determines what is fair? What
boundaries should exist to one’s use of power?
When can tradition be detrimental? The students tied these comments in
well with Jackson’s short story. The
primary point stressed was this: Social traditions can be deadly when society
blindly follows them, forsaking the integrity of the individual.
Question
#7: How is a good person described at the end of the required reading
involving “A Bronx Tale”?
The
“good” person is described as the spectator of the movie who realizes the
mixed feelings of good and evil within his body.
The element of evil that exists within the body (or the mind) can with
just one flash undercut the “good” that one has.
The individual walks a delicate line.
He knows that the “evil” within him can come forth quickly to
undercut the good that he so desperately wants to keep in the power seat.
The
above comment has taken on a personal meaning to me as within our local
community a 42-year-old father and grandfather recently dealt with this issue
of the forces of good and evil reigning in his life.
Within the last four years, he experienced a divorce, saw his teenage
daughters leave home, and tried somewhat successfully to overcome an addiction
problem. He tried unsuccessfully
twice to commit suicide within the last two years.
He received some professional assistance and began a life of attending
the local Bible studies and church services.
He seemed to be gaining control of his emotions and his life.
He would publicly testify how he was gaining ground.
He surrounded himself with people who gave him positive encouragement.
But on a Monday morning, something negative clicked within him and he
ended his life successfully by using carbon monoxide.
What caused the mind to shift?
Question
#8: What should a teacher do when he sees a student trying to get another
student in trouble or somehow disrupting the class?
All
teachers face this dilemma. The
writer used an essay to stress the point of doing one’s own work.
The challenge here is not to make the guilty party feel conspicuous
about his actions. The quieter
that the teacher can work to help the “guilty” student sense the
importance of doing his own work, the better.
At times, I have written notes to the two or three individuals involved
in such a situation – to the student who caused the trouble as well as to
the student who received the brunt of the problem.
On the note, I describe the concern and state that I will not issue any
credit for the activity until the two parties see me separately about the
matter. I place within a time
frame – usually within a 24-hour period of time.
When the students see me individually, I discuss the concern with them
and pose a possible solution. I
likely will rearrange the seating within the classroom so that these two
individuals are no longer sitting near one another. The students will likely
have to redo the assignment in some way in order to receive credit.
I involve the parents of the students in the matter by sending home a
descriptive letter of the action. If the students in question do not come in
for a conference, I quietly rearrange the seating within the classroom, a
point which the students know about when they enter the following class
period.
With
the second offense, I take a more drastic action.
I arrange the class schedule so that the students and I do have a
discussion about the matter. Only
twice have I had to go beyond this stage and involve the principal.
The students know that if I have to involve the principal, they are
pushing me “to the limit” and expulsion from the classroom will definitely
occur. Very few students want
this step to occur, as the repercussions will be too negative. I have been
teaching long enough within this community that my reputation frequently
solves or prevents many problems from arising.
Question
#9: In light of the article by Shannon Brownlee regarding the development of
the teen brain, do you think that the Foundation may be giving teens too much
credit?
No!
The Foundation is giving teens the credit deserved!
If
I understand the pilot projects fully, the Singer Foundation believes that
teens can be motivated by non-material means to be involved in efforts
benefiting humanity. Teens can
find personal satisfaction in serving people for the sake of serving.
Brownlee’s article does not discredit this goal that the Singer
Foundation has. What
Brownlee makes us realize is that the brain of the teenager may not be fully
developed to understand all of the logical and emotional aspects involved with
serving others in a humanitarian way. We
as adults must consider this evidence as we deal with the complex number of
emotional and logical matters that teens show in developing humanitarian
skills.
Brownlee
closes her article by saying that the “trick is helping kids finding healthy
sources of stimulation.” Those
sources vary for each individual. The
issue is for the adult world to involve the teen within those possible
“healthy sources of stimulation,” which is what the Singer Foundation is
trying to do with its various projects. Each
student deserves an opportunity to try. As
that student tries, he will be exposed to model adults who believe in serving
humanity in a beneficent manner. Through
this interaction, a seed of involvement may be planted that may bring forth
fruit at a later time. The Singer
Foundation is helping to plant the seed.
Let us let time bring forth the right fruit at the right time.
Question
#l0: If you think your students are capable, will you engage a group in one of
our pilot projects? If not, why
not?
I
need more information about the pilot projects.
At one time, I explored the White Hats Program.
At that time, I did not have