David Scheidecker - Bringing Out the Best in Students: How Legendary Teachers Motivate Kids

Copyright 1999 by Corwin Press, Inc.

First Skyhorse Publishing edition 2015

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Editorial Assistants: Julia Parnell and Nevair Kabakian

Production Editor: Denise Santoyo

Designer/Typesetter: Danielle Dillahunt

Cover design by Tracy E. Miller

Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-314-3

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0086-4

Printed in the United States of America

Everyone knows a legendthe teacher who is successful at bringing out the best in students, regardless of the location of the school, the diversity of the students, the conditions of the facilities, or the availability of resources. At least one legend can be found in every school. This is a book about the characteristics that define the legendary teacher, about how you can recognize and acknowledge those characteristics in teachers, and about how you can foster the development of those characteristics in yourself and colleagues. Throughout the book, you will find hundreds of examples and strategies for becoming a legend.

Were into the second century of American public education, and if the press is at all correct, we havent become much better at it. In fact, many people think weve gotten worse.

Nevertheless, referendums continue to be defeated; facilities continue to be neglected; and state and federal dollars continue to disappear. At the very same time, however, curricula continue to grow as education is given more and more responsibility to cure societys ills. Traditional families are a thing of the past, as, apparently, is school authority. (In loco parentis has gone from meaning in place of the parent to the parents are crazy too!) The situation has so deteriorated that it seems that sometimes decisions are no longer based on what is best for the students but what is legalistically tenable. Left all alone in the front lines is the classroom teacher.

Even more surprising than the litany of whats wrong with public education today is that some teachers not only succeed in this environment, they thrive. There is probably not a school in America where there is not, at least, one teacher who continues to make a difference in the lives of children. Despite the financial pinch, despite the lack of support from a graying population, despite the changing demographics of the community, there is at least that one teacher who makes everything work, who inspires the slow learner, who challenges the gifted, who somehow gets the problem student focused successfully on learning. Where other teachers have struggled, this one succeeds. The programs and activities this teacher sponsors thrive while other programs shrivel and wither away.

The community is well aware of this teacher as well. At registration time, parents often pray, I hope my child gets _______ this year! Somehow, in spite of all that is wrong with education today, this one teacher has earned the respect of the students (who otherwise dont like classes), the school (that would require forms for breathing if it could), and even the community (that somehow believes schools have existed in a vacuum untouched by inflation since the 1960s). This teacher has become what this book is about, a legend.

Legends are life touchers. They are the reason students want to come to class every day. In a time when role models are in decline elsewhere, legends shine brightly, daily exemplifying their values, making things work. This book is dedicated to those legends, to examining what they have that makes them so preeminent in their profession, that makes them so important to the lives of so many children.

This book is broken down, chapter by chapter, into what we think makes legends legendary in their schools. We do not suggest that what is presented is causal in nature; rather, we see those characteristics described as correlative to successful teaching. They seem to be pretty much unvarying among the most successful teachers regardless of locale or grade level.

, Becoming a Legend, summarizes what it means to be a legendary teacher.

Is it possible for any teacher to become a legend? The question, because it is so hypothetical, is virtually meaningless, but what is meaningful is the belief that by careful study of the characteristics of these legends, every teacher can improve his or her effectiveness in the classroom, his or her ability to be a life toucher. Whether you will be a success in the classroom, whether you make a difference in a childs life, whether you become a legend depends on one thing and one thing onlyyou.

Our hope for this book is clearly presented in .

Before turning you loose into our book, wed like to share a simple experience we had. One of our better friends was the plant manager of a General Food plant that manufactures Gaines dog food. He was an important man in town and handsomely rewarded for his efforts, six figures annually at a time we had just broken the five-figure barrier.

On many weekends, we would meet him at his house before heading out to one of several local golf courses. Weekend after weekend, wed get to his house only to have to wait, impatiently, for him to get there. Hed be doing volunteer work at the YMCA or setting up a youth basketball program or arranging visits to hospitals; nonetheless, wed wait until he got homehe, apparently failing to realize that our time set aside to play golf was, at least in our minds, sacrosanct.

We are not foolish enough to believe that we can produce for you a simple six-step method for achieving teaching excellence. That, of course, would be gross oversimplification. But we do believe there exists a set of correlatives shared by many teaching legends and that conscious knowledge of those correlatives may indeed lead to more effective teaching.

Individual teachers must be attuned to what works for them, what fits their teaching methods for teaching, more so than any other profession, is about individualized style. Legends find their own stride, are in harmony with the rhythm of their classes. There are no simple answers, no quick fixes.