There is little doubt that you have not seen this yet as it went viral a few weeks ago; however, when I first saw this via Twitter, I thought of this line from Hemingway, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for."

I am a huge Penny Kittle fan. When I saw that she (and Kelly Gallagher) had a new book coming out, I had to pre-order it.

In this book, these two English teachers (Gallagher teaches high school in California and Kittle used to teach high school in New Hampshire but is now a college professor there) came up with the Four Essential Ideas English teachers need to reconsider. I would submit to you that these can apply to any teacher regardless of subject area.

The Four Essential Ideas -

1. Essay writing (Kittle was shocked at the number of her college freshmen, most of whom are NOT English majors, struggled to get any real form to their writing - and not just the dreaded five paragraph format either - let alone be able to any real research).

2. Book Clubs (Kittle was shocked too at just how little her incoming college freshmen never read).

3. Poetry (How our students have lost the ability to think critically and analyze words and symbolism).

4. Digital composition (Most of our students will not write essays ever again. But they will do spreadsheet, slideshows, videos, newsletters, and infographics instead).

What is Your Noble Teaching Purpose?

What’s your Noble Teaching Purpose?

Lisa Earl McCloud was featured on the Entreleadership podcast. She talked about the importance of having a noble selling purpose. She studied top of the line pharmaceutical salespeople. She discovered that the best ones have some purpose that drives them and inspires them.

She visited with one rep who was the top seller in her entire area.

After shadowing her for several days, she asked her a key question on the way to the airport: “What do you think about when you’re on a sale?”

The lady responded that she thought of one of her first times selling a certain drug. She was in a doctor’s office waiting for a moment to speak with the doctor when a little old lady came up to her and asked her if she sold a specific drug.

She did.

The lady said, “I just want to thank you. You have given me my life back. Since my doctor prescribed that medication, I can actually get down on my hands and knees and play with my grandchildren again. I can travel again to see my other children. Thank you.”

The pharmaceutical rep said that she thought of that little old lady every single time she went on a sales call.

McCloud dubbed this a “noble selling purpose.”

So as a teacher, what is your noble teaching purpose?

What made you want to impact the lives of your students? What teacher made an impact on you? What assignment changed your life?

Ponder those and keep them at the front of your mind when you prepare lessons, design curriculum, or even enter your classroom.

Your students will be better for it.

Realizing all the connections I have made over the years with this community via having so many different kids in class.

This morning, for example, I had to run to the Courthouse to visit the County Recorder, Julie. I had both her son and daughter in my classes. As we visited about them, it was like she was back at parent teacher conferences.

I grow so close to students during the year simply through all the writing they do for me and the window that reflective writing offers me into their worlds. That helps create a great culture in my classroom. But often when they graduate and move away, we lose touch. However, running into parents around town, reminds me of their kids and how much they meant to me while in my classes.

The podcast featured below is an interview with Rory Vaden, whose book, Take the Stairs, I purchased years ago. In this episode, Vaden reviews some of the key points of that book - intentionally do the hard stuff sooner (rather than later) so that it will make things easier for you in the future. In other words, discipline creates freedom for you.

Vaden also spends time talking about the different ways we procrastinate. This is relevant not just for us as teachers and leaders but also for our students. He notes there are more subtle ways to procrastinate than we think. Sure, there is the classic way of just putting things off, but there are other ways to procrastinate too.

One example that I see often is that sometimes some of us like to keep busy with menial tasks that make us feel like we are accomplishing something but really all we are doing is avoiding working on the most important stuff. That is classic procrastination right there!

I know this one has been shared multiple times over the years, but if there was ever a year that we needed the last Rita Pierson's message, it is this year. My favorite take away: "Kids don't learn from people they don't like." What is your favorite line?

Twitter is the best PD I've ever had. I learn more in half an hour on Twitter than I did in my first decade of school sponsored PD.

I always start my classes with this assignment. I simply have students complete the template where they list 111 things about themselves. The number is random. It's long enough that they can't just come up with that many random things about themselves. Usually what happens is that around item 50 or so, kids get tired of talking about their pets, their siblings, and places they have traveled. This is when they get into the good stuff: their passions, their interests, their fears, and so on.

That information is gold in terms of me getting to know them and trying to tailor some of my curriculum to them.

It's odd how I have turned 180 degrees on this issue. I used to be all for cell phones in class, but that was in the infancy days of social media. Now, however, students come in to my classes not solely just to learn. They are actually "learning" in spite of - in spite of watching Netflix, in spite of checking Snapchat and TikTok, in spite of texting their parents, in spite of updating Instagram . . . I just think a cell phone-free environment will do our kids so much good.

Who hasn't been here?

I am married to the most amazing person in the world, Kristie. It was love at first sight. At least for me. And it still is.

We have four wonderful children, Casey, Koko, Kenzie, and Cash. And now we have been blessed with five grandchildren!

I also happen to have the greatest job in the world: teaching English to high school students.

I am in my 25th year of teaching at Lincoln High School. I graduated from Lafayette High School in Red Lake Falls in 1992. I decided to enter the field of education because of two amazing teachers, Mr. Mueller, my fourth and sixth grade elementary school teacher and assistant baseball coach, and Mrs. Christianson, my 9th grade English teacher.

I attended Northland Community College, and had my life changed by the amazing Dr. Diane Drake. Then I transferred to Bemidji State University in 1995. There I had amazing professors who further inspired me to teach English (Dr. Helen Bonner, Dr. Mark Christensen, Susan Hauser, and Gerry Schnabel). I graduated with my BS in English Education in 1997.

I student taught with the wonderful Lisa Semanko and then began teaching full-time at LHS in 1998.

I took a year's leave of absence in 2001-02 to return to BSU for my MA in English. There I had the privilege to teach and work closely with my greatest mentor, Dr. Mark Christensen. I earned my MA in English in 2006 and was honored with "Thesis of the Year" for my creative non-fiction, braided, multi-genre memoir, "Meeting Myrtle: A Biography."

In 2013, thanks to my dear friend and mentor, Dr. Jodi Holen, I was offered an adjunct teaching position fall semester at the University of North Dakota. Tuesday nights I teach Intro to Education: Teaching and Learning 250 from 5-8. Those three hours fly by in about ten minutes.

Then in 2016 I was blessed to win a WEM award (thanks to a nomination from a former student (and now an elementary school teacher), Ciera Mooney).

In 2017 I became part of the #pineconepd podcast club along with Brian Loe, Jeff Mumm, Kelsey Johnson, Kelly Weets, Josh Watne, Tevia Strand, Megan Vigen, Mariah Hruby, Laura Brickson, Loren Leake, Katie Hahn, Melora Burgee, and new members all the time. This has been one of the best forms of PD I've ever been a part of. They make me a better teacher every time we meet. Please think about joining us in the summer at the Pine Cone Pub from 6:30 - until we've solved all the world's problems. For that evening anyway.

In 2021, I became head coach of the Powler football team. It is a dream come true. I have an amazing staff and had an excellent mentor in two amazing former head coaches, Jeff Mumm and Bryce Lingen. I couldn't have asked for greater men to learn from.

Finally, thanks to the inspiration of Shane Zutz (our former principal) I devised this as a way to distribute my Teaching Thoughts and add more content to, hopefully, help out and inspire others.

Email: kurt.reynolds@myprowler.org
Website: http://teacherscribe.blogspot.com
Location: 101 South Knight Aver Thief River Falls MN 56701
Phone: 218-686-7395
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kurt.reynolds.5?ref=bookmarks
Twitter: @teacherscribe