Five Ways to Stay Motivated Teaching

It’s a good month into the fall semester of my fourteenth year as a full time educator, and I want to reflect not on motivating students, but rather on keeping myself motivated. If you’re a teacher, you know the fears we all share: Will we get burned out on the content, the lessons, the students, the reforms, etc? I’ve always appreciated the Oscar Wilde quote: “Each man kills the things he loves.” For me, I’ve worried that if we do too much of a good thing that we lose our joy for it, that it does in fact become work. Let’s not let that happen.

This school year I intentionally created a game plan to stay motivated and energetic, perhaps more so than ever before. Here’s my plan, and I share it with the hope that it may help rejuvenate others too.

Add, change, and/or cut one lesson for each course every year.

I’m grateful to have had some help on this one. My college’s library introduced a program called “One Book, One College,” with the goal to have our entire campus community read the same book and participate in college wide activities. The book this year is Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, and I decided to incorporate it in every communication class I teach. It’s been an incredibly refreshing and rewarding experience. Here are a couple of comments some students made about the book:

At least 3 people in different classes said something like: “I’ll be honest. I didn’t start this until last night, but I can’t believe that I got hooked. I read all of part one in one night.”

  

“I’m not much of a reader. I’ve never really gotten into books, but thank you for assigning this. I can’t believe how good it is. I’m staying up late and losing sleep just so I can read one more chapter.”

In any classroom, there is absolutely nothing wrong with asking students to read more, and the discussions we’ve had in class have provided a refreshing mental and emotional stimulus to our content. It makes me want to add a different book each semester to my classes—to always encourage students to read more and to always have some variety in our classroom!

Attend your students’ sporting events

I made a goal this year to attend one game from each sport in which a student of mine was participating. After attending the first game, I was sure to find the student after and give him or her a compliment. What was even more amazing: they opened up more in class, shared more about their passions, and seemed more focused on our classroom discussions. I had taken an interest in them outside the classroom, and in doing so, they took a greater interest in my classroom.

It also was nice to see other students attending the sporting events, and I said hello to each one I saw in the crowd. They smiled back, and they had this look on their face: “My professor is at a game!?” It’s clearly not something they were used to seeing, and I think it made a difference in letting them know I do care about them.

Promote your students’ interests in class

I decided I would have students do an introduction speech at the beginning of the class where they, in part, share all of their college interests and activities. Similar to the sporting events, I wanted to know my students passions. Now I try to announce any upcoming events related to such student interests, such as a play or musical coming up if I have a student in it, an art show, a radio program, honors society inductions, and so on. It makes students feel more connected to you and your classroom, and quite simply they seem to really appreciate the promotional plug.

The world is bigger than our classrooms. The more I see the big picture and discuss that, the more motivated I am to not teach just teach class content but to teach students.

Leave the classroom

You have that one lesson you’ve taught one thousand times, right? You struggle to remain enthusiastic, right? On an impulse during one such lesson of my own, I decided we needed to leave the classroom. I had students pack up their books and we went and sat outside on a beautiful fall morning. I didn’t have a board to write on, but I asked students to listen closely and write down notes. Then we discussed the ideas, and I think it’s the strongest discussion I’ve ever had on one of the least interesting parts of my class.

Walk around campus and make notes of possible alternative “classrooms.” I’ve found relaxing and peaceful areas outside and inside, and sometimes I also look for the loud and boisterous areas too. We don’t always have to be the teacher at the white board. We can be the teacher anywhere, and a change of scenery is good for students too.

Begin and end class with humor

This should be true of any lesson, and I try to be a “performer” for my students and find ways to incorporate humor in each lesson. Learning should be fun, after all. However, sometimes we need something even bigger. I know we all fight for each precious minute of our classroom time, but I’ve always been a quality over quantity kind of guy. If I can get my students fully engaged and focused, I can do the same lesson in 40 minutes instead of 50.

So sometimes I see a class that looks tired or bored or just unfocused. Sometimes I’m a little tired too. What do I do? I rely on the hundreds of silly YouTube videos I’ve collected over the years.

“Ok, class. We look a little sleepy today. So I’m going to show you a short video that I hope will make you laugh. I want us energetic in class today.” The first video I showed this year was the “Mutant Spider Dog” prank.

We all laughed, and I said, “All right. If we have an energetic class and finish the lesson in time, I may have to show you another hilarious video at the end of class just for fun. Ready? Let’s begin.”

Like extra reading, there’s nothing wrong with extra humor, especially in the classroom, where sometimes we need it the most.

What are your tips to stay motivated and energetic in the classroom? 

Thanks for reading. You can follow by e-mail or subscribe; be sure to click "full web version" at the very bottom of the main blog page and not the mobile site if you wish to subscribe. You should see the subscription tabs on the right hand side of the page. 

A Snapshot: Heroes and Villains Part One

I played basketball in junior high, that tumultuous bridge between childhood and adulthood. We had a two hour practice scheduled late on Halloween evening. I was twelve years old and not ready to give up my childhood joys for a single basketball practice that, quite frankly, would have little impact on my life. I skipped practice, and my friends and I stormed the neighborhoods, trying to get that one last bag of candy from our childhood. We dressed up, went to our favorite decorated homes, organized the candy when we got home, watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and stayed up way too late for a school night. I still remember the laughter and the sugar highs. The next day I went to basketball practice, and the coach said, “Hey, pussy. Yeah, I’m talking to you pussy. Pussy boy is too good to join us for practice because he needs his pussy candy. Suicide runs for everyone.” I’ll never forget how much fun I had that Halloween night and how much I despised that 7^th grade coach who thought his job was much more important than our childhood. I’ll never forget those poisonous words that no adult should ever say to a child.

My freshman year in high school I wrote a poem about my mother for an English class assignment. The teacher gave me an A+ and a great big smiley face. I don’t think I had ever written something creatively that earned an A+. I’ll never forget her for that. This was a regular level English class, and when it was time to register for sophomore year, I asked her if she would sign me into the honors English class. I wanted to try it. She smiled and said, “If you think you can do it, you can. It all starts right here,” she pointed at her head. “Good luck, Joe and don’t stop writing.” With the simple confidence I earned from an A+, I decided I was good enough to be with the best of the best. My love for English—literature and writing—started with that A+ and would later influence my decision to want to teach the same subject. The most brilliant teachers recognize passion, and even if we’re not all that talented, sometimes an A+ and a smiley face go a long way into making someone feel like they can conquer the world.

During my senior year in high school, I was stuck with the most demonic teacher I have experienced. He didn’t like teenagers, and he reminded us of that all the time. “My wife makes the money in our house. I don’t get paid enough to work with any of you, so don’t expect any favors.” He was sour, each and every day. I remember one assignment where we had to create an artistic model of the human knee. Never much of the artist, I stayed up late at night for over a week trying to create a model of the human knee. When I handed the project in to him, he laughed at me. “Did you put this piece of shit together this morning, Joe? Way to take the assignment seriously. What a waste of my time.” I bit my lip through the rest of his class, and then faked a stomach ache and went home. I faked a lot of stomach aches that year. I hated his class, hated the way he treated us, and dreaded each morning. I missed exactly 30 days that school year. THIRTY. My mom—bless her soul—understood. I was smart and earned high grades in every class but his. But I owe him one incredible compliment: It was during that year that I—the kid who skipped school a day a week—decided I was going to be a teacher. I wanted to make sure to keep people like him out of the classroom, and I was now determined to shape my passion into creating a classroom atmosphere where students would not only learn but enjoy themselves in the process, and if nothing else, at least know that someone was rooting for them.

In college, I met a dozen inspirational professors, and I have a dozen stories about each professor. Each of them—the professors and the individual stories—deserve their own post. I’ll get to all of them in time.  I worked with one of my favorite professors for two years. She taught me new ways to write, new ways to read deeply. She observed my student-teaching and wrote a letter that would earn me my first teaching award, our college’s Golden Apple for best student-teacher. She attended my graduation party and gave me a gift, a glass ornament that says “Endless Possibilities,” which hung in my high school classroom for ten years and now is a permanent part of my college office. These are details and not stories, but it’s a place for me to start reflecting, and the stories will be told.

Here’s the thing: Heroes build us up; villains tear us down. This is a post I will have to return to occasionally (hence the title of part I). There are too many stories for one post. There are heroes and villains from my childhood, my classmates, my peers, my coaches, my martial arts world, my teaching world, and my fitness world. They say you can’t have good without evil, and I believe that to be so very true. There are those who don’t understand you, and those who will be jealous of you. They will say things that aren’t true, and they will try to distort your image to others because on some illogical level they must think it makes them stronger. But the strongest people I know, the heroes in our everyday lives, support you and build you up. They see your talents, they encourage them, and they want you to succeed. The best teachers, I would argue, are those who want you to be more successful than they ever were. The same is true of our friends. When we cheer for one another, we all get better. 

Thanks for reading. You can follow by e-mail or subscribe; be sure to click "full web version" at the very bottom of the main blog page and not the mobile site if you wish to subscribe. You should see the subscription tabs on the right hand side of the page. 

Success after Setbacks: On Overcoming Challenges and Pursuing Your Dreams

There is a ton of advice on accomplishing one’s dreams, and for good reasons: dreams and the pursuit of those dreams energize us and drive our human spirit forward. But nothing can be as disheartening as a setback. Notice, I won’t call it a failure. The only time you fail is if you quit, and setbacks can make us stronger.

If you’re a writer who has received a rejection letter, a dreamer who hasn’t (yet) landed that dream job, or any number of examples, you know what I mean. I’d like to share my strategies for overcoming setbacks.

Take a break

Most writers will agree that after you’ve written something, you need to step away from it for a few weeks to a few months. It’s easy to get excited about an idea or a finished piece of work, and we want to send it to the masses immediately. That’s ok, but if you receive the rejection letters, remember to take a break. There’s no need to immediately dive in and revise. Step away for a bit, and when you do return to your work, you’ll have fresh perspectives and make it even better than you thought it was originally.

The same can be said of many things. If you didn’t get the job of your dreams, many may tell you to work harder and keep at it. You should of course, but why not take a mental break from applications, interviews, and just from thinking about the damn thing. Give yourself a deadline; you don’t want to give up on your dreams. But if you’ve had several setbacks, perhaps it’s time for a two week vacation. Like in writing, you’ll come back and see new perspectives with a rejuvenated energy that may be exactly what you need to accomplish your goals.

Invest in a new creative project

I write a lot. You may act a lot, or draw a lot, or simply work a lot. We want to be successful in each of our goals, but sometimes to keep the creative juices freshly flowing, it helps to tackle a different kind of project. You’ll learn to use different creative aspects and you’ll find strategies that may help you with your biggest desires.

For example, if you’re an actor, why not try to direct a small show? If you’re a writer, why not try to draw (as bad as it could be) visual concepts for your work? Or if you are terrible at drawing (as I am), collaborate with an artist and help him or her discover the full concept of your vision. Don’t you think your vision will also be sharpened?

You could even learn something entirely new. Drop what you are doing, take that break (like my first idea), and learn something new: take a class on a musical instrument or take one semester of a foreign language at  your local college. It’s not a bad idea to browse your college’s catalog and find something different. Maybe a tai chi class will do the trick. We all need to move out of our comfort zones and explore diverse creative interests to strengthen the creativity we need for our current goals and projects.

Walk daily

Sound too easy? It is easy, but the payoffs are incredible. This is something I discovered this summer. I’m already an exercise fanatic. I hit the gym hard 4-5 times a week. But that’s my problem: I hit it hard and lose myself in the workouts. That’s great, and I think we all need that level of intensity too. But I wanted to add something simple that would let me think and get me out of the house, away from distractions and technology, and let my mind wonder. And while I certainly don’t mind a walk or hike with friends, I think you need to have some time alone too. It’s being alone, outdoors, and away from everything that opens the mind to new ideas.

So 5-6 days a week, I take a walk outside for 30-60 minutes, depending on the time I have available. I have two dogs, so they are benefiting from this idea too, but here’s the thing: I don’t look at my phone or computer during that time. I breathe fresh air. I walk in different directions. I try to find paths that inspire me. Sometimes I drive my car to a place I want to walk for different scenery. I think about my work, my writing, my relationships, and more. And almost every evening, I come home and immediately write down a few ideas that popped in my head. These ideas, I have no doubt, would not have developed if I had not taken time to just get the hell out of the house and walk and think and clear my mind from all other distractions. Try it for one week, and I promise it will be something you’ll want to do all the time.

Collaborate

Writing in particular is a lonely job, but when you are going for your dream job, you’re also on your own in that job interview. When you want something, talk to others who have accomplished the goals you are pursuing. It’s only common sense, but sometimes we are shy and don’t want to put ourselves out there.

When I applied for my college teaching position, I contacted the professors at the department in which I was applying. I asked if I could meet with them individually for a 30 minute chat and pick their brains about their work. I wanted to know about their daily routines, what they loved, their frustrations, and the work they did prior to landing my dream job. Those conversations helped, and I did get the job of my dreams. Each person had different perspectives, and I took time to think about all of their experiences and what I could bring to the table too.

I also practiced my interview. I asked friends and colleagues if they would give me a mock interview and provide genuine feedback to my answers. I took nothing for granted, and I wanted to be the absolute best. I’m convinced it’s those steps that landed me my dream job. And now I have to repeat those steps with each new goal, like connecting with other writers, learning about publication, and finding a circle of readers I trust to give me raw feedback on the work I want to succeed.

Create your success story

Finally, I do think we all need confidence from our previous accomplishments. This step is like building a resume, but I think of it as more personal than that. It’s your life narrative, the accomplishments you’ve made, the steps you took to get there, and the methods in which you overcame previous setbacks.

Here are a few of mine, very early in my teaching career. Each one had setbacks.

When applying for my first teaching job, it was obvious the superintendent at the high school where I had applied wanted a coach. I’m not a coach. I don’t have much of an organized sports record. But I won him over by demonstrating my love of that particular school. You have to show that you really love the place where you want to be. I did several things to make this happen, and after my interview, he told a colleague, “Joe’s passion for our school and community is unmatched.”

In my second year of teaching, I convinced a world-wide best-selling author, who normally charges $30,000 to visit schools and speak, to attend my classes for free. That was awesome. You have to understand that of course he said no at first. I was not willing to accept that. It took an incredible amount of persistence, but I  talked best-selling author Mitch Albom into visiting with all of my classes and speaking at my high school.

I took a small after-school martial arts program and built it up to national recognition: We won Black Belt Magazine’s Best Children’s Program in the United States award in 2008. The key to that success was commitment and collaboration. There were semesters in which I had only a few students. I didn't let that stop my enthusiasm. By the end of my leadership of that program, we have over one hundred students involved.

Those were accomplishments all very early in my career, and there are others more meaningful to me from recent years. I tell all of these stories when pursuing a new goal. I tell them to myself first, as a reminder of what can be done. And you don’t have to win any national awards to build your story. Start with the projects, the jobs, and the people you’ve worked with: How did you better the world around you? And how will the accomplishment of your current goal better the world too? That’s the story you learn, and that’s the story you tell to those who will listen.

You’ll conquer all of your dreams, and I will too. It takes a high level of confidence with the highest level of humility. Believe in yourself, and work your ass off.  No great reward is earned without great work.

Thanks for reading. You can follow by e-mail or subscribe; be sure to click "full web version" at the very bottom of the main blog page and not the mobile site if you wish to subscribe. You should see the subscription tabs on the right hand side of the page. 

Strippers and Summer

Like you, I have so many incredible childhood stories and adventures. I enjoy remembering them and reflecting on that time in my life. The following is a true story, but I made some changes to my friends' names. This is one of many such adventures, and I certainly hope to share more.

I grew up in a well-kept, middle class neighborhood, but I lived in a house surrounded by a strange combination of lifestyles.  Next door to me was a boy’s dream: a house rented by three women who worked as adult entertainers for local strip club.  I kid you not.  They moved in as I moved through puberty, and my friends and I hoped each and every day that we’d catch them in a spontaneous performance in their living room.

                Across the street from the ladies’ house and my house was an Apostolic Christian church, neighbored by Apostolic Christians who took care of the church and its property.  If that wasn’t the epitome of lifestyle juxtaposition, one only had to look to the neighbors on the other side of my house for more culture.  There lived my two best friends as a child, Ronnie and Danny, who were raised by their gay dad and his partner.  Strippers, Apostolic Christians, and gay parents: I could not imagine having more culture as a child.

                “Chris!” Danny yelled as I walked over to his house.  “Did you hear the bad news?”

                “Yeah,” I answered, frowning.

                “I can’t believe they’re leaving.  This sucks!”

                “We have one week left.  We need a plan.”

                “I already have supplies!” Ronnie said as he pulled three dynamite long smoke bombs from his pocket.  “Tonight, we use these babies!”

                It was the first day of summer, and to our profound disappointment, word on the street was that our stripper neighbors were moving.  We had looked forward to the summer all year long.  Hot days and hot nights would mean even fewer clothes for our salacious neighbors.  We had been trying to catch glimpses of them by peeping into the windows late at night.  During one Saturday night party, we heard music and laughter.  We went to the windows and the girls were dancing, but we ran away laughing when a man in the party dropped his pants and blocked our view from the window with his ass. 

                Danny’s brother, Ronnie, came outside to meet us.  “Danny and I have a battle plan,” he said.  “We wait until night and we light these smoke bombs under the windows at their house.  Then we’ll hide by the bushes in your yard and wait for them to run outside naked!” Ronnie giggled as he said the word in his best villain voice. 

                “What makes you think they’ll be naked?” I asked.

                “We’ll wait till it’s late,” Ronnie said.

                I nodded and smiled in agreement, as if it was the most logical thing possible. 

                We passed the time playing basketball in my driveway.  Danny, as usual, won our little street game.  He was the athletic one, two years younger than me and Ronnie, but muscular and toned.  His blonde hair moved with the wind, and his blue eyes focused intensely on the ball.  At 11 years old, Danny may have been the youngest of the three of us, but we admired his athleticism.  Ronnie, on the other hand, was the scrawny, non-athletic brother.  A year older than Dan, Ronnie had dark black hair, dark as a raven, and a pale complexion.  He was the worst of us at any sport, but he had a contagious laugh and honest humility that made us fall in love with him.  I was the oldest of the three, a proud 13 year old and it was my first summer as a teenager. The brothers looked at me with awe as the wiser, more experienced member of our trio.

                Finally the sun set and we met together in my backyard to finalize our plans.

                “You take this to the kitchen window,” Ronnie said as he handed me the smoke bomb.  “I’ll put one by the front window, and Dan you put one by the window on the other side of the house.  Once we start walking over there, we each count to ten-Mississippi.  On ten, we light and run like hell to these bushes.  I even brought a camera!”

                “Awesome!” My heart was racing and my arms were shaking.  We stood up slowly and made our way to the edge of my yard.  Ronnie looked at us intently and carefully.  “Ready?” He paused and took a deep breath and then said, “go!”

                We ran, smiling, scared, and excited all at once.  I found the kitchen window and placed the smoke bomb below it.  I wasn’t sure if I was counting right.  As I reached four-Mississippi, I thought I was going too fast.  Then I thought I was counting too slow, but at ten-Mississippi, I lit the smoke bomb and ran to the bushes.

                Within seconds we were huddled by the tall, wide bushes that lined my front yard.  We grabbed onto each others’ arms and shoulders, trying not to laugh, but full of the excitement of youth and adventure.  The smoke bombs were overwhelming.  These weren’t the cheap kind that lasted a few seconds.  These dynamite long sticks poured out a fountain of thick smoke that lasted at least a minute if not two.  To our surprise, all three women ran out of the house screaming and waving their arms.

                “Is there a fire?” one asked.

                “What the hell is going?” asked another.

                Unfortunately, they were fully clothed, but their reactions forced out our laughter and we could hold back no longer.  We laughed as loud as we had ever laughed before.

                “It’s those fuckin’ boys,” one of the girls yelled pointing at the laughing bushes.

                “Oh shit,” Ronnie laughed.  “Let’s go!”

                We ran in the opposite direction, past my friends’ house, down to the end of the street.  We ran down to another block and then hid in an alley between the two.  We were still laughing as we panted from the sprint.  Our arms interlocked in a little circle as we leaned on each other while we caught our breath.

                “That was awesome!” Danny cheered.  “Let’s do it again!”

                And so began our first day of summer.

Thanks for reading. You can follow by e-mail or subscribe; be sure to click "full web version" at the very bottom of the main blog page and not the mobile site if you wish to subscribe. You should see the subscription tabs on the right hand side of the page. 

A Pop Culture Tour: from childhood to today

The more I write about childhood, the more I realize I’m still a child at heart. Ironically, it took a long time to get there. When so much of one’s life is spent in various college degree programs and in the necessities of living (mortgages, car payments, yuck), we can forget the simple joys of life.

I’m a pop culture and nostalgia junkie. I thought I’d share with my Blog readers (thank you, you loyal few!) some of my interests. Let’s do it with pictures! It wasn’t until this spring and summer that I really redesigned a few parts of my home to showcase my inner childhood. It took me until age 35.

My favorite horror films and fun figures

My favorite horror films and collectibles of the horror villains get two special shelves near my fire place. I organized this little collection as I began writing a new novel this summer, the one I'm trying to get published, which I would consider to be my love letter to horror stories. Pennywise from It, Michael Myers from Halloween, Jason, Freddy, and the like: How can you not love all of these? 

Game of Thrones

 Perhaps my all time favorite television series and one of my favorite book series: of course Game of Thrones earns several spots in my home. On the left, two more shelves by my fire place showcase the books, movies, and collectibles.

And there's this gem, a hand made work of art personally created by one of my best friends.

Movie/Game Tower of Nostalgia

I have a large, spinning movie tower and I decided to devote some of the shelves to my favorites.

One top shelf hosts my Rocky Blu-Ray collection, along with some pretty sweet Funko figures of the Rocky characters. 

Below Rocky, Gizmo sits proudly displaying the Gremlins (and the Goonies, not everything fits perfectly). Gizmo even dances and makes his signature sounds. Am I a geek or what?

Below Gizmo, Slimer found a home by Ghostbusters and several other Blu-Rays.

And of course I have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, guarded carefully by Shredder and Leonardo.

And I can't forget the video games! Mario Kart and Mario Party earn top shelf in the game selection!

Below Mario, I had to give a little tribute to Pac-Man!

The other shelves are just rows and rows of movies and games, but over time, I hope to create lots of little displays like this on my tower of fun :)

The Man Cave of Nostalgia 

And then I have an entire room devoted to pop culture favorites. As you walk up to the man cave, you are greeted by characters from Star Wars, Daenerys from Game of Thrones, Iron Man, and Spider-Man. 

When I was a kid, I had some strange idea that unique soda cans and bottles would be very valuable some day. I've put a few on display here. Below that, I have a Michael Jordan autographed hat, an Everclear t-shirt signed by all the members in the band, and a Nolan Ryan autographed baseball (he was my favorite player when I was young).

Then I had to find a home for my oldest wrestling figures. Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Jesse the Body Ventura, Hillbilly Jim, the Junkyard Dog, and more proudly stand, with all the beatings and bruises they took from my childhood.

If you're up for a game of chess, Monopoly, or Yahtzee, we'll play over here, where more Mario nostalgia awaits.

And of course there's an original Nintendo Entertainment System along with a few of my favorite NES games: The Goonies, Mario Brothers, Friday the 13th, and the Karate Kid. 

There's a lot more to this room and to my inner nerd who loves to hold on to and now proudly display current favorite entertainment and those favorites from days past. 

They all inspire me in different ways, and they help me reflect on a time of innocence and the joys of childhood, which will all be part of future stories I write. I hope you've enjoyed my little tour, and if nothing else, you certainly know the kind of gifts you can get me if you ever feel so inclined. I do love presents.

Thanks for reading. You can follow by e-mail or subscribe; be sure to click "full web version" at the very bottom of the main blog page and not the mobile site if you wish to subscribe. You should see the subscription tabs on the right hand side of the page. 

Make some noise and make a difference

I hate a quiet classroom. I love laughter and noise.

I think if I had a dollar for every time a colleague shut my classroom door, I could retire by now. Early on in my career, I understand the noise wasn’t always positive. When you first start teaching teenagers, it’s going to be a little rowdy. If I ended class early, they’d talk “too loudly” some would say. One colleague, a friend I still admire, even moved classrooms to get away from me, I’m convinced. My classes were pretty rowdy. There were moments when I humorously screamed to get their attention, threw chairs across the room, or even jumped on desks. Face to face teaching, I believe, requires a performance.

A few years later, I sat down to talk with my high school principal about a variety of topics. One was noise.

“Don’t you think some of our classrooms are too quiet?” I asked.

“Way too quiet,” he said.

I knew I liked him. If all we are doing as teachers is forcing kids to shut up, read, write, take this test, be quiet and listen to my lecture, etc, then students could learn everything they need online. They don’t need a classroom full of other students; they need somewhere where they can sit quietly and be undisturbed and do their work.

How boring.

Students should share ideas, speak freely, even engage in the occasional heated debate. And they should be laughing because real teaching and learning should bring joy, and laughter is a consequence of joy.

Last week, a college colleague very politely stuck his head in and asked if he could shut my door. “Of course,” I said. I typically do shut my door, but we have a new security system at the college, and all doors are now locked when shut. So if I’m missing a few students, I tend to keep the door open in case they are running late.

I smiled when I was asked to the shut the door though. You see, my students were laughing too loudly. That thought made me smile even more.

Sure, I have some classes that look like they are in misery. I call them out for that. “Don’t you think learning should be a joy? If you’re enjoying what you are learning, let me see it on your face. If you’re not enjoying it, I’ll keep working harder, but sooner or later you’ll need some serious self-reflection as to why you are in college. This could be the best time of your life, but only if you make it so.”

I’ll take a rowdy class over a quiet class any day. You see, I can take the energy from those rowdy students and redirect it into class discussion and activity. And when that’s done right, there are no better days in the classroom. But for those who lack energy, it’s so much harder to create it. I’ve thought of bringing espresso shots to class, but I don’t make that much money.

When I first started teaching college, I worried if I’d have the same effect on adults. I’m not trying to say I’m great; I’m saying I have a lot of fun doing what I do. But I do want to be great. Many of my college students are only a few months older than some of my previous high school kids were. There’s not a lot of difference between a senior in high school and a freshman in college. But in college, we do get a variety of ages and students in our class.

My first college class: I had a woman who didn’t smile much. She became my challenge. So many of my students in that class laughed and participated, but she was a quiet one who only listened. She was older than me, African-American, and Muslim. She couldn’t have been more different than most students I had worked with in the past. She taught me something important though: some people do prefer to listen than speak, and that’s ok. After all, listening is a prerequisite for understanding, and as teachers, we must recognize that our students will have a variety of personalities as well as learning styles. She was quiet, and that was ok; I still had a dozen other students laughing and sharing thoughts throughout each lesson. But she bothered me, for in the back of my mind I was worried that she was not enjoying the lessons.

And the end of the semester, at the end of my very first college class, this older woman came up to speak to me privately. She said something I cherish and always will, and she shattered my fears that I wasn’t getting through to her.

“Don’t ever change. Don’t ever let the system change you. Don’t ever get burned out. You are the best teacher I have ever had,” she told me and shook my hand on the last day of our class.

Now I was speechless. Here’s this woman who I worried was not enjoying my class. This quiet soul who listened and rarely spoke unless forced. But the few words she volunteered on her own were some of the nicest words anyone has told me.

If you are out there—and let’s face it, how many older African-American Muslim students have I had? (a few, actually)—and you ever stumble across this blog, thank you. Thank you deeply for giving me confidence that I could teach successfully at the college level to any audience.

So teacher-friends and friends of learning, what were your favorite classroom experiences? Favorite teachers? I’d love to hear your stories too.

A Halloween Poem

I saw a spider on the door

As I reached for the knob.

It spun its web, trapped my hand,

And turned it into one pink blob.

I ran to the back door.

Only to be greeted by an army of wasps.

They flapped by my shoulder,

Reminding me that nature is boss.

I stared at an empty box

Left in my living room.

And then it opened on its own.

Its flaps-- like a ghostly flower-- bloomed.

Spiders, wasps, and ghosts in boxes

All of this is true.

To cleanse myself from evil.

I jumped in the shower with you.

Then my lover said, "come to bed."

So I crept into the sheets.

But a clown’s face greeted me

With teeth as bloody as beets.

I screamed when It bit me,

And the spider cast a web.

Then the wasp formed a nest

And the clown in my bed said:

"Happy, happy Halloween

I hope you like my friends

We’ll be here with you

Until the very end!"

A smiling jack-o-lantern

Sat on the window sill.

And with blood running from my face,

I knew that I was so very ill.

It was Halloween, all right,

Our greatest fears had come to be.

I had spiders, wasps, and clowns

Horror was all I could see.

But I laughed as blood soaked the sheets
And told them they were fools.

You’re messing with the wrong man.

I break all of Halloween’s rules.

And so I became the horror

That walked down the street,

To torment and freak
All of those who were meek.

On this night, our fears came true.

Do you have strength to fight them?

Because on one night, you will see

The evil only you can imagine.

Follow Joe on Facebook, and pick up a copy of Rabbit in Red, his horror novel (the first in a trilogy!) HERE!