 | It's all about attitude Maintaining enthusiasm is
mark of success | 
By Lynn Jerde
Written for News & Views and OnWEAC
In the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” 1st-grade teacher
Miss Wormwood would survey the most recent Calvin-created catastrophe,
then clench her teeth and mutter, “Five years to retirement, five
years to retirement . . .”
Every teacher has experienced such moments of frustration and
burnout from time to time — even Evansville High School art teacher
Rich Krake, who really does have “five years to retirement” if
he sticks to his current plan.
Most days, Krake derives joy from his job.
“Attitude makes all the difference,” contends Krake, who
has taught in Wisconsin public schools for 36 years, including 32 years
at Evansville.
 Evansville art teacher Rich Krake
maintains a high energy in his classroom by moving around, helping
students with their projects. Above, Krake helps student Michelle
Cummins transform a hanger into an animal sculpture. | A teacher, he said, should be very intentional about cultivating
a positive outlook. For example, if Krake sees graffiti on a school
wall, he doesn’t only think of it as vandalism. He sees the wall
scrawls as signs of some student, somewhere in the school, who might
channel his urge for self-expression through an art class.
John Nepper, band director at Kenosha’s Bullen Middle School —
and a 16-year teacher in the same school system where he got his
education — has a similar outlook.
“If my kids get something out of my teaching, then I get
something out of it,” he said. “Most of us who are in
education are here because we want to make things better for the kids
who come into our schools.”
Nepper and Krake will attest that there are times when the
paperwork, the meetings, the time demands, the lack of up-to-date
equipment and facilities — and yes, the kids — can make it
challenging for teachers to maintain an upbeat attitude about their
profession.
And yes, Nepper acknowledged, there are teachers who, like the
fictional Miss Wormwood, are marking time until retirement.
Often, teachers find it difficult to give up the job security that
accompanies many years of teaching, Nepper said. Even starting over in a
different school district often means a cut in pay and benefits. So,
teachers may remain in the classroom, even though their hearts are no
longer in their work.
 Kenosha
music teacher John Nepper often steps down from the conductor’s
platform and joins the band. | “Sometimes,” Nepper said, “teachers get locked in
because they think, ‘This is the curriculum, this is the way I have
to do things.’ They don’t try to look for a new way.”
For teachers who want out of this rut, Krake said, there’s
help. At times, he’s found that help within the walls of his own
school.
Several years ago, Krake and some other Evansville teachers formed
a Power of Positive Students (POPS) program for teachers in grades 5 to
12. The philosophy of POPS, he said, is that a teacher’s attitude
makes all the difference, not only for his or her own morale, but also
for the students.
“It was a chance to empower teachers to take a chance, to try
something new,” he said. “Even if something had been tried
before and didn’t work, we tried it again.”
POPS is dormant at Evansville these days, but some of the ideas
that came from POPS are still in use.
One of them involves “giving kids a hand.”
If an Evansville student does anything positive — not
necessarily an academic achievement, just something good — that
student’s name and his or her accomplishment are printed on a paper
hand. Occasionally, there’s a random drawing of the paper hands,
with prizes such as movie passes. But the main reward, Krake said, is
recognition and encouragement.
“You know, every student is like a kindergartner, only
taller,” Krake observed. “They always need pats on the back,
whether they’re 5 or 18.”
So do teachers.
At one time, Evansville teachers could also receive a paper hand
from the administration, for any accomplishment, large or small. Krake
said he regrets that this practice has fallen by the wayside.
“Recognition for teachers is very, very rare,” he said. “A
lot of times, coaches get recognized if they have winning teams. But
other than at their retirement, do teachers get recognized? I don’t
think so. I think they need to get recognized every day.”
Last year, Nepper received recognition as a winner of a Kohl
Teacher Fellowship.
Opportunities
Here are some opportunities for teachers to learn, reflect,
celebrate and renew their excitement about their profession:
• The Wisconsin Great Teachers Seminar, July 25-28
at Sinsinawa Mound Center in Grant County. Cost is $195, including
three overnights, nine meals, materials and seminar fees; there is
an additional cost for credit through the University of
Wisconsin-Stout. Contact Debra Berndt, WEA Professional Development
Academy Inc., 800-362-8034, ext. 294, or go to:
www.weac.org/
Resource/ 1998-99/ march99/ great.htm.
• The Wisconsin Teachers Forum, June 17-18 at
Monona Terrace Convention and Community Center. Contact Connie
Salveson at the Department of Public Instruction, 608-266-8300.
• Teacher World, June 22-26 at the University of
Wisconsin-La Crosse. Contact Annette Hanson at DPI, 608-267-2003.
• The Accelerated Schools Project from Stanford
University. Go to: www.stanford.edu/
group/ asp.
• The Herb Kohl Educational Foundation Fellowships.
This program recognizes outstanding teachers annually with awards of
$1,000 for the teacher, plus $1,000 for the teacher’s school.
To be eligible, a teacher must be nominated by a parent, other
teacher, community member or school administrator. Applica-tions are
due in December. Contact Janet Haas at DPI, 608-267-9269.
• The All-USA Teacher Team, sponsored by USA Today
newspaper. Twenty top teachers will be featured in USA Today this
fall, and each will receive a $2,500 cash award. Anyone can nominate
a teacher. Go to: www.usatoday.com/
life/ teaform.htm, or call 1-800-872-2216. | The process of applying for the honor, he said, was almost as
morale-boosting as winning it. It required him to seek recommendations
from other teachers, and to reflect, in writing, about what he had
accomplished in his classroom.
One of Nepper’s proudest accomplishments, he said, has been
the development of leadership qualities in his students.
One way he does this is by relinquishing his baton to students who
volunteer to lead the musical warm-up exercises that begin each band
practice. The student leaders, he said, are not necessarily the most
talented musicians — just young people who are willing to stand up
in front of their peers and lead.
“And, if the other kids get out of hand,” Nepper laughed,
“the student leader corrects them, usually using the same words and
gestures that I would use. It gives me a good mirror of what I look like
to my students.
“A lot of teachers are reluctant to give up that kind of
control, but it’s rewarding to see which kids will step up, and
watch what happens when they do.”
Nepper and Krake agree that one key to keeping a positive attitude
is to keep seeking new ways to teach.
This is where continuing education is vital.
In a conference, seminar, workshop or in-service training program,
Krake looks for two things — great speakers, and fellow teachers
willing to share their ideas.
Nepper said workshops that involve a lot of academic work (lectures
and worksheets) usually don’t do much for him.
“I look for something that can grab me personally,” he
said. “It has to fill me with ideas — things for the kids to
do, things that get me fired up, things that I can actively get involved
in. I don’t want to be bored any more than my kids do.”
Planners of this summer’s Great Teachers Seminar — July
25-28 at the Sinsinawa Mound Center in Grant County — are aiming
for that kind of invigoration for teachers from pre-kindergarten to
12th-grade levels.
The seminar will be led by national Great Teachers Movement founder
David B. Gottschall and Wisconsin coordinator Rita Lease.
The seminar’s rationale is that teachers learn best from each
other, and from teachers who have a variety of backgrounds, specialties
and years of experience.
Its purposes include:
- Encouraging teachers to look beyond their own specialties, and
focus on the universal concepts of good teaching.
- Promoting an atmosphere of “introspection and
self-appraisal,” to help participants contemplate their work as
teachers — how they do it, and how they can do it better.
The Great Teachers Seminar is scheduled for the summer, as are many
opportunities for teachers’ continuing education and
reinvigoration.
Even if year-round school should become the norm, Nepper said,
teachers will still need large blocks of time away from the classroom to
reflect and learn.
Krake said he makes time for this on vacations.
His wife, Nancy Krake, teaches special education at Brodhead Middle
School.
When they travel together, they often choose destinations that
include teachers’ workshops.
Or, they scout out potential field trip destinations for their
pupils, such as the Art Institute in Chicago — which Krake revisits
frequently because its offerings change constantly.
“Whenever Nancy and I are driving back from our vacations,”
he said, “we usually spend the whole trip back talking about what
ideas we got, and which ones we’re going to try in our schools.”
Krake recognizes, however, that the all-consuming nature of the
teaching profession also can be one of the factors that can lower some
teachers’ morale.
“No, teaching is not an easy life,” he said. “It’s
tough on the teacher’s family, especially if the kids go to the
same school where their parents teach, and everybody expects the teacher’s
kids to be perfect. And, then there are all the nights when I don’t
get everything done in school and have to take my work home with me.”
Who would understand that better than other teachers?
Both Krake and Nepper say supportive colleagues — who, as a
group, are committed to keeping education excellent and inspiring —
can make all the difference.
Nepper said that’s especially important at his school now,
because Bullen just became a middle school this year, and its faculty
are still trying to define the school’s ethos. That they’re
committed to doing so as a group is a great start, Nepper said. Later,
they’ll establish specific goals and programs together.
Krake said public school faculties often overlook a rich source of
strength and morale — older, established teachers such as himself.
“Schools always need a rudder or an anchor,” he said. “That’s
us old guys. We remember things from the past that maybe have been tried
before and didn’t work — and maybe we’re willing to try
them again with a different group of kids.”
And, his years of teaching — and seeing changes in families,
students, society and educational philosophy — give him a
perspective that keeps him optimistic.
Posted June 9, 1999 |