Great Teachers Leave Legacies

By Cindy Reitzi

Recently my father asked me, “Do you feel like you make a difference in your students’ lives?” I really don’t know. Partly because I’ve only been at this school one short year. Partly because you don’t necessarily know your impact on your students until later; and partly because teenagers just don’t tell you you’re making a difference. Lots of times students don’t realize you’re actually teaching them something.

Everyday teaching isn’t Earth-shattering, dramatic, and full of daily epiphanies. It doesn’t make good Hollywood copy. It isn’t the movies, where the crusading teacher (usually an ex-marine) comes in, revitalizes an uncaring, entrenched institution (single-handedly and overnight) by teaching the kids martial arts (when they really need to learn to read). All of this is, of course, accomplished to a swelling backdrop of inspirational, I- can-make-miracles music.

Real teaching can be grindingly slow, subtle, gradual, and invisible. It is incremental moments of time, not epiphanies. But this daily, slow march of time can yield dramatic results. This is how school cultures are shaped and traditions begin.

So I wonder about the effects of dynamic teachers retiring, teachers who have lent long-term time and passion to their profession and have shaped the culture of their schools. One started the Bible as Literature class; another created Film Study; still another revolutionized Ceramics.

We know them: They are the standard bearers, the hard-acts-to-follow, and the teachers others want to imitate. When these teachers retire, does their influence retire with them or does it persist as tradition?

Recently, our school presented Fine Arts Week. Fine Arts Week started in 1971 as a way to get art “out of the basement of the school.”

It seemed that this week represented the culmination of the culture of this high school, developed by teachers, students and administrators over time. From the English department, students offered short films they’d produced in Film Study and Mass Media, creative writing, improv theater, one-act plays, multicultural theater and musical theater offerings. Art students gave demonstrations in the school entrance and displayed their works in the gallery. Dance recitals showcased everything from classical ballet and traditional Indian, to hip-hop. The music department served up jazz, classical, musical theater, and choral arrangements. These were all products of the vision of teachers, students, and the community.

The week’s finale was a spectacle of pottery, the now-famous pottery auction. It was a big deal. In the semi-chaos of bidding, some pots went for $200 to $300. It had the feel of an established tradition (over 30 years old) and something students awaited each year. The audience could buy high-quality pots; student artists demonstrated that their work had artistic and monetary value in the world. Most of the profits went to the artists and the art department. This year, the auction grossed a record $8,000.

Another pottery tradition sponsored by the school and the university is a benefit called The Souper Bowl. Student potters donate bowls, which are sold (with soup in them), and the proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity.

Watching the auction made me wonder which traditions and inventions persist to become a part of a school or an institution, and which good ideas simply die when there is no one to pass the baton to. So I asked Don Hunt, a founder of Fine Arts Week and a catalyst for numerous community arts projects, why he thought certain ideas stick.

“When something has true, fundamental value that you pass on to the next generation, then it doesn’t die. Unique creations withstand time. Otherwise, it’s a gimmick or a fad. You need to turn ownership over to the students and to the community. If you own it personally, if you give it to the community, if it’s not one teacher’s ego or project, then it lasts.”

Don Hunt, who has taught pottery for three decades, retires this year. But, like so many great educators, the traditions he helped create will continue to greatly benefit students – and the community.

Posted May 31, 2002