People are generous. People are kind.
To pick up where we left off yesterday - It was still well over 95 degrees, thick, and humid when we left the library around 6 pm. We were headed to the other side of town to eat din din and then pitch a tent in the park.
We stopped at Subway to escape the heat and grab some grub. We walked in and were greeted by a couple that was about our parents age. Ron and Deb. A few minutes into basic conversation Ron invited us back to their home to shower and spend the night and they generously bought us dinner. Whew people in Kansas sure are kind.
Thank you Ron and Deb. Incredible oasis.
Ron was currently a high school counselor and had been a teacher for the last 30 years.
Lesson #68: The beginning is harsh. Stick with it.
As we ate dinner Ron told us about his first couple of years in the classroom in a small, rural school. It was absolutely brutal. He told us how he had no control over the class and no learning could happen because behavior was so poor. He couldn't have hit the nail any squarer on the head. He described the gut wrenching feelings of driving home knowing that he did a poor job that day. He talked about waking up in the morning and feeling anxious. He talked about feeling deeply inadequate for the job and feeling like a failure. He summed up a big part of our first year in the classroom.
He empathized about not knowing and having clarity as a first year teacher about exactly what his role was in the classroom.
He said the switch was in his third year when he decided enough was enough and that he had to put himself in the middle of the behaviors that were taking away from learning. He couldn't let things slide, he couldn't pretend not to hear students curse under their breathe, he had to put himself in the middle. He talked about how things improved once he had that clarity and communicated this clarity to his students about what he expected of them and what would happen if they were taking away from their own, or anyone else's, learning.
Lesson #69: We need to talk more and be open about our struggles. Everyone benefits and learns from your story.
A common theme I've seen in working with and talking to effective, successful veteran teachers is how challenging the first few years of teaching was for them. It seems like the farther removed you are from that initial struggle the more willing you are to share about it.
One of our school and district's most effective teachers is Mr. Whitehead, our band teacher. At the end of this year he told me about his first few years of being the band director. Again, absolutely brutal. The kids were gut-wrenchingly mean to him and their peers. His students told him they didn't like him and wanted to get him fired. They even stole his car on a Friday afternoon and didn't give it back until the following Tuesday. He got so fed up he told the kids he was going to quit. He didn't quit though - he showed up the next day and kept pushing. He has now been at the school 16 years and has taken the band to multiple national high school band and drum line championships.
We showered, did laundry and Ron and Deb even had MLB Network so Jack was on cloud nine as he got to watch his beloved Pirates beat the Athletics.
Jack in heaven. Gus Creach this basement was built for you.
Thank you Ron and Deb for the hospitality. Thank you for opening your home to us. Thank you Ron for sharing your story. Kansas continues to be nothing but kind people.
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This morning we continued the new routine of waking up before the sun and were on the road by 6:30 am. The forecast called for the coolest day this week - just over 90. We rode due east into the wind and a few hours into the ride hit the biggest storm we've encountered yet. Jack and I were about three miles apart and when it started raining. I kept going as the rain was light and then pulled over once it really started to come down. Apparently I was on the edge of the storm because Jack stopped a few miles earlier at a farm house to take cover and said it was the most intense lightning (shout out to LS), thunder, and rain he had even seen.
We arrived completely soaked in Cassaddy, KS and had a late gas station lunch, Jack caught a nap, and then we headed south to Eureka. Felt wrong to go from triple digits in temperature the last few days to being chilled and cold in the rainstorm today. Don't sleep on mother nature.
Kansas public parks continue to deliver. We showered at the city park, pitched our tent and hit the hay. We need to get back in our early bed, early rise routine. Anything to beat the heat.
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