A very, very wet good morning. Thankfully, near-hurricane Beryl proved
to be something of a wimp. It was more of a blowhard, windless, 4 rain inches
event by the time it's eye traveled over Valdosta yesterday. Yet, yesterday
afternoon, as the rains came down, my cellphone rang. It was Barbara. She
called to remind me of her "assignment deadline," tropical storm or no tropical
storm. "Yes, ma'am," I replied. Not being able to go out into my flower
garden, while I was on home lockdown, I was actually thinking about what I
would tell Barbara beyond what I had said almost two weeks ago. I was also
reflecting on the workshop I had just given at RCCC's Summer Institute in North
Carolina. I hope I had offered what they wanted or needed. I certainly didn't
cover everything that I had planned, but answering questions and going into
sidebars during the presentation will always do that. Speaking of that, I've
learned that though I read up on RCCC or any institution where I give a
workshop on teaching, I really don't know the ins and outs of its faculty and
administration. So, I can't have any theory for it. I also don't know who
would be in the audience, what their stories are, what they are seeking, and
what they are needing whether they know it or not. So, I don't, I can't, tell
them what to think or what to do. All I can do, all I should do to my way of
thinking, is share me and my story making sure they see a guy who had
transformed from a pontificating professor to a loving teacher and who has been
on his inner personal and professional journey for the last 20 years, making
sure they understand nothing is quick, simple, sure fired, or easy, making sure
what they see is the result of those decade of searches, learning,
experimenting, misfirings, and achievement. So, I let the "theories" talk to
them; I show them how theories talk to me; I share with them, and model, what
I consequently think, feel, and do. I don't, I can't, tell them what to think
or what to feel or what to do. I do help them look through the lens of the
latest "brainology" on learning and show them consequently how to think and
feel, and the why of such thinking and feeling. And, I let them draw their own
conclusions and make their own decisions about what, if anything, to play with.
Back to Barbara. Not wanting to get a failing grade, this is the first
of two parts of what I wrote her. I told her that each day when I get out of
bed I know I am going into a messy, complex, complicated life full of potential
waylays, disappointments, unfairnesses, misfortunes, screw ups. But, if I make
a commitment to a higher purpose, to pull that dedication into my life, to live
a meaningful personal and professional life in accordance with my values, to
refuse to compromise those values, I can fend off the distractions,
temptations, static, noise; I won't let the challenges get me down; I won't let
the setbacks be discouraging; I won't dwell on the "one that got away" to stop
me. Why? Well, for one thing complaining won't accomplish anything. After
all, you can't build something positive with a bunch of negatives, and you
can't be on the move while stuck in the mud of resignation, frustration, or
despair. For another thing, each "failure" reminds me of the places I want and
can go, and maybe makes me even more determined. And finally, because who I
want to be and what I want to do and where I want to go is clear as a bell,
rings true as a bell, and cuts my path in the direction of true north. It's
about morality, ethic, personal awareness, personal otherness, service to
others. It's about what and how I can leave the world better than when I found
it; it's about doing something that will change the world and alter the future;
it's about doing something that will help others, one person at a time, become
better people. Once I make those decisions on a macro level and abide by it,
live it, in my daily micro and incremental choices, life is ethically easier
and certainly more significant and fulfilling. And, to help me keep on the
true and narrow, with the intention of making a difference that day, I bookend
myself with a guiding morning and every-changing "to do" list and a "not to do"
list, and an end-of-day, pre-wine and cheese, reflective and evaluating "done
list."
On the T.V. show, "Inside the Actor's Studio," James Lipton always asks
his guests what would they want St. Peter to say to them when they stand before
the Pearly Gates. Well, I've thought about that lately, feeling a deep sense
of morality, upon the sudden and unexpected death of my friend, colleague, and
VSU's Provost. I think St. Peter would say to me, "Hey, Schmier, before you
say anything, don't throw your resume in our faces. We don't care what you
did. We want to know who your are because who you are tells us why you did
what you did. Were you patently a genuine human being? Were you too busy
working to share, connect, and serve? Did you bring your heart and soul and
spirit and dedicate yourself to a cause beyond your self-interest? We opened
the doors for you to walk through. Who do you think screamed 'boo' in your
ear, shook you to your soul, and let you have your epiphany so that you
eventually found your place in the very place you were standing? We showed you
the difference between wanting to be important and doing something important;
we directed you to finding what you love doing and doing what you love. We got
you past cancer; we let you survive unscathed an unsurvivable cerebral
hemorrahage. We offered you the opportunity to see and understand what really
mattered. We provided you the means to see that your resume of publications
and titles and positions were not the best marks of success. Did you hear and
answer the questions we asked of you: 'Whither did thou goest? What’s was the
purpose of your life? What kind of person did you want to become? What kind
of person did you become?' So, did you stop over-investing in yourself and
your career and under-investing in people? Did you then start investing
heavily in others? Did you discover that loving relationships with family,
friends, and students are the most powerful and enduring source of happiness?
Did you see that you were your best teaching resource? Don't talk to us in
generalities and theories. Don't give a list of books and articles you've
read; don't rattle off a list of authorities in the field of learning; don't
hand us all those pithy quotes of yours; and don't point us to a catalogue of
methods and technologies you used. We are not impressed by all that
superficial stuff. Don't excuse yourself by telling us that it wasn't your job
and that you outsourced people to other people. Don't give us a string of 'I
couldn't' and 'I wasn't' and 'it was hard' and 'I didn't know how.' Tell us,
what did you do with what we gave you? Give us names! Talk to us of how you
took who everyone else condemned as a weed and nurtured into a beautiful
flower. Talk to us about someone who was labelled small and ordinary and
unimportant whom you noticed, cared about, and helped elevate to the heights of
huge and extraordinary and important. Talk to us about the actual persons you
found in the valley's shadows and helped them learn how to climb to the
mountaintop. Talk to us about the individual persons you actually helped,
about the individuals you actually helped become better people."
Maybe that should be an explicit part of our individual and
institutional mission, that is, to help students think about their lives and
not just their professions, to graduate as honors persons possessing a moral
compass rather than just honor students possessing a degree and a credential;
to help them play the responsibility game rather than the blame game; to know
that while things happen to them in unpredictable ways, they have the profound
power to choose the effect that has on the kind of people who they become; to
help them understand that professional accomplishment, fulfillment, and
happiness aren't necessarily synonomous terms; and to send them on their way
with a strength of character and deeply ingrained values that will help them
keep from losing their way.
That has had a heck of an impact on me. It's made me see sharper,
listen keener, and feel deeper. It's made me a more aware person; it's made me
a more alive person; it's made me a more hopeful and loving person; it's made
me a more empathic person; it's made me a more selfless and serving person;
it's made me a more purposeful person; it's made me a more fulfilled person;
it's made me a happier person; and, it's made me a damn better teacher each
day.
Now, it is easy to be preachy to yourself and students. The problem
with such sermonizing, however well intended, is that people, and that includes
you and me, will listen and see on their own time not on our time. Yet, it far
more meaningful and just as easy to be spiritual without being preachy. Just
preach with living your life, not with your words. Speak with you eyes, facial
expressions, hands, body language, vocal tones and inflections. And, from
reading daily student journal entries and having subsequent conversations, that
is especially critical, for students What that means is that we better be
living a life of values, modeling 'do as I do' rather than 'do as I say and not
as I do,' so that when the occasion arises we are around modeling what we wish
they would learn to live proves valuable to each of them.
Make it a good day
-Louis-
Louis Schmier
http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org
Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\
/\
(O) 229-333-5947 /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ /
\
(C) 229-630-0821 / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \
/\ \
//\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/
\_/__\ \
/\"If you want to climb
mountains,\ /\
_ / \ don't practice on mole
hills" - / \_
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