The End of an Era

A few days back, the University of Wisconsin-Madison announced that their long-time marching band director, Mike Leckrone, would be retiring at the end of this year.  His 50th year at the UW.



It is absolutely "The End of an Era."



I had the honor and pleasure of marching for Mike from 1991-1995. I was also a member of the office staff for the last three years of my time with the band. I don't know if I can even fully express all the valuable lessons I learned while in the UW Band.



But. . . . I'm going to try.

Lesson #1: Don't give up. Failure is not an end.  The first year I tried out for the Band, in 1990, I was cut.  I didn't make it and I was crushed.  The tryouts, known as "Reg. Week," are not for the feint of heart.  In fact, if memory serves, they are brutal.  After being cut, I went to see Mike to ask him what I needed to do to make the Band the following year. He suggested I do these things: Go down to the instrument shop and get a loaner trumpet, sign up for the University Band (a non-audition band like what one does in high school), LEARN HOW TO PLAY THE TRUMPET WHILE IN SAID BAND, and try again the following year.



I went back to my dorm and considered my options. . . . then I did exactly what he suggested. I didn't know how to play the trumpet but I knew people who did and so. . . I signed up, learned how to play and tried out again the next year.



Lesson #2: If you don't like it, do something about it.  The second year I tried out, I DID make the Band. . . . as an un-uniformed alternate (a "Sweater" alternate).  When the list came out, my name and a couple others were listed as a "go talk to Mike" at the end of the final cut.  So. . . back I went and this time Mike told me that he valued my hard work but didn't think I was ready yet to march in the block. I *might* have started to cry.  And. . . I remember this clearly. . . he leaned back in his chair, looked me dead in the eye and said, "I'm giving you a chance to show me you belong here."



I worked my ass off that year.  I never got a marching spot--despite learning the entirety of most of the half-time shows.  At this point, I had dug in my heels.  By God, I WAS going to prove it and no one was going to stop me. I may have only been on the field during rehearsals but there was no way I was going to quit now.



Lesson #3: If it was easy, anyone could do it.  After my 3rd Reg Week, I finally earned a 1/2 spot on the block.  I was marching pregame shows. I was thrilled but it wasn't good enough.  I wanted a full-spot. Both pregame and half time shows. It wasn't easy to watch my friends "saddle up" for the half time show but it was a whole hell of a lot easier than watching the game from the student section. At this point, I had come to realize that what seemed pretty easy for about 200 other people was just going to take more from me.



Lesson #4: The harder you work, the sweeter the victory. I finally earned a full spot on the block during my 3rd year in the UW Marching Band. While I don't, empirically, know if this is true, I believe that I relished my time on the field more than a lot of band kids. . . . it was a long, hard road and I valued each time I put on my uniform, taped on my spats, and lined up for run ons and half time shows. I was also filled with a sense of pride because I'd had to work so hard.





Other, smaller lessons I learned from my association with Mike both as a band member and a band staff member:



*A broken copy machine is NO excuse (very helpful in my current job).



*Sometimes you don't mean to hurt something (like the band) but you do. Then you need to fix it.



*Quadruple check all your photocopies.  Hell hath no fury like 200+ band kids with bad charts.



*Own up to your screw-ups and endeavor to NOT repeat them. . . EVER.



*Perfection is a perfectly reasonable goal.



*Hard work does pay off.



*Even when you do a good job, sometimes you have to, "do it again."



*Frost bite is no excuse for crappy playing or crappy marching.



*Be tougher than the person next to you--or try to be.



*When you expect a lot from yourself and those around you, amazing things can be achieved.



*Big Band music is a thing of wonder.



*Bix Beiderbecke is an unsung hero.



*"EAT A ROCK" (Which--as far as I was ever able to understand--means you take something difficult and crush it with your will and determination while being stridently amazing in the process.)





So. . . today. . . when asked to reflect on an educator that impacted me and had a lasting effect on my life, I instantly thought of Mike Leckrone.  I am, sincerely, a better person for having been a part of the UW Marching Band.

Cue 1990's Dance Tunes

I've got the:

Part of the teacher gig is doing "inservice" before school starts and during the school year. It is, ostensibly, a time for professional work such as team building, goal setting, data crunching, problem solving and a whole cadre of other serious business.  If one is lucky it ACTUALLY is these things for the most part.  If one is not lucky, it's a major bummer. I've had both experiences and I can say, quite confidently, that the former is preferable to the latter.



During our department meeting today, we were tasked with making a sign with a single word on it that we would use as a touchstone for the school year. . . . a word to remind us why we were Doing. All. The. Things. Now--I don't know if other departments are doing this or not but I DO enjoy a wee craft so I was pretty happy about the whole thing. 



But enough about that, let's talk about the WORD!!! 



I picked the word "power" because that's what I want my students to have:

*The power to learn

*The power to grow

*The power to change

*The power to help

*The power to decide

*The power to persevere

*The power to question

*The power to lead



(I imagine you can see where this is going)



In order to facilitate my students having these cool powers, I need to have:

*The power to learn

*The power to grow

*The power to change

*The power to help

*The power to decide

*The power to persevere

*The power to question

*The power to lead



Hmmmmm. . . . . . . it's almost as if I need the same things my students do. . . . almost like a positive, productive learning environment is a two-way street of sorts.  Shocking!



I'm shocked I tell you!!  Gobsmacked!! (Insert very slow wink)



The thing is, education is something that should be happening between students and teachers.  It should not be something that happens to them.  Power is important.  If a person feels they have power, then they will, invariably, use that power to direct the course of their lives.  If we want our students to be active, interesting, compassionate, humans. . . they have to have the power to develop into such. 



And we, as teachers, have to have the power to make it happen.



So there you have it. . . more education ramblings from some random area of my brain.  Must be the start of the school year. . . I was not thinking these deep thoughts a week ago! 



I AM brewing up a diatribe about disc golf tournaments. I just have to get it all figured out in my head first. ;-)  You have been duly warned.

Day 1

It's the start of another school year for me. . . . my 40th in fact.



Whoo. . . . 40 years in school.  That's crazy!!!



I've spent most of the day arranging my room, going through files, and finding all the important things I need because I've moved rooms this year.  It's the calm before the storm so to speak.

So. . . in light of the upcoming 2019-2019 school year. . . allow me to regale you all with:



"The Truths of Education According to Me"



1. It will always be hotter than the ninth level of hell the first two weeks of the school year (the first

    three weeks if we are unlucky).



2. There will always be more cool students than challenging students. 



3. You WILL run out of pencils. . . . more than once.



4. Class size matters -- anyone who says anything different is either fooling themselves or trying to

    fool you.



5. Whatever the temperature is in your room, at least 1/3 of the people in said room will be unhappy

    with it.



6. NO ONE knows your gig better than you do.  Be a reflective teacher but don't let others pressure

    you into self-doubt.



7. There's nothing better than raiding the supply cupboard before all the locusts descend. Seriously.

    Get yours. You snooze, you lose.



8. The only people who will really understand you are your teacher friends.  When "the struggle is

    real," they will have your back.



9. Research is a two-way street. Be thorough before espousing something as educational gospel.



10. The days before winter break and spring break are a test of endurance the likes of which even a

      triathlete would find daunting.



11. A spider or bee sighting signals the end of learning for the day.



12. Regardless of age, nothing draws students to the windows like snowflakes.



13. Go pee.  Seriously. Find someone to watch the students and GO. Bladder issues are a horrendous

      nuisance. Avoid at all costs.





So. . . get out there teachers and conquer the universe!!  You may find your truths to be very different from mine but that's all to the good.  Pretty soon the kids will show up and then it will be October before we've all caught our breaths. ;-)

Here we go. . . AGAIN!

I keep trying to blog.  I keep thinking that it would be therapeutic to blog but. . . but. . . it's just so HARD!  No, seriously. Blogging is hard work.  You have to come up with something to blog about. Then you must attempt to discuss said thing in a cogent and coherent fashion and--if you are really putting the pressure on yourself--you must be somewhat entertaining while doing so. 



I've decided I might not be up to the task. I mean, I have LOADS of things I could just ramble on about (as I'm doing at this very moment) but does that really mean I should subject the interwebs to my rambling musings about whatever topic is floating across my prefrontal cortex?  I don't know.  It all seems a bit. . . . arrogant, self-aggrandizing, and insipid.

I'm hoping this picture of my corgi, Stella, will garner some sympathy from whomever stumbles across this tomfoolery.  She's pretty cute if we're being honest.



I have no clue what I will be blogging about.  I attempted to blog about teaching but. . . found I could not do so without the broad use of expletives (the politics of education are a major bummer).  I have also attempted to blog about knitting but. . . but. . . it's my HOBBY and blogging about it regularly felt a lot like a job.  Yuck. 



I suppose, in the end, this will end up being more of a stream of consciousness type of blog where I go bumbling off to discuss whatever is on my mind at the time. Fair warning if you happen across this business and are thinking of bookmarking it--below are a list of possible things I might discuss.  I'm not promising intelligent discussion though. . . so don't get your hopes up.



I'm not alphabetizing this either.  That's just crazy.



*Teaching

*Hockey

*Books

*My kids (AKA: The Godless Heathens)

*Knitting

*Politics (Yeah, I just went there)

*Food

*Drink

*Corgwyn (or any other dog that strikes my fancy)

*My cats (Hello. . . crazy cat lady in training)

*Other crafty things

*Doctor Who

*Wisconsin

*Tea

*Disc Golf

*Stuff I Hate (like mean people or peas)

*Stuff I Love (like rainbows or washi tape)

*Purple

*History



Hopefully you've caught the gist of this. . . . good luck. . . you're going to need it if you come back.