the same way. I tell students, “I can be your best friend or your worst enemy—I hope to be
your best teacher, but that is up to you. If you do not want to do the work, I cannot force you
to, but I will not allow you to disrupt the learning of others.” My first term, when students were
noisy, I would threaten them with a quiz. I ended up bringing home stacks of papers to read. It
aggravated me when I realized the only person being punished was me. Now I sit in class and
wait. I say, “Whenever you are ready,” and they get quiet. My latest technique is to shake my
wrist and I tell them to all shake their wrists. When they ask why, I say “You are going to be do-
ing a lot of writing and you need to warm-up so you do not get cramps.” Now, when they are
not paying attention, I shake my wrist and they pay attention. Respecting students means giv-
ing them credit for being intelligent. Because I was a “65 student,” I understand what is going
on in class and this helps me figure out ways to get them to learn.
I do not have a lot of rules, but the ones I have, I expect to be obeyed. Once a community
is established in class you can pull back, but you have to start with consistent rules. If stu-
dents have too much freedom at the beginning, it is impossible to take it back. My first term,
a student complained that I kept changing the rules. He said, “We don’t know what you
want.” I got mad at him, but then I realized he was right. All teachers have to learn how to be
the teacher. When you screw up, you will have to live with it. The beauty of teaching is you
get to fix your mistakes when you have a new set of students. I learned in life that you can fix
things and that there are things in life that are more important than who got the highest
score on the test.
***JOIN THE CONVERSATION—OVERCOMING DIFFICULTIES
Frank Bowe, head of the special education program at Hofstra University and a nationally
renown advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, believes that what is most re-
markable about Dennis is not that he teaches from a wheelchair, but that he really wants
to be a teacher and it shows every day. According to Frank, “Dennis is doing what he
wants to do and he is paying a high price in a lot of ways to do it. The wheelchair is sec-
ondary to this joy he derives from teaching.”
Questions to Consider:- In your view, what qualities make Dennis a successful teacher?
- How did he figure out how to be successful in the classroom?
- Were his life experiences handicaps or sources of strengths as he became a teacher?
Explain. - What aspects of his approach to teaching do you agree with or disagree with? Explain.
- If you were on a school’s hiring committee and knew about Dennis’ accident, would
you have interviewed him for a job or hired him? Explain.
SECTION G: TEACHING STORIES 2
How I Learned to Be a Teacherby David Morris
Dr. David Morris is one of the teachers I wrote about in the “My Best Teachers” section earlier in
this chapter. I cannot overemphasize the importance of colleagues who share your goals and ap-
proaches to education. They are partners in transforming the lives of students and schools. Since I
left Edward R. Murrow High School, David and I have continued to work together. He has been a
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