A Tale of Two Teachers
By Erin Scully Sheehan

Those of us who have children know that teaching today is dramatically different than it was when we were growing up. And, so are the teachers. What are the challenges in teaching today’s students versus students in the ‘60s and ‘70s? What motivated today’s teachers to enter this increasingly difficult and sometimes thankless profession? Were they inspired by any of our teachers at Washburn? How do they keep things fresh? We asked these questions of several classmates who became teachers. Greg Ulrich and Mary Lee Waters Klug responded with the following accounts of their passion and love for teaching.

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Greg Ulrich: Heeding the Call

I pretty much knew I was going to be a teacher around the second grade – so as far as a calling goes, I’d have to say, yeah, I got called. I’ve always enjoyed being around people, and I have always enjoyed learning, at least on my terms, so it seemed like a pretty good fit. There was a time when I thought about going to law school, a la Steve Fiebiger (a graduate of the Washburn University School of Law, or something like that), but I didn’t see how I could afford it.

A big benefit of teaching is that it has allowed me to spend a lot of time with my own kids and coach baseball during the summers. I have a really good relationship with my boys, and they have inspired me more than anything. I’ve gone on to earn my doctorate in education and continue to take classes concerning a wide range of subjects. There weren’t any teachers at Washburn who inspired me. In fact, for the most part, I thought they were a rather uninspiring lot. The teachers associated with swimming (Turnbaugh, Eiler, and Cersine) were a pretty good bunch, and I really liked Coach Wurst - an affable guy who was fun to play baseball for, as opposed to Stevenson, who was perhaps struggling with personal issues.

I spent a couple of years with my wife and kids teaching at a small mining community in the Andes of Peru, but for the most part have been teaching at the fifth grade level in the Mounds View School District. And I love it. I probably know thousands of kids and their families around here by now, and I enjoy being connected to my community in that way. I teach in a school where nearly 40% of the kids receive free or reduced lunch, so we qualify for some extra federal dollars. It is a fun and interesting mix of incomes and cultures, and my students always amaze me. It is almost impossible not to give them your best effort.

I’ve started a couple major programs in the district to help connect people in the community with our students. In May, I brought a group of families from my school on the Eighth Annual 30-Mile Monster Bike Ride. Did you know that you can ride a bike from Sunnyside Elementary School in New Brighton all the way to Minnehaha Falls, taking bike paths the whole way? You can, and I know the way!

Kids today have it much harder than we did when we were growing up. The family structure is definitely changing and kids are getting the short end of the stick. Mix that with crumbling support for schools, a general retreat from community involvement, a societal need for kids to grow up much faster, and an unbelievable smorgasbord of violence for entertainment purposes, and we’ve created a fairly toxic recipe for kids. I have seen too many sad stories in the 23 plus years that I have been teaching.

I would like to add that the job continues to get harder. Teaching is not just about teaching. It consumes your life. If it weren’t for summer vacation and a chance to decompress at the end of the year, I could never do it. I’d burn out. Fifty percent of all people who enter the teaching profession today quit within five years. Essentially, they end up discovering that they are not up to the task – and who can blame them?

Finally, Elizabeth Crockett once claimed that she holds the record for living the longest time without a television. Our family went 23 years without TV (does that beat Crockett?), and my kids are much better off for it. So are my wife and I. Every year I try to convince parents to give it a try, but so far no one has taken me up on the challenge. I agree with Noam Chomsky who suggests that the foundation for all media is lies.

In conclusion? Going into teaching was absolutely the right choice for me. It is rewarding, challenging, frustrating, and always changing. And you can be as good a teacher as you want to be!

			Greg Ulrich lives in New Brighton, Minnesota, with his wife, Teresa, and sons.

Mary Lee Waters Klug: to Teach is to Learn

I just completed my fifteenth year of teaching. I’m currently teaching second grade here in Arlington, Texas. It would be a perfect job if all we had to do was teach kids. However, they seem to come with parents, who, of course, think their children are perfect, straight “A,” angels—which all teachers know is not possible. But I love my job anyway.

I didn’t go into education right out of high school. I went back to school for my teaching degree when my own children were in the first and third grade. Volunteering in their classrooms and watching all the “light-bulb” moments really hit home and inspired me to become a teacher. Before having children, I was a legal secretary - something I did not want to spend the rest of my life doing - so I decided to go back to school and get a degree in education.

While I have set curriculum I have to teach, I am fortunate to be at a school that teaches the TEKS (curriculum), not the state adopted textbooks. This curriculum allows me the freedom to do lots of fun things to teach my objectives and get away from all the “paper and pencil” type drill activities. I believe that teaching is an ongoing learning process. I’m always looking and willing to try new and interesting activities that keep the kids engaged in learning. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but no matter what, there’s learning going on—by either the kids or me!

While there are similarities between the kids today and our generation, there are quite a few differences. One of the most amazing things I’ve seen evolve over the last 15 years is the change in the family structure itself, and how that impacts the children and their education. Our Kenny Elementary School days seem so “Leave It to Beaver-ish.” Single family homes and divorces were few and far between, and I didn’t know of any kids being raised by their grandparents or great grandparents when we were eight years old. Today, this is common. The problems some of these kids are facing at such a young age blow my mind and it doesn’t seem fair. So instead of thinking about the answer to “5 + 5,” they are worrying about how they are getting home from school, where they are staying, who they are staying with, and whether they will have dinner tonight - all sorts of things kids should not have to worry about.

I also see how busy these kids are and wonder when they have time to just be kids. School was a priority when we were young. We were expected to behave and respect the teacher because if we didn’t, we knew we’d be in trouble - both at home and at school. But school work has become secondary to football, soccer, baseball, basketball, dance, scouts, piano…you name it. And, if I talked to adults the way some of these kids talk to teachers, coaches, or parents—my mouth would have been washed out with soap so many times that I wouldn’t have a tongue left!

It’s amazing how much I have learned from the kids over the years. You never know what will come out of their mouths. I tell my parents that I’ll believe half of what I hear about them if they believe only half of what they hear about school! Art Linkletter had it right: kids say the darnedest things! Kids have taught me to listen well, laugh often, and be grateful for all the little things in life. A kind word, a simple pat on the back, or listening to them tell a joke they made up can make or break their day.

Kids are very literal at this age. One time, I said something about “you’re pulling my leg.” The reply was “No I’m not, I’m not touching your leg.” We currently have a “Pickled Pink” fundraiser going on to raise money for a team walking the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk. One of the kids bought a pickle and told his mom we were out of pink pickles so he got a green pickle instead. Times like that just crack me up and remind me how sweet these kids are. When you see kids cheer on and encourage those who struggle or our “special needs” kids, you can’t help but smile. When kids that you’ve had in years past come back to visit and talk about all the fun they had in second grade and how they want to become teachers so they can make learning fun like you did—those are the moments that make you want to go on and know you are doing your job.

So, as I wrap up another year, it’s with sadness that I send these kids on to third grade. But I find pleasure and reward in knowing how much we’ve grown together this year and feel confident they are ready to face the challenges a new grade will present to them. I also know that with my new group I’ll get in August, I’ll feel exactly the same way a year from now. That’s the greatest reward of teaching—it certainly isn’t the pay!!!

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Don’t you wish there were teachers like Greg and Mary when we were in school? Thanks to you both for the contributions you are making to the development and education of today’s children.