DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT GEOGRAPHY
On the twenty-fifth anniversary of my career as a full and part time Registered Nurse, I was at the tip- top of my field. I was making quite a good salary as a Certified Public Health Nurse Case Manager in a reputable Home Health Agency. I was highly regarded, and I loved my work. The 'paper work' was a bear, and took up a couple of hours after work when I came back into the office or went back home...there were weekends and holidays to work faithfully...there were two weeks off every year, sometimes three. not always consecutive...these parts of the job were not so great.
I was tired. very tired. I began to think about my sister's lives. Two of them are English Teachers. They have holidays and weekends off. They have around ten weeks off every summer. I thought, I could be a teacher! I already am a teacher, after all, teaching patients and their families how to take care of illnesses and so on! It would be a lot of fun to teach kids. I had been around older patients for a long, long time. They are often sweet, but, I thought, kids could be sweeter....
I was still married to my second husband. We had often talked about giving me a chance to go back to school, a thought that made him a bit nervous, as we were both working hard to keep my three kids in private schools and college at the time. the money was flying out for their board and keep. their schooling. private lessons from guitar to ice-skating. clothing. food! They all had small part-time jobs here and there. but, basically, it was all about them, and getting them the skills to be able to fly out of nest and into their young adult lives! There were no pennies left over for one of the bread-winners to go back to school....
Some time passed, and the last of the large, grown-up birds was getting ready to launch his flight. I began to take classes to become a teacher...the idea was that I would go back to university for two years to get a degree that would lead to a teaching career, with a year to get a teaching credential. The only degree I had was a BA in Public Health Administration...not anything a young student would be interested in learning! So, it was going to have to be a decision: what would I study as my "major" for the two years? I traded the three years of school for board and tuition, for my half of the house we lived in at the time, as we were getting a divorce...it was a good trade for us both!....so now...what to study?...
Science, I thought. I will teach a Science!..which science, I was not sure....
My advisor at Cal State Hayward was, and probably still is, a Zoologist. his name was Ned. an absent-minded professor type - very personable. He set me up with great introductory classes in Chemistry. Zoology, of course. Biology. Physical Geography. Geology. I was planning on big time FUN, being back in school!
long story short: There was MATH in every one of these courses. I rarely do windows. but, I Never Do Math... Things were very, very hard...I transferred to two basic math courses. dropped the Bio and the Geol...didn't help much! I was struggling with every single class! But, made it though. Then came Microbiology.
I knew the professor in Micro was speaking English. It was too bad that I couldn't understand one single sentence she said....
I met with Ned. He had some simple advice: "Looks like you're not going to be a Science Teacher. What about Geography?" In a prophetic trance, I said, "Sure. why not?" And so, my major became Geography. I would be a Social Studies Teacher!
A year and a half later...and...I didn't attend the graduation! I had all the hours in place. a great GPA...just never paid all the fees and stuff...didn't care! I was going to be a teacher!
Into the School of Education I went! A full year of learning how to be A Teacher!...what a bust that year turned out to be....turns out, many Education classes are lukewarm approaches to the art and skills of Teaching....many were actually very boring! The only good thing that came out of my classes towards my General Education K/12 Credential, was a great friendship with two brassy ladies who were closer to my age then the just-out-of-college kids who were our classmates...
From these two women, who I visit with now and then, to this day, I really learned all I needed to know about how to be a "good teacher:
how to be tough. how to be loving. how to be brilliant. how to teach to the challenge, not to the "test". how to expect each and every kid to be very, very smart and able. how to help the kids believe that they could do just about anything. how to be kind and stern at the same time. how to stay awake and alert at all times. how to be compassionate without being soppy. how to live my life in front of the students in a real way, not in a role. how to respect the power of adult attitude and words in a child's mind. how to stay on top of the bureaucratic work in a realistic way without going crazy. how to avoid being at meetings. how to make meetings work for you, instead of them boring you to tears. but, only when you wanted them to mean anything at all. how to keep a sense of humor alive and lively at all times. when to be very, very serious. when to lecture. when to let go. when to hold on. when to touch a child dispassionately but kindly and how. when not to touch a child. why. when and how far to counsel and advise. when not to advise at all. when to just let go and enjoy a class, when no one was interested in it for the day. how to change a lesson plan on a dime, when the kids weren't 'getting it'. which administrators to trust with your life. which never to trust at all. which teachers to learn from which teachers to be friends with. which teachers to avoid like the plague yet still be civil towards. when to say yes. when to say maybe. when to say no. when to have a drink after work. when to just have tea. when to just go home and leave it all behind. when to take it home and ponder it all...
These two tough cookies were my confidants and co-conspirators! We were the Three Bad Ladies who challenged the status quo at all times. Our demonstrations of teaching techniques, as a team, were spectacular, and scary! We blew up volcanoes constructed on tables! Set up Worm Farms to teach composting! We asked embarrassing questions of our own teachers, when they were obviously wrong. We were deliciously naughty...
We were also very, very smart! Together, we were infallible. Example: The Social Studies Class was working with maps, to learn how to teach kids Geography. Butcher-block paper was up on the walls. Each team had to draw a map of the whole world, and label and border all of the countries of the world that they could. We all got busily to work...The three of us were working away, arguing as usual about every label and border line....on and on we worked...suddenly, we realized that the whole room was very quiet. We turned around, criticising each other that we were only on the one hundred and seventieth country, while apparently the rest of the teaching teams was finished with their maps. But, it turns out, that wasn't what was happening! It turns out that No Other Team had even reached fifty countries! The instructor was just having them all watch us, while we were terrorizing each other to get movin' and get this baby Done!...
I was actually appalled! These other forty or so people were all going to be teaching kids this stuff! How could they teach Geography, if they didn't even know how to complete a map of the world? This was an Interesting Question, to which I never ever have found an answer....
I was called The Diplomat. Whenever we Three Musketeers were upset with the Administration of the Credential Program, or when we were in trouble...I was always, always the Designated Spokeswoman. Marilyn and Christy (actually their names...why not-protect the guilty!) would look at me like sweet serious children and say, "Kathe, could you Please, Please talk with (fill in the blanks ) for us all? You Know how we are! We'll just wind up swearing and stuff and get into Big Trouble!"...So, of course, I would, with them standing behind me looking all innocent. It was in this way that I learned the Art of Conning Administration Into Doing Whatever I Really Want. This was an important skill to learn! Thanks, you Bad Ladies!
As my Credential was being processed and 'cleared', I successfully avoided doing any Substitute Work, the usual entry into the Teaching Field...A friend in the Credential Program was working for private schools as a Substitute, He heard of a position for a Geography Teacher in a small private Seventh through Twelfth Grade College Prep School in Orinda, just over the ridges from where I lived in the foothills in Oakland. They also had a part-time job for an Art Teacher. This was too perfect! My live-in boyfriend needed a part-time Art Teacher job, as he was in semi-retirement. I was hoping for a Social Studies position!
North Bay Orinda School only had about one hundred kids, ages twelve through eighteen. that meant small class sizes. Perfect!... The staff who interviewed me were thrilled that I was an RN, too, as they had no school nurse on the staff...the position included one Geography class, daily, for two periods a day, with the ninth graders. one 7/8 English/ Literature class, daily, with the Jr. High; and; since I am an RN, with a Health Credential, one Health Class a day, for the Sophomores, two periods a day. This Position was tailor-made for me! They were excited to hire Erich too, as their Art Teacher! This was an amazing match, in the competitive Bay Area!
I never imagined that I would spend over thirteen years of my work life in this one lovely little spot high in the Orinda Hills! I had never been at any one Nursing Job for more than a few years at a time....
Over the years, I continued the Geography Classes. The Health Classes...but other classes were added or subtracted or expanded with remarkable ease: A Little List of Sunny, Fun Classes:
The Chorus: a Performance Group that produced at least two "shows" a year: A Winter Festival Performance of Carols and Hanuka Songs. and a Spring 'Show' of some sort. One year, we put on the entire My Fair Lady, with ten kids playing all the parts, costumed and fully accompanied by one brilliant student pianist. Another year, we put on a Cabaret Variety Show of twenty numbers. Another, we sang songs from Musicals...we tried something new every year!
Several of the students who were my "Stars" in these shows, went on to careers in Music! I'm in close touch with all three: one became a Stage Manager, who works in SF and even in New York. The pianist became a Concert Composer on the East Coast...one fine young soprano became an Opera Singer, who is working in Germany at present. Watching their careers bloom has been so much fun!
Second: The Hiking Group: This became a PE for kids who needed light PE...three times a week, last period, I headed out with eight kids in one of the school vans, into the wonderful hills around the valley where the school is located. There are public trails everywhere! Our hikes were a wonderful way to refreshingly end the school day!
Third: The Contemporary Issues Class for the Sophomores...at one point, this became a very political class, with conservatives, liberals, and third-parties/progressives arguing every political and environmental situation under the American sun! It was a popular class!
Fourth: The Woman's Literature Class: Requested by the young women in the school, this class lasted ten years...it was disbanded a year after I left the school, regretfully...this was a Wonderful Class! The ten to fifteen young ladies picked their own literature to read, from Women's genre works. They read up to twenty novels and poetry works a year: a huge representation of this genre! We also went on Field Trips to Women's Art Exhibits at least a couple of times a year.
Fifth: the Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA), a popular group that met once a week, to deal with sexual harassment issues in the school...a very effective group for kids who had "come-out", for being able to discuss their concerns with straight kids. There were always at least twenty kids at every meeting. I was their monitor.
Sixth: I monitored five "Clubs" during lunch hours, in fact! The kids would ask me to sponsor them, and I would! I enjoyed the clubs a lot! There was the Simpsons Club. the Sci-Fi Club. the Anime' Club. the Monty Python Club.and, the Red Dwarf Fan Club...all, much, much fun!
Seventh: Assisting the Drama Teacher with the Drama Productions was another fun aside to my duties! I assisted her productions for ten years...once, I even played a major role: Lady Bracknell, in The Importance Of Being Ernest! Ioved hamming-it-up on stage with the kids!
and finally, Eighth: I went to all of the the School Trips as a Chaperon: On the Ski Trips, I supervised the kids who were off the slopes: we'd go snow-shoe-ing or cross-country ski-ing together - much fun!...there were trips to Big Sur. Point Reyes. Monterrey. Mount Lassen. Yosemite. American River Rafting. Tamales Bay Kayaking...all camping trips with one hundred kids! Hectic, beautiful! There were only two accidents ever, on all of those trips...
One involved me: we were climbing Mount Lassen. As we climbed, I was getting more and more short of breath, and was ascending slower and slower. I was last to reach the trail end, with a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains...as I sat to rest, I commented to one of the kids, that I was having a lot of trouble, being that we were at less than 9000 feet. Startled, the student said, "Kathe, we're at over 10,000 feet!" I was suddenly alert and appalled! Due to Polio at a young age, I have restricted chest muscle movements. I had been told many times to never climb above 9000 feet, ever, or I would risk pulmonary difficulties on a big scale! I was acutely aware that I was beginning to have a productive cough, tightening in my chest, weakness, and continued shortening of breath...
I alerted our principal that I needed to descend at once, and very, very slowly as well, as I was showing the first signs of pulmonary edema and compromised oxygenation. I started down the trail with two of our parent chaperons. The kids ran down the mountain trail to the bottom in less than forty-five minutes. It took me and my companion two hours to descend, so that the fluids would reabsorb from my lungs back into my circulation. My RN degree certainly helped me that time!
The other trauma was at Big Sur. We were walking the trails close to the ocean. We had warned the kids about Sneaker Waves, that can suddenly come in and take you right off your feet if you're not careful! Suddenly, without any warning at all, a huge Sneaker Wave actually came in! Kids were screaming and holding each other up! Every one was still standing as it went out, except one of our little guys, a seventh-grader! I saw him picked up and smashed into the cliff face rock at the high tide line! Hurrying to him, I was beat by the speed of our Science Teachers, who was First-Response trained. I've never seen a human move so fast! he was down, checking the kid out. he pulled off his shirt and pressured the kid's lower leg. There was obvious bleeding going on. then he lifted the kid and scrambled up the cliff side. into a waiting car we went, with another woman (also an RN, it turned out), our first-responder, and me. We took turns checking our kid, who was somewhat in shock, and keeping the pressure on the tear in his shin...in the ER, it took twenty six stitches to sew up the gash....he came through fine. He was our little hero for days!
The school expanded. In a way, there were too many students now: one hundred and thirty...and two campuses, instead of one.The staff had shifted and changed many times. There were administrative snafus...it was becoming a less enjoyable place to work - tho I still loved the staff and the students there...very much....
Then, came a call from my very own son! He was going to form his own private State-registered school. He was going to begin with nineteen kids, between the ages of five and eighteen. They were all the kids of either his own teaching staff in his Karate School, or kids of parents who were devoted to the school. He wanted me to help him start-up the school with the right curriculum, and to teach the English and Social Studies to the students. it was going to be a wonderful experiment! a regular school curriculum, mixed with serious martial arts training!
I didn't hesitate! A chance to work with my own son and daughter-in-law, and to teach my three grandkids, his Triplets? and, my Grandaughter, Katie, as well! In a program where we could design our own curriculum and teaching methods? Sure! Of Course I would come!
My last year at North Bay, now called Orinda Academy, was mixed with nostalgia and sentimentally happy times! My work years there had been great! But, it was time to move on and try something new, with my own family!
Over three years at our West Wind Academy have been wonderful, and the other two: not bad... and very hard work. I work with teachers who teach at the Academy all day, and then work from five to nine teaching Karate and Boxing. They are the hardest working men and women ever I've worked with... the students are great young people as well. I had no idea it would be so much fun to teach the little ones...I was used to the twelve-and-older crowd...the fun of teaching the younger ones is one of the blessings of my whole life! It's like being with my own kids when they were young...lots of consistent direction and care all day mixed with tons of love and laughter!
Here is my five hours of instruction with the students: each group is a combination of grades: pre-K/K. Grades one through four. Grades five and six. Grades seven and eight. Grades ten and eleven. English. Social Studies. Geography. History. Lunch Duty. I look up to see which age group is coming into the room, all smiles and folders and books and jokes...and adjust my teaching plan to suit the age group!
Best of all, all of the problems that come up in any day where more than two are gathered together, are all handled at the time! There is not time for big discussions and long meetings. We've only had two meetings in all three years. The staff and my son are determined to solve problems rapidly and well, and move on.The flexibility of this school in every area, keeps the kids and the staff on their toes! The students really thrive on the variety, the activity. the strict respect and behavior standards. the deep caring of the staff. the demanding yet flexible curriculum. the individual attention in the tiny classes. the martial arts discipline and physical demands. the colorful play and art and music programs. the laughs and the fun!
I have been so lucky in work!... Every job I ever had was demanding and never 'paid' much. but, always 'enough'. All have been very tiring. And, all have been very, very satisfying! When they stopped being satisfying...especially if I was unhappy. or felt compromised in my standards about good work. then I left. When I was an RN, it was easy to get another good job at once.
Teaching isn't like that. There are lots of Teaching Jobs. But, 'good' ones, where I can feel needed and cared for and creative all at the same time...those kinds of jobs are not that easy to find...right now, I'm working 'part time' - for my Health - both physical and mental! the emotional world at work can become strained at times...then, it' best to part as kindly as possible....
So,I have been so lucky! When I think about it, the whole of adult life is filled with so many hours of work! If I'm not happy at my work. then, I would have spent a lot of my life unhappy! I have never seen the point of that, if I can 'help it' at all...so: I've made sure that my jobs are worth my while...so that I can say, "Most of my life, I enjoyed my work so much!"....
I don't know why the pivotal point to me was always when good old Ned, my advisor so long ago, asked, "What about Geography?" ...that question, and it's answer, pointed to the door that led to very fulfilling work for around twenty years now...
"Don't know much about History...Don't know much about Geography..."...so goes the old pop song...ah dear Students, you will, you will...your Teacher is here...
You'll keep on learning.
l'll keep on learning.
We will keep on learning.
for a long, long time...
Together!.....
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