Message in a Bottle
We’ve all seen the person stranded on a desert island,
writing a message in a bottle. They set it out to sea, just hoping that someone
will find it, and in turn find him.
I often wonder if we are in some ways trying to do the same
with our teaching and leading—are we hoping that someday, someone will find the
wisdom in our experiences and failures and they are turned in the right
direction.
I think back to the reasons why I got into teaching and who
pushed me there. I know there were many that guided me during my educational
journey, but one stood apart from the others.
Jim Myrold.
Mr. Myrold’s in-laws lived a few doors down from where I
grew up. His sons were a few years older than I was and I would go shoot
basketball with them at their grandma’s house. Jim was a history teacher, and
he taught the summer program for elementary students. I loved the class. We
went on field trips, learned local history and had great discussions. As I
moved through the grades, I think I took that same summer course 3 times. It
never got old. As I moved into high school, Mr. Myrold was one of the history
teachers, I got him for 10th grade geography. He told us about his
life travels. More so about the stupid decisions he made, and that he had spilt
enough booze to float a boat. It was hearing his life stories that made more of
an impact than anything for me. Hearing how someone could fail and fail and
fail and still continue to move forward, and make the impacts on the lives of
others that he did—that’s what he did.
So I guess the reason I gravitated to education; teaching
and coaching can be linked directly to Mr. Myrold’s sharing of experiences with
me. I liked history, was a pretty good story teller, and enjoyed sports.
Sooooo,
I took a crooked path, and ended up with a teaching job in Virginia, began my
teaching career, fell in love, and got married. And I was excited about all of
this, because I was able to demonstrate to my students all of my bad decisions,
and impress upon them my experiences and how my failures could make them more
successful. I didn’t at the time, and don’t now claim to be any kind of expert.
But I knew that I had a variety of life experiences that would make a
difference in the life of one kid.
I one kid that sticks out for me, B.C., he was a smart kid,
very intellectual, and analytical. He was in my sociology class during his
senior year, and was trying to figure out his next move. Well, B.C. had the
grades and had applied to a variety of schools, one of which being The College
of William & Mary. We were just having an informal discussion in class, and
this came up that he wasn’t sure if he wanted the challenge of W&M or if he
should just take on one of the other local colleges. Please note that he would receive
complete scholarships from both universities. I told him that if he had the opportunity
to attend a college as esteemed, storied, historical (I’m pretty sure I threw
in there that Jefferson went there.) and challenging as William & Mary, that I would track him
down and beat him up.
He went to William & Mary.
After he graduated from W&M, he served as our 5th grade
celebration speaker and mentioned my challenge to him years earlier. In that
moment, I realized that I must have been doing something right.
We all have the choice if we want to use our experiences to
build ourselves or to build others.
One thing I have told kids I’ve coached
over the years has been, “Good players learn from the mistakes they make. Great
players learn from the mistakes of others.” Make the choice to use your
downfalls and failures to better your students, better your teachers and better
your divisions. Don’t ever forget the power we all have in our choices.
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