Chapter 25 Patricia’s Students Part 2: DESIGNER SHOE BREAKTHROUGH

"A shoe is just a shoe,

until someone steps into it.."

Prankster-gangster to Millionaire

When I hear about a student that is: lazy, or doesn't care, I think about what is not being seen in this child.  Here I quote Antoine de Saint-Exupery: 

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;

what is essential is invisible to the eye."

What is all too often visible is underperformance, misbehavior, and sometimes confrontational or defiant attitudes.  But I see very adaptive children who have learned to cloak their vulnerabilities. When I see this behavior, I immediately begin to build a mental file of the child. I look for their interests, their opinions, their favorite band or book, their view of the world, anything that might give me a glimpse of their neural landscape from which I will build a bridge to what is needed for that child to be successful. Without this frame of reference, the essential knowledge about these children will remain invisible to the eye. By "bridge" I mean an individual educational plan that will take a child from being oppositional, to one whose excited to find they are in possession of here-to-for unseen abilities, "superpowers"if you ask the kids. 

When I hear colleagues say these parents or those caretakers don't care, I understand immediately that I have work to do. At this point I launch an effort to help them see some of the essentials that are not easily seen.

Sometime during their school years it is possible to say "all kids search for an identity that fits."

It’s kind of like trying on different pairs of pants until you get the one that’s the right length so you don’t have to alter it while still making sure the waist is not too small.  That explains all those department store dressing rooms where we can try on different sizes looking for a comfortable fit.  The point here is that kids too search for ways to self define, looking for an identity that feels good when worn.  Maybe we all have gone through this phase or still are in the process of defining ourselves. I once identified as an astronaut (4th grade), NBA MVP (junior high), an architect (high school), and a pipe smoking university professor (during my college years).

Even after college, I went through four different hair style phases. For example, starting with my regular haircut. (see photos below) Many years later, at my wife's suggestion, with a long delay while the idea incubated, I finally arrived at a hair salon for my first perm.  Wanting  to be open minded (another way to identify), I gave it whirl.  That was hair style number two, did that for many years. Then, I decided to let my hair grow out, ending up with a ponytail that was halfway down my back by the time my daughter's wedding day came to pass. She's a saint for putting up with all my shenanigans while I was growing up!

Number four, that long haired ponytail bounced on the floor when I whacked off.  I was about to depart on an African walking safari with Maasai warriors in Kenya. I'd be "out in the bush" for over a month where there wouldn't be enough water to wash my hair daily. So I whacked it off and walked the safari with short hair. So much for my long haired ID.  I went to dinner at my son's a month after returning from Nairobi. When he opened the door, all that came out was: "What happened to your hair?".    Click HERE for photos.

Now I am on my fourth hairstyle iteration, which is best defined as in the category of short haircuts (compared to ponytails) but long in the back where it collects just a little bit at the collar collar. So even adults experiment with different ways to identify. 

But let’s get back to school kids looking for an identity that fits. According to my data, about 40% of the kids find traditional roles in school: student body president, in athletics like basketball, football, track, soccer, water polo, tennis, golf.  Then there are valedictorians, salutatorians, cheerleaders, flag girls, , marching band, concert band, orchestra, school scholars, scholar athletes, straight a student‘s. But what about the rest of the kids that don’t identify with any of those standardbearers?

For example: how about a kid who is seriously dyslexic and can only read at the second grade level but it’s already in the 10th grade? His grades are mostly 

d's shaken over a salad of f’s. He can’t be on any of the sports teams because they require a C average in order to participate, but there are other choices beyond the traditional grid: prankster-gangster, for example.

In the old days, this role was called “rebel without a cause“. 

It’s been my experience, 39 years in the classroom, that some kids miss, behave because they want to play to an audience… They’re on stage, and they play a role like prankster, and do things that they would never do solo, but for an audience, they might get a few laughs. Here’s a real story.

According to my data, the most difficult behavior difficulties are most often found coming from kids with the thickest armor.  Remember, from chapter ___, many students arrive at school all armored up for protection from humiliation. The more often humiliated, the thicker the armor.

Which brings to mind... let’s call him Melvin. 

Painfully dyslexic, having been the brunt of many classroom embarassments, Melvin has found a good cover by playing the role of "rebel", he's noncompliant in a showy way rather than being outed  as the dumb kid that can’t read. What high school boy, especially in the inner city, would want to be caught dead, with third grade readers in his backpack?  So better to pretend not to care.  Better to pretend to be defiant. Better to be a classroom behavior problem than have your friends know you that you can only read baby books.

One bright spring day during his design class sitting at a table with three of his buddies Melvin takes a bottle of glue and squirts copious amounts in to the pencil holder at the center of the design table, showing not only rebelliousness, but with an add on dose of defiance. Playing to his peers, Academy Award Nominated performance, Melvin calls the teacher over and says "Look teacher, who would’ve done that?“ Showing his “boys” that he could taunt a teacher into saying something that would get her reprimanded, or worse get her fired! There are video camera's everywhere. That would win the gold medal of the prankster-gangster acting, the Oscar for Best Performance in a High School Classroom, maybe it will go viral!

But instead of falling for the tempting invitation, this teacher decides to play it low key: walking to the paper towel dispenser she just begins to slowly clean up the mess without blaming it on anybody… But, she also uses this behavior as data, as information. Melvin has been displaying data all year,  information daily that could help his teachers,  the right kind of teacher to help Melvin turn the corner on his long history of mis-behavior…  We should change is name to Oscar.

That’s just what happened yesterday   when a student in Melvin’s class saw our teacher wearing Abloh designer shoes… 

a student yells out “why don’t you cut that plastic tie off your shoe before you trip on it! With the whole class looking at her shoes Melvin jumps to the rescue. This is the dénouement. the moment our teacher's been waiting for all year. Melvin jumps out of his seat, and yelling: “No, no, don’t cut that off!  That’s an artist's icon!“

This is the dénouement our teacher has been waiting for all year. Melvin jumps out of his seat, and shouts: “No, no, don’t cut that off!  That’s an icon!“  

"I know, I know!" his teacher shouts back.  Take a closer look. Yep that's right, the shoe is bubble wrapped for run-way strutting! Don't throw out that bubble wrap, it's worth over $1,000.

Photo credit: Myles Kalus Anak Jihem

Within Melvin's neural landscape is a vast and unrecognized encyclopedia of knowledge that he's never in school had a chance to display. His expertise is abyss deep.  He knows that these shoes are museum quality art, runway fashion ware and an art collectors dream created by the world's number one luxury house designer (Louie Vuitton's): Virgil Abloh.

Melvin will tell you that Abloh "is one of the most influential and respected fashion designers of his generation, and was the artistic director of the Louis Vuitton brand. His design aesthetic bridged streetwear and luxury clothing. He reached a level of global fame unusual for a designer."

Click HERE for Virgil's Rise (23 min.)

Furthermore, Melvin will tell you about Abloh's "friend and collaborator Takashi Murakami who featured Abloh's solo art show in his Kaikai Kiki Art Gallery in Tokyo." And there's more, but suffice it to say Melvin's encyclopedic artistic knowledge include Japan's vast world of art. 

Some might ask: "Why is this Abloh connection important?" Melvin will tell you about Offwhite, but let's get to the point...

Melvin's story is an example to the most essential tool in the work with At-Risk students who are lost in educational space.

Here is a secret only the best teachers know.  When a kid is projecting the image of a  trouble maker, the most important thing to do is collect volumes of data. Find out everything there is to know about that kid, for in that data stream is the "hook" that will catch and turn a youngster headed in the work direction.  There is in every underperforming student a clue, a key that will open the locked doors of success in school.

After all is written on white boards, after we turn out the lights and lock our classroom doors, we might remember that in addition to teaching subject area content (history, math, literature etc.) we are there to help kids grow tall and true.  It might help to remember the words to the song: Looking For Space.

On the road of experience

I'm trying to find my own way. Sometimes I wish that I could fly away

When I think that I'm moving. Suddenly things stand still. 

I'm afraid 'cause I think they alway will

And I'm looking for space. And to find out who I am
And I'm looking to know and understand
It's a sweet, sweet dream
Sometimes I'm almost there. Sometimes I fly like an eagle
And sometimes I'm deep in despair

All alone in the universe. Sometimes that's how it seems
I get lost in the sadness and the screams
Then I look in the center. Suddenly everything's clear
I find myself in the sunshine and my dreams

On the road of experience,join in the living day
If there's an answer... It's just that it's just that way

When you're looking for space and to find out who you are
When you're looking to try and reach the stars
It's a sweet, sweet, sweet dream
Sometimes I'm almost there, sometimes I fly like an eagle
And sometimes I'm deep in despair

Sometimes I fly like an eagle. Like an eagle. I go flying high.

Credit: John Denver

Looking for Space and to find out who we are. How do we identify?

Charles Thomas is my go to guy for examples.

Second from the left is Chucky Thomas in the 70's and the latest iteration of his identity as Chief Executive of OBA: Outward Bound Adventures. Chucky has found his identity space.

Click HERE for more about Outward Bound Adventures

FUTURES HIGH SCHOOL

The architecture of Futures High School allowed me to amplify traditional classes by creating new courses. For example, after completing Anatomy and Physiology students next enrolled in Medical Careers, where they took rotations through an array of departments at nearby Beverly Hospital. What they had learned in Anatomy was visible every day in the rotations through the emergency room, surgery, pediatrics, physical therapy and other units. 

Science bounced out of the textbook into eyes open wide at the hospital in the afternoon. Each day, in the hospital cafeteria, we debriefed... students sharing what they'd just seen and what new things they'd learned. What they did not immediately see was a deeper meaning to the pages of their textbook.

RUDY

This morning I had a happy moment to catch up with Rudy Salinas, a Futures student from 1993-94. What an inspirational story he shared as he's on partner track in the company he's long worked for. The company's owner discovered what I saw in Rudy in the classroom. I could see in Rudy his instant and comprehensive grasp of what was on agenda. That owner saw his potential early on and paid for 2 years of management and human resources training that make Rudy a perfect candidate for future partner.  

He remembers that we didn't give up on him when he was being... "Rudy". Now he is doing the same. More from Rudy coming soon. 

#2:  LET'S CALL HER Geë

Futures was a school where my year first year Psychology students could subsequently enroll in an advanced Psychology course: Peer Counseling.  Here they applied the foundations of psychology to the challenge of working with other high school students needing someone to listen.

We were in a mid-semester Peer Counseling discussion reviewing Motivation and Emotion, a chapter from last years Psychology book.

It was in that high school psychology class that Gigi taught me something new about high school students.

The topic of discussion? What are you going to be doing in 10 years/20years?  Sitting in a circle, students took turns responding. Gigi was the last to share when she burst out:  

"That's a foolish, stupid question. Who cares what we'll be doing 10 or 20 years. We won't be around. This is a waste of time, we're not gonna live that long."

Like falling off a cliff, the room dropped into silence, the rest of the class was taken aback by her outpouring.

"That's an interesting response Geë, please elaborate." 

Out came a torrent, a long bullet list of reasons why she felt that she wasn't going to live that long, explaining why this discussion was completely irrelevant.

When she finished, I said: "Geë you've been watching a lot of television news." Her eyes opened wide.  "How do you know?"

 

"I turn the TV news on when I get home about 3 pm, it keeps me company when I'm alone. It's on until I go to sleep."

Geë world view had been taken over by long term exposure to all the IF-IT-BLEEDS-IT-LEADS news stories that dominated consciousness on a nightly basis. No wonder she had an extremely altered view of what she believed would be a very short lifetime.

Later in that Peer Counseling class Geë shared that her sister had just died the night before. I was surprised she was even at school. A few weeks earlier her sister had been released from jail for a drug violation. Geë remembers her saying: "No matter what, I'm not going back to jail. Ever!"

Over the last few days, Geë's home had become a nightly "flash-bang" journey. Her sister would arrive home at 3 or 4 am disturbing the quiet sleeping household, but still, Geë was happy to have her back home until last night.

Her sister (under the influence, a parole violation) had been pulled over after midnight. Finding herself at the curb in front of two patrol units and three officers nearby, she remembered her vow:

"No matter what, I'm not going back to jail. Ever!"

Geë threw the gear shift to Reverse and stomped on the gas.  Many shots were fired: "Suicide by police."

Yet Geë still came to school every day with good but not perfect attendance. In my book she's a heroic figure coming to school trying to move forward in a life with too many tragedies.

Yet Geë still came to school every day with good but not perfect attendance. In my book she's a heroic figure coming to school trying to move forward in a life with too many tragedies. If I were to make a documentary of her life, I'd open with this sound track...

Click on the video below. Move slide scrubber to 59 seconds, then listen while you read the rest of this page. Korsokov will give you a sense of how I feel about Rudy, Geë and the rest of  my students, they all walk in my mind with a sense of nobility.

The take away here is that too many high school kids find themselves in everyday classrooms, taking ordinary classes, but living extraordinary lives with too many obstacles.  Geë, thank you for teaching me that there are too many kids in my classes facing extraordinary circumstances. So if they didn't do their homework last night, I might want to consider if it's explained by something like "Geë's sister".

It's important to register here that when I hear "students are lazy"or that "they don't care," I think of Geë. In all my 39 years in the classroom, I've never meet a lazy kid or one that didn't care.

Rudy, tonight, do this last before your family goes off to sleep.

Play Rimsky Korsokov's March of the nobles and remind your wife and kids that I'm thinking of you. 

QUOTES from Atticus, Gibran, Mandela, and Maslow to Jay-Z

Nelson Mandela:  

"What counts in life is not the mere fact that we lived...  

it is what difference we have made to the lives of others

that will determine the significance of the life we lead."

This is where teachers have an unprecedented opportunity in a meaningful career where it is possible to make a difference on a daily basis!

Permeate

I cannot imagine a way of life more steeped in Mandela's philosophy than a life serving in classroom spilling over with bright eyed children who believe in the magic that all is possible when we act upon our dreams. --Toby Manzanares

Whether it be science, math, history, or the humanities, we are paid to impart the knowledge and wisdom of our academic disciplines... yet while doing just that, educators have an unimaginable opportunity to simultaneously make a difference in the lives of so many others. Where else can so few make such a colossal positive change in the human condition?

The purpose of this book is to place the importance of teaching back on the front page of our mental landscape for all to recognize or remember... In 

"You've got to be tough as nails with your tender heart."   

You will come to see that we learn nothing from winning,

the act of loosing however can elicit great wisdom.

It is inevitable to lose now and then,

the trick is not to make a habit of it.

"The great adventure in life, is what you decide to do with it." 

"We're trying to be right as often as we can, and trying to live a life that amounts to something."

"We'll share the credit when something good happens, and assume the responsibility for mistakes and not look for a scapegoat."

--Bill Clinton 

FOR STUDENTS:

Life is like a camera:

focus on what's important.

Capture the good times.

Develop from the negatives.

And if things don't turn out,

take another shot.

 

One way to frame my years in the classroom is to imgaine them like a jigsaw puzzle: each student, every colleague, each day like a piece of that puzzle coming together in the final moments to reveal a beautiful panoramic landscape, magnificent to behold.

"Greek-Armenian philosopher and mystic George Gurdjieff taught that we are born without a soul and that our task in life is to help our soul to grow and develop: Souls aren’t born; they’re earned. Every single day." I believe that is what teachers do: help students develop, grow and earn their souls.

My all time favorite book, To Kill a Mockingbird, I first read in high school but was completely elevated by its message and characters when I read it a second time some 40 years later.  

Atticus Finch and Good Teaching

Believe that goodness can be found in everyone.

I just saw Aaron Sorkin's 2023 new stage version of to Kill a Mockingbird.  It left me in tears at several points but especially at the climatic standing ovation. Suddenly, thousands of affirmative voices ringing out to the performers, not just clapping hands but rising voices! I've never heard such admiration, a once in a lifetime ovation, but I wonder if it was for the performers or for the beauty of the message they delivered. It is the message of Mockingbird that I feel in the everyday work of teachers.

Then I came across Carol Kuchar's 6/2/2019 To Kill A Mockingbird online post:

".... unconditional love, non judgement and protecting one's own child in the face of adversity and fear... Atticus had no judgement... Teach your students to have an open and loving heart and mind, then listen to what they have to teach you! That is what love and teaching is all about!"

 

 Click HERE for Aaron Sorkin on To Kill a Mockingbird

 Click HERE for the National Tour of To Kill A Mockingbird

 

Atticus believed that goodness could be found in all the towns people. He refused to believe the people he grew up with, the people on the jury he knew so well would find an innocent man guilty. When they fell short of his expectations he began to question his view that there is goodness in everyone.

Yet, I believe that goodness can be found in everyone. It was certainly true of the students who walked into my classroom over my 39 years as an educator. Looking back, I can see how that belief made the journey so much more enjoyable.--tnm

 

Sorkin: There’s a scene in the book and in the movie. At the end of the trial, Atticus has lost, he’s putting stuff back in his briefcase, and the whole courtroom has cleared out, except for what they call the “colored section” up in the balcony. Atticus turns around to see that they’re all standing silently out of respect for him, and someone says [to Scout], “Stand up, Miss Jean Louise; your daddy’s passing.”

It’s a great scene and it's a good way to frame the way I see teachers:  "Stand up everyone, your teachers are passing."

 

A SAMURAI IN THE CLASSROOM

In a moment of solitude late one afternoon in a peacful,  undisturbed silence while grading papers, I sensed the presence of a distant ancestor with me in the classroom, there she was, a samurai standing by the observation bee hive, but unseen, nudging me to intuitively engage my students in the manner of samurai.  Into this stream of consciousness came to me a  Japanese proverb, now popular in the art world of tattoos. 

It is important, before going any further, to frame my understanding of a Samurai In The Classroom. To begin, bushido, the seven samurai virtues, are the same as how I ideally see teachers at work with their students. (Click HERE)  

 

Nanakorobi yaoki

Fall down seven times get up eight -- Japanese proverb

Though not specifically linked to bushido, the samurai code, this proverb reveals the soul of Japan alive today.  It may be that all Japanese people are descendants of samurai clans.

This proverb reflects a crucial, compelling and shared Japanese ideal: "Nanakorobi yaoki" (translates to: seven falls, eight getting up) means fall down seven times and get up eight. This is the Japanese concept of resilience.  This is one way of living that I want my students to carry away from their time in school with me.

The presence of Nanakorobi yaoki was considerable, like a strong wind, as I walked with the people of Hiroshima a few years ago, the dignity of Fall down seven, get up eight was everywhere.

Note: This can be pronounced in two ways. One is “shichi ten hakki” or “shichitenhakki.” The other is “nana korobi ya oki” also written, “nanakorobi-yaoki.”

Years later, when asked by our young docent why we were drawn to the Samurai Museum in Shinjuku Tokyo,  I replied: "My grandfather's grandfather was a Kobayakawa. His eyes widened, then he exclaimed: "Let me go get the owner, he wants to meet you!" He returned quickly with a wisened white-haired man a few steps behind who was even more animated, which was puzzling until he said:"The Kobayakawa were a powerful samurai clan during the Sengoku period"

 

Kobayakawa Takakage, a samurai and daimyō was so highly regarded as a statesmen that he was appointed to the Council of Five Elders by Toyotomi Hideyoshi who was himself regarded as the second 'Great Unifier' of Japan.  The Kobayakawas were highly respected for their administration of politics in Western Japan."  

 There is an ancient family cemetery up the hill behind our Kobayakawa family home in Niimi Okayama. 

I visited with them one brilliant cerulean sky afternoon.  (go to 5:51 to 7:48  in the documentary below.)"

I visited with them one brilliant blue sky afternoon.  (go to 5:51 to 7:48  in the documentary below.)

Photo below:  The oldest family markers, (round) are in the back row, the earliest Kobayakawa samurai to be honored are here. As the generations passed, a second row was added in front for their descendants.

Video credit:  Toby Ishihara Kobayakawa Manzanares  

Next visit: Ask to see the Kobayakawa Kokocho (Memories of Japan)

 

But what do loyal warriors, who fearlessly stride into combat, do when they have children and grandchildren of their own?  They must fearlessly engage their progeny, raise them to be exemplary members of the community, show them how to make better the lives of people whom they touch.

These are the next gen samurai who walk into the epic struggle to make our world a better place.

Dr. Jose Cervantes

 “Toby. Wishing you a very happy birthday today! -Jose

"I wanted to thank you for instilling in me the curiosity and love of learning. I appreciate you! Talk soon!”

 

Thank you Jose… We are up in Alaska on the way to Borealis Basecamp today. Both Patricia and I have had aurora borealis on our wish list for years.

How is your family? And how are you? 

Thanks again for the birthday wish!

“Wonderful! My teenage daughter took a trip up to Alaska to do some community work this summer and she loved it. I have yet to visit. My family is doing well. Both kids in high school now. I no longer have seizures I don’t know if I told you but I had another big one last year and it ended up I had a brain AVM, underwent craniotomy last year but I am doing fine. Worse thing is taking the anti seizure medication. We have to get together again when you get back! Please say hi to Patricia. Today is National Latino physician day. I wanted to thank you for instilling in me the curiosity and love of learning. I appreciate you! Talk soon!”

CHAPTER 26: LAURA BROWN (in progress)

Hoping to make this book a better read, I enlisted the help of one of my former students, Laura Brown.  The Only Business Writing Book You'll Ever Need.  Laura Brown was one of my students in the 70's.

I remember Laura during her high school days (photo left) but in 2019 W. W. Norton & Company published her first book: The Only Business Writing Book You'll Ever Need. It is dedicated to her teacher Catherine M. Rose.  Who is Catherine Rose and what was it about her teaching that inspired Laura? Let's ask.

Laura Brown and Jennie Cohen

From the back-cover: 

"If you're writing anything, from an internal memo to a New York Times bestseller, keep The Only Business Writing Book You'll Ever Need next to your laptop.”  -- MICHAEL SNELL, president and CEO of The Michael Literary Agency. 

This jacket blurb caught my eye because when I was in the 7th grade, I added to my  LIFE LIST: write a New York Times best seller or a Pulitzer Prize winning book.

Prelude: Lillian Hagen and her Rebel nuns. (in progress)

A kind of déjà vu has shadowed me since my first days in the classroom, a sensation that I'd done this before, a feeling that I'd had many lifetimes in the classroom and that I was about to embark on yet another rewarding journey to live again the remarkable life of a teacher.  But from where this déjà vu? If we go far enough back into my maternal ancestry, we find samurai populating our family history. They were more than warriors, they were teachers too.  This time around however a new cast of characters would populate my journey: exceptional, diverse and inspiring students and colleagues alike who would trigger my growth as a teacher, and help me become the descendent of samurai in the classroom.

ACT I:  First member of the cast, Lillian Hagen, principal of Foothill High School.

But first, an invitation. Read the Afterword before going further.  Why? You might ask. Because that's one of the concepts I wanted my students to learn... that not everything is linear, that not every lesson has to go from A to Z and that there are different ways of experiencing time. For more, go to Chronosphere 

Lillian Hagen had been a WAC but now she'd become a high school principal.  She had just hired three former nuns, Kathy Manulkin, Pat Berberich, and Jules Teissere.  A group of 375 nuns had just chosen to relinquish their vows to become a lay community rather than cave in to Cardinal McKintyre who mandated they continue to wear full length habits while teaching.  What sense was ther in teaching a class of kindergarteners on the floor in a full length habit? They needed more freedom to do the work that needed doing with those who "didn't have".  Since they had chosen to leave their Sacred Heart Community, the three were hired to teacj   ”At Risk” students expelled from the other high schools in Pasadena.

Click HERE for the TRAILER

Kathy and Pat would be my earliest images of teaching excellence founded on what I’ve come to call “The Farthest Reaches of Teaching.”  That was 50 years ago... What if I could find them after all these years? (Scroll down to the video at the bottom of this page.)

Together, 375 nuns took independent action and began, among other things, wearing "civilian" clothing to school.  Their Cardinal, unwavering, ordered them back into their traditional habits... "or else."  They were dedicated, energetic, independent thinking young nuns, but they would not abide by the Cardinal's directive. The "or else" soon found a clear definition.  "Wear your Habits, or leave." A catholic version of "My way or the highway.” Determined, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary held on to their principles and voluntarily left the archdiocese becoming an independent lay community. (list other important reasons here). A grave loss for education in the Catholic church, but a windfall for Foothill High School in Pasadena where three of those dedicated sisters, Kathy Manulkin, Pat Burburich and Jule Tessere continued their mission to "create community, work as advocates for the marginalized, and campaign for social and economic justice and peace . . ."   

After leaving Kathy was quickly hired as a teacher aide by Principal Lillian Hagan at Foothill Continuation High School in Pasadena. Encouraged by Lillian to get a California Teaching Credential, Kathy was soon a fully credentialed teacher working with “at risk” students at Foothill High. These were kids who had been expelled from the other Pasadena High Schools.  So happy was Lillian with her new teacher, she asked Kathy if she knew of other's who might be interested in teaching. Lillian soon hired both Pat Berberich and Jule Tesierre.   

Ten years earlier, I had been “expelled” out of my 5th grade catechism class for asking too many questions and other reasons similar to the those of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart. But that’s another story for another chapter.   (relate to kids who get in trouble in school: The Chucky Thomas story.)

I began my career as a teacher aide for Kathy. Today I realize just how much she and Pat influenced my work as an educator and advocate for the marginalized and underserved public school students, hungry for social and economic justice. Someday, I will find a way to contact them, and tell them that their humanistic influence was the brightest beginning to my 39 year career as a teacher. I wanted to teach, I wanted to inspire students the way they did.

Pinned on Kathy’s classroom walls were posters splashed in bright colors, Dillan, other pop stars and three by Sister Corita Kent, one read:

“Who you are
Speaks speaks so loudy
People can’t hear
what you say.”

I admired these former nuns for taking a stand against the out of date  educational views of Cardinal McIntyre. Together their actions spoke loudly, inspired me as a  first year teacher and painted a magnificent landscape for my future as an educator. 

[][][][]

Kathy and Pat were two of the five most important early influences of my teaching career.  After 50 years I located Kathy Manulkin, and Pat Berberich who together framed my earliest moments in the classroom.  My students over the following 39 years would be the beneficiaries of their wisdom.  Here is a recording of our second chat (the first was not recorded)          Important influences, Lillian Hagan, Greta Pruitt, Jim Compeau.

Video #1 Pat recalls Saint James Community as a response to: What was the source that inspired your student centered teaching?

What good fortune... starting my teaching career in the company of such self-actualized human beings.

1969 was a very good year, but there was more about to unfold. Something that would shape the scope of education across the entire nation. His name was Manuel Real.