Two brilliant teachers

World Teacher Day from a Headteachers view was rewarding and positive. From a personal perspective I was quite taken aback by the teachers comments.

Tim Whitmore

Tim Whitmore was a brilliant teacher in the classroom. We loved Sport and PE. I say we, our table. The class loved-liked PE, somewhere on that continuum. It has a lot had to do with Tim’s passion for the duller unit. Tim loved the Social Cultural Aspects of Sport the History of PE. At the time, I didn’t quite know why. It was just philosophy by another name and we were not quite ready for that as sports made teenagers.

Outside of class, I clearly remember his centred approach to “coaching” young people. Doing it right was as important a getting it right. In “sport” how we conducted and represented ourselves was more important that the outcome. And so it was for the college teams I coached.

Happy World Teacher Day – thank you for all of the lessons within and beyond the classroom.

Tim Whitmore sent the following message at 10:59 AMThanks Kristian – hope all well with you and career is still on the upward trend. Best wishes.

And so our conversations bounced to and fro.

Professor Curt Lox

Profession Curt Lox always had a positive outlook. Little that could not be conqueror was contemplated. Smart (he was our Professor). Kind, considerate and courteous. He’d practice basketball at lunchtimes – smiling. He spoke warmly of the past connects and interactions he had encountered. He spoke well of others or not at all. He spoke of the value contentedness. He noticed. He had this uncanny and skillful knack for letting you think, you had worked it out for yourself.

Subject: Re: Tomorrow is an important day – open Thursday 5th

It has probably passed you smart Professors by, that tomorrow is World Teacher Day. I just wanted to recognise that and thank you. Today I told my students about “Prof Curt Lox” as I collect their messages, for our teaching staff. I told them about a fantastic professor and teacher, whose kind words of encouragement, made a big difference to whether I stayed and completed my degree or departed before it really got going. Who trusted me to work it out for myself. Who shared a little of his own struggles to help some one with theirs. Thank you.

Kristian – I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. You have consistently demonstrated your gratitude over the years unlike any student I’ve ever had. As you know, there is no greater reward in our business than feedback like this. You’ve made my day! Hope all is well with you. AND, I truly hope to make it out your direction one day. Curt

The power of gratitude. Moreover, I felt that as a leader, having showed my appreciation to my teachers, I had more credibility in asking for our student gratitude towards their teachers.

PS this post was promoted by my Friday AM twitter exchange with Amjad Ali.