I’m reading the July issue of the English Journal. The theme is “Teaching for Joy.”

It’s a cry from the heart and has struck me deeply.

I taught for 40 years in the classroom, primary, elementary, college, mostly high school. I’ve seen a lot, done a lot, survived a lot, and had great, even incredible successes. I’ve written about education many times. You can find my poems, articles, stories, essays in my blog and in numerous publications, including my recent book For Lo These Many.

I realize with great personal pain and distress the way education is under attack. I weep (yes, I actually do, sometimes even in public) for the state of the world and the truncated future awaiting our children.

I’ve revived my “writing career” after more than twenty years of retirement from the classroom because, altruist that I am and have always been, I want to do whatever I can to support the profession I love, and the students we serve.

You may remember my article, forty years ago, when plagiarism was a hot topic, and the English Journal published my “Plea for Cooperative Continuity.” That article caused a bit of a stir, and was stirred into the pot, quoted, reprinted. I stand by it today (I really should reread it to see what I said and am currently agreeing with), but don’t end there. Things today are even worse than they were then.

So…rather than just sending off the articles that have gathered dust, looking for publishers who often take months, even years to decide, I decided to put more into my blog to get them “out there” while I seriously consider assembling a separate volume of teacher-related stuff.

Sometimes I’ll chronicle my triumphs over adversity (yes, problems seem to be eternal and universal), but most of all I want to share my joy (the theme of the Journal).

I was disproportionately fortunate with the success of my students, and the disproportionate acclaim I received. But I worked very hard, got too little sleep, drank too much coffee, and loved every blessed minute.

And people were very good to me, administrators, School Boards, the press. I’m shy, modest, un-self-assuming, so when the spotlight is on me, I deflect it to my students. They shine!

Here’s an example: It shows what I did, how I did it, why it worked. I want to encourage other teachers that yes, you too, can do what I did when it worked, and deserve the praise and support we all need. So many of you already do what I did, and even do it better.

PEA Newsletter (Pasadena Education Association), Volume Three, Number Four, December 17, 1979, pages 10 and 11, with two (count ‘em, two) photos.

THANKS TO A GREAT TEACHER

Gary Sterling is a consensus-selection by his peers as a teacher’s teacher, erudite, down-to-earth, sophisticated, humor-filled, and that perfect contradiction – an altruist realist. What does Gary teach at Longfellow Elementary? Language, the most difficult of all skills to teach.

Gary graduated from U. C. Riverside when it was small but among the top ten in the nation. He began as a physics major because theoretical physics is a way to approach philosophy. But, in his third semester, he noted that he was inclined to spend quite a bit of his time on his humanities courses, and he changed his major to comparative literature. AT UCR, he started dating his wife-to-be, Shirley. Shirley studied dance here and in Canada, and she’s a member of the Royal Academy of Dancing. She also runs her own ballet studio in Altadena and teaches ballet full-time.

Gary describes himself as a “burning altruist”. His writing is writing with a purpose. He tries to influence people to train and refine their thinking and feeling. He tries to establish, promote, and insist on very high standards to help people become more fully developed, complete, human beings.

Although he is dismayed at the signs of deterioration of society, he takes heart when he thinks of the teaching profession. We have the children for more than twelve years and thus have a unique opportunity to mold them into competent citizens of high moral standards as they pass from teacher to teacher. We need to meet together, and with the school board and the administration, to set our goals and develop a much greater unity of purpose. “Enthusiasm is not enough. Moving loosely from one lesson to the next does not keep things tied together and gives the student no sense of direction.” According to Gary, the professional teacher combines enthusiasm with a long-range course of action, technical skills, and critical decisions on how big the student’s next step can be.

Gary is poet laureate of Longfellow school. He has not only published enough poems to fill a book, but also many essays and short stories. He is working on several novels. He loves to sing, cook, play tennis, and he helps upgrade our many institutions. He doesn’t just dream, he acts.

If you are a Gary Sterling, you can sing operatic tenor, perform magic, teach science, have stories and poetry published, discuss any subject under the sun, and you can still find time to critique reams of children’s writing in terms that they can understand. You will also rank in the District’s Top Ten of sly leg pullers. Gary Sterling, we salute a true professional educator.

the gift of creative teaching

Opposite page: Student writing from the Literary Magazine we produced.
And the other photo, me working with students.

Then a quotation from me:

“I want the kids to learn to the extent that they don’t need me.”