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This article was downloaded by: [University of Glasgow] On: 11 October 2014, At: 01:46 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Kappa Delta Pi Record Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ukdr20 Telling Stories: Why Teach? Torran Anderson Published online: 22 Oct 2012. To cite this article: Torran Anderson (2005) Telling Stories: Why Teach?, Kappa Delta Pi Record, 41:3, 144-144, DOI: 10.1080/00228958.2005.10518827 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00228958.2005.10518827 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Telling Stories: Why Teach?

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Glasgow]On: 11 October 2014, At: 01:46Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: MortimerHouse, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Kappa Delta Pi RecordPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ukdr20

Telling Stories: Why Teach?Torran AndersonPublished online: 22 Oct 2012.

To cite this article: Torran Anderson (2005) Telling Stories: Why Teach?, Kappa Delta Pi Record, 41:3, 144-144, DOI:10.1080/00228958.2005.10518827

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00228958.2005.10518827

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”)contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensorsmake no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitabilityfor any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinionsand views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy ofthe Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources ofinformation. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands,costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly orindirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial orsystematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution inany form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Why Teach? by Torran Anderson

ust as my father was retiring J from a lifetime of teaching, I was preparing to enter the field as a beginner. In my mind, I pic- tured this as a symbolic passing of the baton, a kind of educational relay from one generation to the next. However, the nature of his retiring led me to question why I wanted to teach.

When he retired, school district officials gave my father a plaque that read: This is to acknowledge Tom Anderson for his years of service. After 30 years of teaching in a program for high school dropouts, breaking up fights, and writing lesson plans, all my father got was a stupid p 1 a q u e .

Studying education in college, I often found myself wondering why I was entering a field that appeared to have undervalued my father. Is this really how I wanted to spend my life? Did 1 want to work away year after year-with teachers’ meet- ings and low pay-and little thanks?

Not long after my father retired, he got a call from a former student named Mike. Mike told him that he was doing

Torran Anderson is a teacher at Sri Atmananda Memorial School (www.samschool.org) and a doc- toral student at The University of Texas atAustin. He is the founder of Teacher as Poet Foundation (www.teacheraspoet.org) and a member of the Delta Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi.

well in his life, raising a family and working full-time. They talked about Mike’s younger days when he had sported a foot-high mohawk and dog collars after he had been kicked out of his high school for fighting. My father was pleased to hear of his accomplishments and told him, “Thanks for calling, Mike. You really made my day.” To this, Mike responded, “Well, you made my life.”

After I graduated, I started working at a school quite different from where my father taught. There where no mohawks, guns in lockers, or metal detectors at the doors. I worked at a school called Sri Atmananda Memorial, which was developed in India and based on the trusting relation- ship between the teacher and student. My students ranged from kindergarten to high school and, on any given day, I could be facilitating a frog observation down by the creek or the writing of essays about World War 11.

Why teach? The question is one I have come back to from time to time. Is it to fill my students with knowledge or wonder? Is it to prepare them for the future or to teach them to surpass me? Do I teach so that I can be taken seriously or to take the thoughts and feelings of my students seriously? Or perhaps, as my father says, “We teach for the enduring relationships we develop with students.”

“After 30 years of teaching in a program for high school

dropouts, breaking up fights, and writing lesson plans, all my father got was a stupid plaque.“

After teaching a couple of years, I began to realize that what my father got from a life of teaching was much more than a plaque. I don’t know whether one day, after I retire from the field, 1 will get my own phone call from a former student thanking me for “making” his or her life or at least not getting in the way. Perhaps it will be me who will be calling my students to thank them for making my own life that much more interesting, challenging, and rich.

Do you have a “telling story” about your teaching or learning that is close to your heart and that gives meaning to your professional career? Send your personal story, no more than 600 words, to Kathie-lo Arnoff, Managing Editor, at [email protected] or Kappa Delta Pi Record, 3707 Woodview Trace, Indianapolis, IN 46268.

144 kkppa Delta Pi Record Spring 2005

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