You know how they say you should “write what you know”? That’s what I’ve done. After 37 years in the classroom, I’ve written a book about life as a classroom teacher. I’m excited to be working with Dawn Hogue at Water’s Edge Press.on this project! The book is tentatively scheduled to drop on Oct. 6. In the meantime, here’s an excerpt from the story “Ray Spaulding.” I was in the teacher workroom pulling my lunch out of the refrigerator when Ray Spaulding walked in.“They’re trying to make me quit,” he grumbled as he plopped down in a chair and waited for his turn at the microwave.“What’s that, Ray?” I asked.“That new assistant principal, Blumen. She was supposed to observe my class and evaluate me today. I had everything ready.Kids were going to show their projects on that—whaddayacallit?—Powerball?”“PowerPoint.”“Yeah, PowerPoint. Supposed to share examples of geometry in the real world. Used to be good enough to make a poster, but now everything has to be on the computer.”We had grown used to hearing Ray say that education died when they stopped using slide rules.“Ray, that sounds like a good way to use the technology in your classroom. What’s the problem?”“Oh, she rescheduled. Wants to come in next week instead.”“So … can you show the PowerPoints then?”“No, this week is the end of the grading period, and I need to record those scores. She’ll come in next week and want to see the kids using the computers, but we’re starting a new unit on figuring volume and area. The only time I was going to use the laptops was for the projects this week. She’s gonna mark me down, and it’s not my fault. She’s the one who rescheduled. If they’d just let me teach it my way … I know my way works.”Ray’s way included a blackboard—not a whiteboard—and chalk in rainbow colors. His classroom was littered with props that he used in the lessons. Or used to. …

A guy phoned my church today to ask for help. He said he’d about given up on getting help from anyone, but the Lord put it on his heart to try the Presbyterian Church, so he was calling. He said he’d visited us last December and had spoken with Pastor Beau. Then he and his wife and child packed up and moved to Oklahoma for a job – he’s a welder by trade. The job was supposed to last a few weeks, then they would cut him a check and they would have money to travel back home. The poor man apologized for his horrible cold and coughing. He called my attention to it a couple of times. He mentioned that his wife has a heart condition and they were very worried when she came down with Covid right after Christmas. They also have a daughter, but she was apparently in good health, because he didn’t talk about her very much. Now, the job in this small town in Oklahoma lasted longer than expected, which meant he was making more money than expected. But at the end, the company had a financial limit on their checking account that meant they couldn’t pay him the $5700 they owed him for another couple of weeks. And the check was coming to their Indiana address, so they needed to get back home. Could the church help them out? He would find a way to repay us. He was sure God would help him find a way to repay us. They had both PayPal and Venmo. I asked if he had asked the Presbyterian church in that Oklahoma town for help. “Oh, they only help the people who come to their church.” Wow, that’s not very Presbyterian of them. Have you asked any of the other churches? “Oh, this town is so close-knit, they only help their own. I’ve been begging people to help for two weeks. Everyone just tells me to go to someone else.” He had figured out my game plan: “Red Cross” was next on my list. I decided not to go there – he was getting angry. I told him that helping them was not my decision to make alone. Give me a few minutes to contact some other people, and I would see what we could do. We said good-bye and hung up. Now, I consider myself a born-again […]