Jeni Ann Flores

Epiphany. An appearance of something other worldly or divine. It happened to me one dreary November night at a fast food place. It had been a long day of work, but I had an evening graduate class, and afterwards a meeting. I stopped somewhere for a bite to eat, glad the day was over. But it was not, for there was a surprise lurking between the pages of “Portland,” the award winning University of Portland alumni magazine I had pulled out and started to make greasy as I ate and read. The magazine had reprinted excerpts of the article “In the Abbey” by Brother Todd Koesel, a Trappist monk who wrote about the men of Our Lady of Guadalupe Cistercian Abbey in Oregon’s wine valley, and their labors as book binders for universities, libraries, authors. For over 50 years books arrived which the abbey monks checked, collated, cleaned, marked, measured, trimmed, notched, glued, flannelled, stacked, dried, and covered books. Two million times, and counting. Koesel wrote of the mo...

I was going to write about brain research and a runaway bunny. But my brain isn’t working well these days, and my stress level is like a runaway train. And the reason is I lost my cell phone. It was a 2G iPhone I bought from a friend in LA. To the best of my recollection of things I did last week, I most probably lost it as I dropped a friend at a hospital on Tuesday, March 2, around 11:30 am. An honest person would have returned it to me by now. That phone was so important to me. It had all my important numbers and the numbers of fellow teachers at my school. Peer mentoring and collegiality is so critical in my profession. I need to be able to call a teacher friend and say “Johnny did that thing again. I think it’s time to set up a Child Study Team.” “I can’t attend the focus group meeting because I have another meeting.” “Can you watch my class while I run to the bathroom?” “Do you have extra strength Tylenol?” That phone was important to me because I use it to call my students’...

Matthew was the Bouncer. His fist was ready to settle all and any problem. Mark was the Scowler. He could hold a scowl a full hour when offended. Luke was Despair personified. He dealt with difficulties by bowing his head on the desk in woeful despair. John was Paralysis – he would sit and pout all day, even skipping lunch, when something upset him. Obviously there were other things going on with these children than just having a bad day or waking up on the wrong side of the bed. Making these children learn was a daily challenge. And for the first four months of one school year nothing I tried by way of incentive – positive or negative - worked. I scowled back. I offered tickets to redeem for free play time. I gave them stickers. Some days I was so angry and frustrated that I stood in front of the class, and, as James Thurber would put it, begin “to quiver all over like Lionel Barrymore.” Rewards and incentives. It seems a simple matter. But what does research say? There are some ...

The teacher had been waiting all year to get to that part of the Science book. Finally, there it was for all to see - the picture of a sprouting seed, and inside the seed was what looked like a tiny tree, a harbinger of what the seed would become in a few years. The picture was very much like the seed the students had seen sprout in their paper cups. Only the picture was bigger and more colorful. Then the teacher put a surprising, non-Science spin to it all. “Yes, boys and girls, you are like this seed. Inside you is a great big oak tree waiting to come out,” the teacher said. The students’ eyes grow like saucers. “Someday you will be firefighters, soldiers and pilots, doctors and teachers, presidents of your own companies, artists and writers and columnists.” The children murmur among themselves. “You will get a job. Some of you will get married, be mommies and daddies, and you will buy Pampers for your babies.” There is a ripple of giggles. Boys start punching each other sh...

Alex Sablan came up to me hugging a big plastic container. The first grader was willing to share some of his cherished possessions with me. I bent down to look. Inside were five happy geckos. “Which one do you want, teacher?” It was that kind of school and I was that kind of teacher. So without batting an eyelash, I pointed to the smallest gecko. So I can grow him myself, I said, winking at Alex. You might find yourself with some spare time this Christmas break. Here I am as Alex, sharing not prized bugs, but suggested reading for the holidays. 1. Lateral Thinking: Creativity Step by Step by Edward de Bono There are two kinds of thinking – vertical and lateral. With lateral thinking you do not eliminate any idea, no matter how wrong or outrageous it seems at first, until you come up with a solution to a problem. The author helps the reader, especially teachers, use lateral thinking for personal interest and as basis for classroom teaching. He helps teachers come up with bette...

He was as handsome as ever. The soft round face of the little boy was gone, but I recognized that striking jaw line and the naughty twinkle in his eyes. “Of course, Mrs. Flores,” he answered in a deep voice as we hugged. I had asked him whether he still remembered me. Very few boys remember their kindergarten teacher. Donovan (not his real name) was one of my most interesting students. He was a wiggler, constantly moving and not paying attention. He showed intelligence but struggled with reading. He threw himself completely into whatever he was doing. One time I found him all by himself surrounded by markers. One eye had black circles and the left arm was also black. When I asked him what he thought he was doing, he stuck out his tongue. It was green. While I scrubbed his face and arms I threatened him with all sorts of bodily harm and warned him of a future so dark and dreary if he every did this again. I should have known better. I was less focused on Donovan’s unique qualities ...

This is the true story of Mary and Robert (not their real names), as told by a teacher. Robert walks slowly, dragging his bag through the hallway. He often gets into trouble for playing or fighting along the way. He disrupts the class by making a smart aleck remark as he enters. Mary was the same. She gets in trouble in the hallway for ‘accidentally’ bumping into somebody, taking their things, saying hurtful things. She goes to her chair quietly but when she gets there students will complain that Mary bumped their desks or took their pencil. “I’ve had these same kinds of students before, and they grew up to cause even more trouble in the school. The school even had to call the police at one time because of a fight caused by my former student whose antics had escalated to something worse,” the teacher said. “I knew I had to do something. They cannot just go through our system without anybody caring enough to reach out to them and help turn their lives around,” the teach...