Last autumn, I wrote part one of Shout Out to Retired Classroom Heroes, honoring Joanne Decker, Bill Eddins, and Barb Jefferies. To read it, click here. Part 2 was to quickly follow. The Times Reporter was making some technical adjustments to their website at that time, and unfortunately, my blog wouldn’t work for about a month. Thus, I decided to postpone part 2 to this ideal spot of Mother’s Day.
I have one more newly retired teacher that I need to recognize. Joanie was the first teacher that I ever met. Those nine months that I spent with her developed me significantly more than all of my school years combined. I thought we had a great connection. But on Friday, November 27th, 1970, she pushed me out.
Literally.
Back in the fall of 1964 Joanie Chlebeck was studying at the College of Mount Saint Joseph to be a nurse. One weekend when she was home from school, her parents invited a new teacher and coach of her three younger brothers over for dinner. The story I have always heard was that it was love at first site for Joanie and that coach, Andy Aljancic.
During their ‘courtship’, Andy eventually convinced his future bride to hang up her nurse’s hat and switch over to the teaching profession—he said she would love working with kids.
My dad was known for having a more than few crazy ideas. For example, when building their home, he secretly changed my mom’s carpet choices–a cardinal sin in the husband handbook. He switched the kids’ bedrooms to WHITE (children and white carpet go together like Hillary Clinton at a Donald Trump rally). He also pulled a switch-a-roo downstairs, upping the GROOVY factor by ordering shag carpet…
The New York Yankees have enough money to absorb their mistakes. The Indians (think Nick Swisher) and the Aljancics do not. So here is a snap shot of my two younger brothers chilling during year 12 of the shag carpet era.
Sidenote: Some day, I need to do an entire blog just on the contents of this picture.
Many of my dad’s wild ideas didn’t pan out. But the career advice for his future bride was 100% spot on.
Joanie started her teaching career in 1968 in the early years of St. Thomas Aquinas High School. One of her first-year students was my current co-worker, Phyllis. Now I get rave reviews from just about every student I meet that had my mom. Phyllis, however, does not fall into that category. She laughed as she told me she definitely didn’t like Mrs. A’s gym class back then, primarily because Joanie made those freshmen girls work and play hard.
Back then, before Title Nine was enacted by the federal government, there were little or no extra-curricular activities for females. To combat that lack of opportunity, Joanie worked with other gym teachers in area high schools to create their own competitions for girls. No busses. No stipends. Just parents driving and teachers officiating.
Joanie took a break from teaching when I was born to take care of me, along with my one-year-old sister. A few years later, her church, St. Louis, needed a part-time elementary Phys ed. teacher. She did it that first year solely in exchange for some free babysitting (I found that out 30 years later when that babysitter told me). She continued that job for a few more years while receiving actual paychecks. Here is one of her classes from 1973…
Nothing like some good old-fashioned group arm-wrestling! I am guessing that is probably not in today’s Common Core Education Standards!
The arrival of those previously mentioned two little brothers put Mrs. A on back on the teaching sidelines. As they got older, mom gradually got back into education, being a substitute teacher, a tutor, running the high school intramural program, and even working with students in a drug re-habilitation center. Eventually, she got a part-time physical education position at Louisville Elementary School, which grew each year until becoming eventually becoming a full-time position.
Most all of us have been blessed with special teachers in our lives that go above and beyond to make an impact on the lives of their students. Mrs. A definitely fits into that category. Now I really can’t bear first-hand witness to that fact; I only had mom as a substitute teacher in my days as a moody junior high student (she would irritate me because she would make great efforts to teach and interact with the class, instead of just sitting at the desk like a typical sub).
But I have heard the testimonies of hundreds of her former students, as well as their parents.
When I ask my own 8th grade classes what is was like having Mrs. A for gym, their faces light up! I hear vivid stories about cruising the gym floor on those seat scooters, hopefully without their fingers getting run over. They share about the fun times running under the parachute. I hear all about the various songs to which they learned the steps, motions, and words. The Electric Slide. The Hokey Pokey. The Macarena. The Hand Jive. In fact, when I interviewed students while putting a retirement video together for her, the high school students knew the words and lyrics to Tony Chestnut just as well as the 4th graders.
I heard about her incorporating the Wii Game System into gym class. Students even told me about roller-skating every year on the gym floor (she had skates brought in each year for all of her students).
Besides the diversity of fun activities, I would hear from students about the various rewards she handed out. Marshmallows galore. Ink stamps all over their cheeks and foreheads. Selecting various prizes and trinkets from a stash that she accumulated along the way. One 8th grader proudly told me that he even earned a popcorn popper!
Mrs. A’s big goal was to make gym fun for all of her students, especially for those that usually didn’t have much success in sports. She adjusted her annual Olympic Days to include events like the shoe kick and Frisbee toss to create a more balanced playing field. And she made sure to create class activities that would capture the interest of every child.
Outside of the school day, Mrs. A also spearheaded the ‘Leaping Leopards’ jump rope team for almost two decades. Here is one of her early teams from 1997…
Her groups performed at area schools to promote the American Heart Association. They also got to perform at several Canton Charge and Cleveland Cavalier games.
Mrs. A has always been one of those teachers who is much younger than what her driver’s license says. She would put herself right into the action in gym class, periodically coming home with bruises and/or a black eye from an errant throw. But the stongest evidence of her youthfulness came each August on my own first day with students, when at least one of my pupils would ask if their former gym teacher, Mrs. A, was my wife.
EWWWWWWWW! If we didn’t have dry erase boards, I would have that kid outside to bang erasers for the next month!
Above and beyond all of the fun and games, I think the biggest impact that Joanie had on her students was in the love, care, and attention she showered upon them. She treated each student like her own child. I would see that each time I was with her when she ran into a current or former student. She always got a big smile, and usually received a big hug. I would hear it when I discussed some of my own students with her. She would usually remember them right away, even though she has probably had about ten thousand students in her career. She seemed to be especially concerned for those students I mentioned that faced many struggles in life.
I would see it any time I traveled through town with her. A trip to a restaurant or the local grocery store was like a presidential meet-and-greet. No quick stops with Mrs. A.
Last May, as the last few days of her 40-year career were winding down, I asked her what she would miss the most. She said it would be the hugs that she received every day from her students.
Every year, my official school year starts when our school district gathers its entire staff for a convocation meeting. Each time, my mom would track me down for a big hug and kiss while I would revert back to my teenage days and roll my eyes.
This year’s convocation rolled around again.
Mom, I really missed that hug and kiss.
So thank you, mother, for being such an example and inspiration as a teacher. When those moments come when my teaching duties start to feel like a job, I think about you, and dad, and remember what a privilege it is to have the opportunity to positively influence a student’s life.
I LOVE YOU MOM!
Even in those rare times when I when I am in my ‘moody teenager’ mode.