This morning was spent recalling incidents while teaching at the University of Northern Iowa where I was employed from 1969 until taking early retirement in the year 2000. Some memories stand out as positive moments and others as less than productive circumstances. It is the purpose in this document to illustrate to the younger and less experienced leaders in the field of education just how to keep ones focus while dealing with the everyday problems which unfortunately come with the job.
Example 2.
“Sometimes you just have to stir up the water”
I have worked for five directors of our School of Music and have truly enjoyed working with three of them. The other two we eventually fired which brings me to this example of what it takes to keep your sanity while teaching.
My student Dixieland band was selected to represent our university in the final competition of the Southern Comfort National Intercollegiate Dixieland Festival which was held in conjunction with that year’s National Jazz Educators convention to be held in Chicago. Three bands were competing for the national award “Best University Dixieland Band’ in the country. Invited to this battle of the Dixieland bands include a group from the New England Conservatory of Music, one from the University of Denver and a group from a small teacher’s college in Iowa called the UNI Bearcats. As the director of this fine ensemble, it was my responsibility to show our students in the most favorable light; both in performance as well as their appearance on stage which brings me to the reason for this second post.
In a competition such as this, how the ensemble looks is equally important as how they perform and to that end I made an appointment with the head of our department to ask for assistance in the costume area for our upcoming competition.
My request for costume funding went well and I felt that we would be receiving the financial backing expected for this occasion. Unfortunately the amount bestowed upon our dedicated ensemble was far less that I had hoped for. My department head agree to help with a small amount of subsidy and I thanked him for his “generous” token of support and what came next was the spark that ignited my inner most dislike for this individual. Upon agreeing to finance our request, this %#@%$# asked “What’s the name of your group”?
For weeks, our local as well as national papers drew attention to this annual competition and still the director of our school of music didn’t even know the name of the ensemble that would be representing us for the title of the “Best University/College Dixieland Band in the country.
What came from deep within my soul did not require any translation as I responded at a fortissimo volume “We are representing our school at a national competition…..and you don’t even know the name of your group”?
I had obviously made my point for the next statement from his mouth was…..”I have nothing more to say to you”, spun around in his desk chair and with his back to me placed his feet on the window sill in his office. There I sat facing a person who I had very little respect for when I first entered his office a few minutes ago and now I have been told that he has no more to say to me.
Most faculty members would have taken this pompous attitude as an invitation to remove oneself from the room but as some of you might know, I’m not that kind of a team player. So…..as the head of our department ( and my boss) sat with his legs crossed, resting on his window sill, I decided it was time to let him know what more I had to say at that time.
I didn’t look at my watch, but I’m sure that by the time I had finish everything I had to say, Dr. Pompous could no longer feel his legs which were numb, induced by the very uncomfortable position that they had been forced to endure. I often wondered what was going through this persons mind as I calmly stated everything that I could think of at that moment. How does one recover from the embarrassment and humiliation of deciding to sit back in an office chair with their legs crossed, their feet on a window sill for no less than ten minutes as the blood runs from their legs and there is nothing they can do until this “punk” of a faculty member enjoys the time of his life pontificating on nothing of importance?
Those were precious moments which I revisit whenever I feel down.
