One Boy's Struggle

"ADD is an explanation for the way my mind works, but using it or thinking of it as an excuse is not helpful. Taking responsibility for who I am is infinitely more beneficial for me than sulking and feeling sorry for myself."

Bryan L. Hutchinson

One Boy's Struggle- A Memoir

     There is a recurring question that gnaws at me- "Are you paying attention?!?"  The question first came from my parents, pre-classroom confinement, remained a staple throughout my K-12 experience and persists to this present day. For decades now, I am the one asking the question. I am a teacher. I wish I had read Bryan Hutchinson's book before my first roomful of students stared back at me. In Bryan's words, 

"This book is an endeavor to help others understand the disorders called Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)." 

In reality, One Boy's Struggle is much more- the book provides an opportunity to hear Bryan's struggle in his own words. Anyone who struggles with feeling different can relate to Bryan when he writes:

"For a very long time I hated the way I was and wished I could be someone else: a good kid, who did exactly what he was told to do. I couldn't change no matter how desperately I tried."

Bryan tells his story is a manner that is painfully honest. As I read I remembered my own childhood teachers and, for the most part, they are not fond memories.  I can relate to this thought from Bryan-

"I felt that none of the teachers understood me, because they were too busy trying to teach me in a way that was right for them, but impossible for me."

I now know that the true teacher teaches people, not subjects.

One Boy's Struggle is the success story of Bryan Hutchinson, a misunderstood kid who overcame tremendous obstacles with the help of friends and doctors and should be read by everyone considering the field of education. 

Thomas Edison said, "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

Thank you Bryan for not giving up.

Mean Teachers

"Do not try to satisfy your vanity by teaching a great many things. Awaken people's curiosity. It is enough to open minds, do not overload them. Put there just a spark. If there is some good inflammable stuff, it will catch fire."

Anatole France



My perspective of education has changed. High school classrooms looked different through sixteen-year-old eyes than through fifty-year-old eyes. My view of teachers has also changed. The Living Bible says this, "A wise teacher makes learning a joy!" Proverbs 15:2. I don't recall any of my high school teachers making anything a joy. School was to be endured, not enjoyed (I am quite certain the opinion I held of my teachers was reciprocal). But then, there was Mr. Davis, 9th grade math teacher. Everyday, Mr. Davis wore a short-sleeved, white shirt with the sleeves rolled. I've never understood why people roll short-sleeves. There were always several pens in his pocket and always a King James Bible on his desk. I never saw him pick it up. He never made reference to it. But, like a silent sentry of truth, it was always there. He is one of the few teachers I remember.



In my Senior year of high school I made this vow- 'If I ever graduate (and there were 'iffy' moments) I will never set foot in a school again!' I can now imagine a band of angels looking curiously at the Lord, wondering about the smile my vow brought to His face. For reasons known but to Him, after high school I enrolled in college. It was there that God called me to teach. Years later I found myself teaching high school students at Overton High, Memphis, Tennessee. It didn't take long to know that the view from the teacher's desk is radically different than the view from the student's. Suddenly, all those 'mean' teachers from my youth became human. I knew something would have to happen beyond my abilities, something would be required of me. And then I remembered Mr. Davis.

Two weeks into the school year it happened.
"Today," I announced to a class of 35 high school art students,"I want you to illustrate the concept of LOVE, without using words."
Silence. No movement. Finally, in the back of the room, a small girl raised her hand.
"What if you don't know what love is?" she asked.
I picked up the Bible from my desk and read I Corinthians, chapter 13. I placed the Bible back on my desk. The atmosphere in the room changed. That week I began to write Scripture on the blackboard, a new verse every week. By Christmas I noticed students copying the verses in their notebooks. The Word of God seen and heard in a public school classroom. Teachers began stopping by to read the verse of the week. One asked, "Can you do that?" I explained the Supreme Court ruling regarding sacred literature in government schools- 'you may expose but not expound.' Read, show- don't comment! I wonder what would happen if more preachers followed this rule.

Made to Make

There is a unique relationship that exists between the artist and the material, between the creator and the created; the more resistant the material, the more difficult the maker’s task. Works we call ‘Masterpieces’ are merely reflections of the artist’s skill, discipline and vision (which is, incidentally, my wife’s definition of art). The makers of these pieces have ‘taken the materials captive’, bringing them into a place of obedience.
A new friend of mine is a five-year-old boy named Rocco, a lover of life whose wonder has not (yet) been robbed. A few days before Rocco’s 5th birthday, in a fit of passion and excitement, he exclaimed to his mother, “Mom, did you know that God made a man out of dirt!!!” Let that sink in a moment. The same fingers that would later write the law in stone formed a man from earth, the crowning achievement of divine creativity, a creation with the capacity to create. From that first man, made out of dirt, to the present man, this truth is evident- We were made to make. And, as Andy Crouch states in his latest work, Culture Making, “Culture is what we make of the world.”
John Holt, educator and author, made this observation:
“Very young children seem to have what could be called an Instinct of Workmanship. We tend not to see it, because they are unskillful and their materials crude. But watch the loving care with which a little child smoothes off a sand cake and shapes a mud pie. They want to make it as well as they can, not to please someone else, but to satisfy themselves.” (How Children Learn, August 2, 1961 entry).
Thousands of years have passed since the first ‘dirt man’ and, for reasons unbeknownst to many, the Creator God still desires to be in relationship with His creation. In the Hebrew Scriptures there is a word some scholars believe to be one of the most important words in the Bible- Chesed. It is, as Michael Card told me, a word that almost defies literal translation. Lexical Aids to the Old Testament says this:
“The term is closely related to the forgiveness of sins. Chesed does not necessarily involve a covenant, nor does it necessarily mean fidelity to a covenant. It is more the attitude of love which contains mercy.”
Whether we like it, or even believe it, we are the workmanship of a loving Creator who continues to shape and fashion us in spite of our resistance. The only explanation to this mystery I can find is Chesed.

Letters in Chalk

Something is changing in classrooms across America, chalk is disappearing. Whiteboards have replaced Blackboards, and now, something called SMART Board is emerging. I like chalk. I like the feel of the dust on my fingers. I like the fact that chalk comes from the ground, as did Adam. In the early classrooms of America there was chalk. Something else is changing in classrooms- goals and objectives. If you recently graduated from a High School in America, or know someone who has, consider the following quiz:
1. Identify, by name, five living things found in nature.
2. Translate the following into Latin, French and Greek- “I am a student of life.”
3. Locate the North Star in a night sky.
4. Recite a poem from memory.
5. Recite the Ten Commandments.
As the Information Age becomes the Technology Age, Americans look to the gadgetry of the day to ‘make life better.’ Just give me chalk and a blackboard.