I spent five decades in classrooms, Tacoma teacher says. These colleagues stand out

My 46 years in a variety of classrooms has come to an end. Anyone nearing the culmination of their career will mentally travel back through time recalling the images of all those who have impacted their life of work.

For a teacher it is not difficult to bring into focus the faces and emotions of the thousands of students who have passed their way. I have been thinking a lot about these students lately.

However, the life of a teacher, like a person in any line of work, is singularly impacted by their colleagues.

Teachers today are confronted with a unique challenge: responding to the educational needs of students, forced to learn from home, in response to the spreading coronavirus.

Even in seemingly normal times, the school environment presents numerous challenges and crises, requiring a teacher to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances to keep students moving forward.

Often, the classroom is one of the few places where students can find predictability and stability in their lives. Now, in the face of school shutdowns, teachers must step up — are stepping up —to provide needed continuity to their students.

Teachers and administrators have the opportunity, more than ever, to model resilience in the face of adversity.

Early in my career I learned this lesson from two experienced, extraordinary teachers.

Bob was an incredible teacher. A World War II veteran, he went to college on the GI Bill and decided to become a reading teacher. He couldn’t be missed in the halls, always in his dark blue suit, white shirt and tie.

He walked with a single-minded purpose: to make sure each of his remedial students would leave his classroom knowing how to read well. To that end he developed his own reading program aimed at low-performing high school students.

Bob wasn’t always popular with administration. His manner was often Marine Corps gruff with students, but they knew he meant for them to succeed and no time could be wasted in pursuit of that goal.

I encountered Jim, also early in my career, while teaching in a middle school in a low- income area of King County.

Jim was a music teacher. During the first semester I was asked to help supervise his 7th and 8th grade joint music class. He had taken on the task of preparing a Christmas program that would be performed for the community.

It’s not hard to imagine these middle school students, particularly the somewhat arrogant 8th graders not entirely on board with the program. Jim was relentless, never wavering in his goal of hearing his students unite in one voice.

I still see him pounding his podium with the baton, his voice rising: “Again, do it again!” He was unrelenting, pushing students to higher levels of performance.

The night of the concert was incredible. Through the force of his vision and will, he brought these students from indifference to the creation of wonderful music and song.

More recently, I observed resilience in the face of adversity in one of my students. The young lady was a senior when diagnosed with cancer. When treatments kept her away from class, she always came in to pick up assignments. A few days later her completed work would appear on my desk.

She never complained or asked for special consideration in grading. She earned an A in the class.

These are challenging times. Teachers and students, along with the broader community, are called upon to do their part, the best they can, consistent with their individual circumstances.

Everyone can find their own guardrails to success, overcoming obstacles along the way.

Mike Jankanish is a retired teacher, former chair of the history department at Tacoma’s Wilson High School and an occasional op-ed contributor on education issues for The News Tribune.