Thursday, July 4, 2013

Teaching with all your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength (In memory of Dr. Bill Vande Kopple)

I don't want to write this blog. Somehow, writing makes it undeniably real: Dr. Bill Vande Kopple passed away yesterday. He was my teacher for only one short semester, but that figure doesn't do justice to the impact he had on me. He was my methods professor and the supervisor for my student teaching, but he continued to teach me long after he turned in his grades at the end of the term.

The lesson that affected me most deeply was one that he taught simply by being himself. During my years as a beginning high school teacher, Prof. Vande Kopple would occasionally drop by to see what was happening in my classroom. He didn't make appointments. Instead, when he was "in the neighborhood" and had a few extra minutes (at least that was what he claimed!), he would stop in unannounced.

This generosity with his time was an incredible gift to me, and it's one that I've thought of often since I've moved away. He was a mentor: genuinely interested in what was happening between me and my students, and after he'd watched a bit and paused to ask how things were going, he freely shared stories from his own teaching. He had a way of asking the one question that would help me see a problem for myself ("What makes that angle of analyzing the poem worth 20 minutes?"). And like a gem hunter, he saw what was worth keeping and helped me to grab and polish it. ("You see how well they work in groups? That's something! What if you turned more of the work over to them?")

I am sure that Prof. Vande Kopple made these same kinds of stops, told the same kinds of stories, and gave the same types of encouragement in classrooms of beginning teachers all around West Michigan. He loved working with new teachers. His drop-in visits were something to look forward to: they were his way of saying that he cared, that he had confidence that he'd see something worth watching, that he believed I had what it took to keep learning and keep teaching. Those visits helped to build my skills and confidence as a beginning English teacher in more ways than I can count.

Fast forward. I followed in Dr. Vande Kopple's footsteps, and for about a decade, I've had the privilege of serving as an English teacher educator. Yesterday, I met with a recent grad from our program at Dordt College. She shows a great deal of promise, and that time with her was a joy. I saw the spark catch in her eyes when I asked a question, saw the satisfaction in her smile when I named back to her a great idea shining out from her notes, heard the excitement in her voice as she thought aloud about how she might polish that idea and make it sparkle. It was a visit modeled after the conversations that Prof. Vande Kopple had with me.

Thank you, Professor Vande Kopple, for teaching with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. I'm thankful for the time you gave, for the lessons you taught, for the legacy you've left that reaches miles and generations beyond your classroom. You will be missed.