I only lived in Florida for five years, but those years shaped who I am as an educator and a person.
1991
As I reflect, let me take you back 26 years to the summer of 1991. On July 20, my wife and I were married in Colorado and flew to California for a short honeymoon. We then headed across the country to move to Florida ... two 22 year old newlyweds starting our life together in a new state and without a clue.
We arrived in Bradenton and soon realized that our short honeymoon had been extended by this beautiful community on the Gulf Coast. Our first apartment was 10 minutes from Bradenton Beach (Anna Marie Island). The sand was so white and so soft and the water was so warm (as opposed to California beaches and the Pacific Ocean) that we felt we were at a Caribbean resort. Every day was an adventure as we learned about life and grew together as a couple.
We truly felt that we were still on our honeymoon and spent most days at the beach. We loved our few weeks in August before school started ... in fact, I was so enamored by this beautiful area of the country, that my first classroom bulletin board was a map of Florida with the following words from Shakespeare ...
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself ...
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands, --
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this Bradenton!
Shakespeare's original text ends with "this England."
Then, work started ...
I began teaching high school English and I struggled. I was a poor teacher and I was miserable.
It didn't help that I looked so young. The first few days I was repeatedly mistaken for a student, by students and parents (and even a few staff members). In fact, one of the seniors asked: "Who is the nerd wearing a tie on the first day of school?" ... yep, that nerd was me.
Trying to establish myself as an authority figure, I followed the horrible advice of "don't smile until Thanksgiving" and began in an adversarial relationship with students. This poor start haunted me for the entire year. In fact, I had a couple classes that were a daily battle ... and I was losing badly. As I look back on that first year, I don't remember having a day in which every class period went well. Now, this may be an exaggeration, but, sadly, that is how I remember my first year.
Thankfully, I had wonderful colleagues and administrators who supported and encouraged me. Every new teacher learns a ton from his/her first teaching position ... here is what I learned that first year in education.
1. Smile (before Thanksgiving) and show that you love your job. I'm afraid that my students saw that I was not enjoying my job (and they smelled the blood in the water). The importance of showing that you love your job (even if you have to fake it) is essential to encouraging students to love their job as students.
2. Have fun, and make learning fun. Thankfully, I had two great administrators, Dan van der Kooy (principal) and Jerry Mitchell (superintendent) who both were so positive and encouraging; I also was part of a staff who laughed a lot and enjoyed spending life together. What an encouragement to a teacher who wasn't having fun.
3. Build relationships with your students and enjoy their unique personalities. During my first year, I assumed the worst of my students and felt that they were my adversaries trying to thwart my efforts. Not only was that assumption false, I missed out on getting to know some amazing individuals.
4. Don't give up. Even though I wasn't enjoying my job, I showed up every day and tried to improve. I was encouraged by my principal to give teaching at least two years before making career decisions. Wise advice, and I am so glad that I did.
5. Say "Yes" to opportunities. I had never lived in Florida (or anywhere east of Iowa), but this opportunity arose to teach in Bradenton, Florida. Sometimes saying "yes" to the crazy opportunities that God places in front of you can make all the difference. Starting our careers and marriage in Florida was such a good stretching experience for me and my wife, it pushed us out of our comfort zones, and it taught us a ton about life. A few years later, I was asked by the seniors to speak at their graduation and even though it was completely out of my comfort zone, I said, "Yes." What a blessing and something I have done numerous times, but only because I said "yes" to that in Florida.
My second year was completely different ... I enjoyed teaching and my students, and I began to realistically see myself as a career educator.
Living in Florida also taught me to respect nature. Growing up in the mild climate of Southern California, I was in awe of the power and violence of lightning storms. Being a golfer, there were a number of scary situations in which I had to hustle into lightning shelters on the golf course to wait out a storm.
Additionally, the start of my second school year coincided with Hurricane Andrew ... the largest hurricane to hit the United States (at that date), destroying the southern part of the Florida peninsula, and our school was a shelter location. Seeing the comparison between Andrew and Irma now is frightening.
As I pray for Florida this evening, I remember the wonderful friends in Bradenton and the staff at Bradenton Christian School. My good friend, Dan Vande Pol, is now the superintendent of Bradenton Christian School. Prayers especially for him as he leads in this trying time.
My wife and I had five wonderful years in Florida before moving back to the West, where our family lived; however, we regularly ask each other: "Why did we ever move away from Bradenton?"
Stay safe!
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