Jim Teagarden Story Jim Teagarden: When we were in business, you know, we were worried about money. When we just went a different direction, you know, all of that stuff we thought was so important back then isn't that important anymore. [Singing: Two, three. Happy birthday to you...] Hi my name is Jim Teagarden, I'm an associate professor at Kansas State University. I'm in the department of special education, counseling and student affairs but my area of expertise and passion has to do with emotional disturbance and behavior disorders within the field of special ed. I grew up in a little town of Frankfort, Kansas. It was small, it was limited, at least it seemed that way at the time. I can remember being really frustrated as a kid about the lack of opportunity. At the same time, I guess what I didn't realize is what I did have, that sense of community that's hard to replicate any other place. Before I was born, my father had been widowed and was raising my stepsister, and so there was a lot of sympathy for him as a single dad in the early forties. Having that history within the town, I kind of got doors opened that I might not have deserved. He went on to become a letter carrier, so he walked to every little house in town and then he went home and fired up the lawn mower and went and mowed yards. So that's kind of that work ethic that he had that was kind of assumed I had, but most of the time couldn't live up to that standard. One of the lessons I learned from my father is to do things cause they're the right thing to do. Some things I do, I don't wanna talk about, I just want to do them. And I think that comes from him. When I graduated from high school I got married and my wife and I went to Kansas City to attend college. Looking back, I wish I would have gotten an education degree with it, but instead I got involved in running a business. I got to talking to some friends that were interested in expanding a chain of convenient stores and I linked up with them. Running the stores was fun and challenging but it kept me away from home for long periods of time and after a number of years I started thinking about making a change. One of the customers that we had, his name was Bruce. He was a teacher at Washington High School, and we were his coffee stop of the morning. We got to talking, I got to listen to his stories about teaching and one day he made a comment that kind of stuck with me throughout the years, that if I decided to go into education I would either be one of the best or the worst, and I think what he meant was just the way that we talked about and interacted with people I think he saw the fact of being able to deal with diverse populations doesn't always involve a loud voice and harsh discipline. Kathleen Teagarden, Jim's wife: I know that last year that we had the business, he didn't seem happy. Obviously, this was already kind of in the back of his head and he didn't really know how to approach it. Jim Teagarden: When we walked about options and one of them was if we were moving back so our kids could have grandparents and that was one of our driving forces. There wasn't a lot of jobs that could support us and our kids. Teaching was one of the careers that was kind of on the table I guess, and when Bruce made that comment that kind of triggered that thought. It also gave me kind of a flashback because when I grew up, one of our next-door neighbors had a sister whom I'd never met, and I didn't know why at that time. I learned that she had gone up to the grade school like we all did at that time. They told her mom that they didn't have a program for her there. She wasn't ready for school, take here home and bring her back when she was. And the mother did that again the next year and finally the mom learned that actually there was never going to be a time when she was ready for school. To me that just kind of brought that story back in my head about there has to be a better way. That kind of drove me not only into education but actually in that kind of sub-specialty of education if you will. Kathleen Teagarden: We both were really nervous about moving back with no aspect of exactly how this was going to work. With his age and that, we knew he had to kind of go through fast. It wasn't one where he could just take a class here and there. It all worked out and I think after he finally got in and got going then I could see a change in him to where he was happier. Peggy Koppes, paraeducator, USD 364: The first time that I met Jim, he kind of had wild longer hair kind of Einstein-ish looking. And then the first time I met him in a classroom setting, I was very impressed with his sense of humor, how he connected to the students. The respect he demanded without demanding it. He just has a way with people of making you feel important and he always expected more I think than people thought they could do, but they always seem to meet his expectations. Jim Teagarden: It's a reward system and if you remember there's two parts. One of them is a group reward. I got into the habit of filming my own classroom and then watching the film on Saturday. I always thought, if it's good enough for the football coach, it ought to be good enough for me. Because sometimes those interactions you wonder why in the world this kid reacted the way they did and then when you watch the film, you realize he didn't start it, you did. It might not have been intentional, it doesn't matter, just like a football play what you intended for to happen really doesn't matter, the film shows what did happen. I learned a lot in those early years including how to get feedback from students. Sections on these report card, one for work and one for behavior. Every nine weeks we send home a report card, but they never have an opportunity to fill out a report card on you. And so that's one thing we did is the day I was gonna pass out report cards, I gave them my report card to fill out on me. They bought into the idea that it was gonna be growth for both of us and self-contained, identified emotionally disturbed kids, filled out my report card. Very similar to having undergraduates do T-Vals. Kathleen Teagarden: One year, Jim had a student that had passed away shortly after graduating school, and his mother had come up to Jim and explained to him how big of an impact that he had had on her son's life. To the day that he passed away he continually made different comments about Jim and the things they did. Jim used to do this thing that where if they were good, they would get tokens for their behavior, and at the end of the year whatever the theme was, he would let them buy and they could take home. And one year he did dinosaurs and this boy had enough tokens that he was able to outbid everybody else on them and his mother had told him how much that set of dinosaurs, and that school year had meant to him. And I know a lot of times Jim came home so depressed because a lot of times what he saw was not getting through and then to be able to hear later that he actually did I think was a real boost for him. Peggy Koppes: I have so many kids that I'll see today, and they'll say, where's Mr. Teagarden and how's he doing? We'd have parents that would come, and they'd be in a difficult spot and he would lend them money if they really needed something. Him and his family are such a blessing to me. Jim Teagarden: To me social justice means access, it means stability, it means the use of pronoun. And I think social justice uses the plural pronouns it's we rather than I. I was never a farmer but part of farming as I understand the concept is faith, and that's that you plant seeds and you do what you can, and you'll never really know whether it's gonna grow or not. I think coming back and revisiting those kinds of places, it's kind of reassuring that it was a good crop. There is no comparison, this is the way to go.