October Lincoln Spotlight Book

The October Lincoln Spotlight Book at ERHS is "Swim the Fly", by Don Calame. The book is about a boy named Matt and his two friends, Coop and Sean, who are members of their town's summer swim team. None of the boys are very good swimmers, but this does not prevent them from being part of the team. However, it may explain much of the mischief they get into during the summer. A link to this book is below.

http://www.doncalame.com/swim_the_fly/

Matt Powell is a biology teacher at ERHS, and he is also the coach of the Olney Tiger Sharks swim team in the summer. Mr. Powell conducted a book talk about "Swim the Fly" for interested students. As part of our effort to promote the reading of Lincoln Award Books, we have a spotlight book each month, highlighted by a book talk by someone at ERHS.

Mr. Powell was a great choice for this book, and many of his current and former Tiger Shark swimmers attended the book talk.

Abraham Lincoln Award Books

A new program I am starting at our school this year is the Principal's Lincoln Spotlight. The Abraham Lincoln Award Books are 22 titles in young adult literature. These titles vary from biographies to fantasy, and everything in between. A link to this year's Lincoln Award Books is below. Here you can find book trailers, story descriptions, and other information about each title

http://www.islma.org/pdf/2015MasterList/2015AbrahamLincolnAward2.pdf

Each month at East Richland High School, we will spotlight one of the books on the Abe Lincoln Award list. Various faculty, staff, and others will conduct book talks and showcase that month's title. Students that have read the spotlight book for the month are entered into a drawing for various prizes.

The goal of the Principal's Lincoln Spotlight is to encourage all people at ERHS (students and faculty/staff) to be active readers. I hope that this program validates those students that are avid readers, and entices the more reluctant reader to get involved.

Back To School

In 27 years as an educator, I have developed a number of traditions and routines to start the school year. One of my favorites is to read a book that was given to me by Jack Trager, my basketball coach at Greenville College. Coach Trager gave me a copy of the book "They Call Me Coach" by John Wooden since he knew I was planning to be a teacher. As you can see, the book is well-worn and the pages are a bit yellowed.

What many people don't know about the legendary basketball coach is that he was really an English teacher disguised as a basketball coach. As a result, the book is full of poems and various written reflections by Coach Wooden. One of my favorites that stops me in my tracks each time I read the book is the poem, "They Ask Me Why I Teach" by Glennice L. Harmon. Throughout the poem, the author states, "They ask me why I teach..." And each time the answer is, "Where could I find more splendid company?" The poem was written in 1948, and I find it interesting to see that the key to really meaningful learning then is the same as it is now. The key is relationships!

As teachers, principals, and support staff, we have the opportunity to get to know tomorrow's leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, etc. when they were young. We get the opportunity to help them find their voice, to develop their talents, and to achieve things they may not know they can achieve. We get to know people when they were "just a boy" who was not yet comfortable in his own skin, or "just a girl" who had no idea the depth of her talent. So, why do we do what we do? Where could we find more splendid company?