Teacher Feature: Adele Winner [Teacher Appreciation Week]

1983 East Chicago Washington High School

Two years ago, I wrote a 4-part series, giving both my appreciation and praise for the exemplary efforts of four educators from elementary school, high school, and college. And when I say exemplary, I mean it sincerely.

Because no human being should have to endure the mischief of so many young personalities. Me included.

Especially me.

Now I don’t want you to get an image of me talking back, cursing or fighting in the classroom. That wasn’t me. In fact, if you read any of the previous entries of the series, you know that if anything, my antics ran anywhere between challenging to hilarious and flat out historic.

So again, I’d like to thank Stuart Gurevitz, Myra Anderson, Larry Lane and the late Dr. William P. Foster for their patience, or should I say, tolerance, of me during those times. But more than anything, I want to say that I owe them the world for their belief in me – that I would eventually turn out ok, once I found my way.

I won’t be doing a full series this time around, but I would like to recognize one very special teacher. One who recognized who and what I was and went about things a little differently. Today’s spotlight is on Ms. Adele Winner, my 10th grade Speech teacher.

I first entered Ms. Winner’s class as a sophomore with mayhem on my mind. My last Speech teacher was Ms. McKinney in Jr. High and I smiled, thinking about the many wicked and obnoxious things I had done back then, all for the amusement of my classmates. I knew that this would be no different.

I kept to myself in the opening days, getting a feel for my new teacher and how she ran things, waiting for my moment to begin. It wasn’t my intention to disrupt things, rather, I would take what she offered and run with it.

That opportunity presented itself when it was time for our first “speech”.

This was no ordinary speech though. What she did in the first or second week was present “Antigone”, the Greek play written by Sophocles. In this Athenian tragedy, I had the role of Creon, the King of Thebes. Now since this post is not about mythological tales, I will spare you a synopsis and simply share that when it was time for to deliver a passionate line in the play, I suddenly and unexpectedly stood on my chair and leaned forward, fists balled and trembling as I yelled in both pain and determination.

My classmates rolled back in laughter as a wide-eyed Ms. Winner worked frantically to restore order. And when she did, I looked for her to issue a minor reprimand, which to my surprise, she did not. In fact, it was quite the opposite. She actually had me do it again, with less volume and more pain, but controlled. It took me a moment to focus, having not expected that type of response, but I did it again, this time, channeling as she instructed, only after she made me stand back up on the chair to do it.

When asked to stick around after the bell rang, signaling the end of class, I walked slowly and confusingly to her desk. But I figured this would be the time for her to chastise me for my outburst.

“Kenneth,” she began, staring directly, but kindly into my eyes and holding her hands up about 8 inches from each other, palms facing, fingers spread apart. I thought she was about to clap them together and yell at me. “You have a great speaking voice and a wonderful ability to speak with balanced emotion. But you must control every word you say. Speak slowly, with determination. Know when to raise and lower your pitch and volume. Enunciate. Grab your listeners and don’t let go. Wonderful job. I can’t wait to see how you deliver your first speech. I’ve heard so much about you…”

That’s never good.

“Yes, ma’am.” The only words I could muster as I turned and exited quickly. I remembered every word, which played over and over in my head. I even wrote them down because that was not at all what I expected. I had gone in, hoping to steal control and she not only let me, but she also told me how to do it BETTER.

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If you know anything about the Chicago Bulls dynasty, you might remember Dennis Rodman, often considered the clown, if not the greatest distraction, of the team during their second championship three-peat run. Known for his disruptive behavior with his former team the Detroit Pistons, Bulls coach Phil Jackson handled him in the most unexpected way: instead of trying to stifle him, he showed Dennis how to use his energy to his and the team’s advantage.

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This is the best way I can describe what Ms. Winner did to and for me. And you better believe it inspired me – motivating me to take every speech that semester to its greatest level. And I did just that:

• Demonstration Speech – I had my band director, Mr. Lane, pre-record the piano arrangement to the ballad “With You, I’m Born Again”. I played the cassette as I accompanied the solo on clarinet, as my closing to my speech, “How To Play The Clarinet”. One of my best friends asked me to help her with her own demonstration, which was “How To Administer First Aid & CPR”. In addition to being her assistant, I suggested she open with me collapsing at my desk, just as she was setting up at the podium. After I fell backwards, she ran around the u-shaped classroom desk design to help me up and deliver the Heimlich Maneuver, forcing a wad of paper out of my mouth, which I spit across the room, segueing into her speech. Ms. Winner clapped as everyone laughed.
• Fire Prevention Speech – I delivered a passionate speech, while including a poem about fire called, “Beautiful, Yet So Deadly”. The poem was split into halves, preceding and concluding my presentation. The class voted me the winner and sent me to represent the school in the Fire Prevention Week competition, in which I won first place.

• Biographical Speech – I came in, dressed as Moses of the Old Testament, to tell the story of the coming of Jesus of Nazareth from the New Testament. Complete with robe, grey beard and goatee, sandals and staff. When I finished my speech, the classroom applause eventually faded to the sound of intense sobbing. Everyone turned to silently observe as Ms. Winner cried so much that she didn’t even critique my presentation, which was the final one for the day.
• Final Exam Speech – I told Ms. Winner that for my final speech, I needed the entire one-hour class period (each person was actually given about 15-20 minutes max). She excitedly approved and no one objected, knowing it was going to be wild.
  I had my mother’s friend, Mrs. Martelly make me a black and white Jester costume, which no one saw, prior to the moment. I changed clothes in the bathroom while my friend John (drummer in our school marching band) walked into class with a lone snare drum on a stand and a cymbal. He said nothing as he sat in front of the class before I gave the distant signal from outside the classroom door, out of the line of sight from the class. That’s when he slapped the snare with a drum roll as I cartwheeled into class and landed in a split as the cymbal crashed.
  After the laughter died down, I went into 15 minutes of my own stand-up comedy routine before delivering my final speech about “The Evolution Of Comedy”, which included witty takes on facts, events and historical figures.
  Ms. Winner told me this was the first time anyone had ever received a standing ovation in her classroom, one in which she participated fully.

The hugs she gave me at the end of that speech, as well as the final day of class, showed me that she not only enjoyed my offerings but was pleased and proud that I had “used my powers for good”.

Since my high school and college days, as a public speaker, professional training, singer/musician and Safety Director, I’ve given well over 1,000 speeches, training sessions and shows and with each, I’ve always given it all – my heart.

I never professed to be any better than anyone before or after me. What I did was ensure that anyone who ever sat in the training room or my audience, walked away knowing that it was unlike anything they’d ever seen.

Sure, some of my methods were considered unorthodox over the years, especially during my safety presentations where I discharged fire extinguishers in conference rooms or threw a mannequin out in the path of a forklift driver riding in reverse to unexpectedly test his view and reflexes. But everything was always done in fun. I’ve made trainees sing, do pushups for returning late from break, even dance as a group to a quick dance routine I created.

One of the greatest compliments I ever received came during my run as a Safety Director. As you know, safety is about as exciting as watching turtles mate. And when your orientation session is 2-4 hours, you can lose your audience quickly. One of my jobs required that I train employees from a temporary agency to prepare them to work with our full-time, permanent workers. This was a group of about 100 people, gathered in our cafeteria, where it’s easy for one to be distracted by personal devices and conversation.

I managed to maintain their attention the entire time, giving examples from personal experiences, incorporating funny video clips from Hollywood movies, promoting interactive discussion, and passionate delivery and use of unexpected volunteers. The reward was having the company president tell me that the agency’s owner was in attendance and said he’d never seen anything like it in his life and calling it the “greatest safety training session, ever”.

I don’t know that I would ever call it the greatest ever, but as I said before, as with all things, anything I did and do, needs to be incredibly impactful.

And definitely different.

You see, I never desired to be like anyone else. Never wanted to be. And thanks to the dedication and guidance of Ms. Adele Winner, who absolutely adored her job, I know I never have to.

Thus, I never will.

Thank you, Adele Winner. I appreciate you, love and miss you…

Like what you read? Have a memory that you’d like to share about Mr. Lane or another teacher? Leave a comment in the section below! And be sure to sign up at the bottom to receive email notification of future posts from Kenny’s Camera, Cooking & Crazy Confessions from ZootsBlogSpot!