Michael Venske

This afternoon coming home from class I saw two fourth grade boys fighting with sticks on the football field.

Though the other teachers worried I was working too hard without much rest or an increase in compensation. What I had to continually explain to my Chinese friends was…

In the 1989 film Dead Poets Society Robert Williams’ character instructs his students to tear out the entire introduction to their poetry book. Recently I had a similar-but-different type moment in a fourth grade class.

The harder I’d try, the more he’d resist. The more I’d engage, the more he’d shut me out… How one boy taught a school about failure without even knowing it.

A student breaks his leg and has to leave school. The students make cards to send so he knows we’re thinking about him.