BUNCH OF WISDOM; RETIRING EDUCATOR SHARES LESSONS LEARNED.Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer After 37 years of teaching in Burbank schools, Burroughs High School history teacher Ted Bunch offered the following observations for those thinking about following in his footsteps. ``The biggest challenge is getting people to learn. A lot of kids want to graduate but they don't want to learn.'' ``My first year of teaching was the hardest. My first year I was probably the worst teacher who ever existed. You don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how to do discipline.'' ``When you go teach at a school, make sure to make friends with the head secretary and the head custodian bailee (custodian) n. a person with whom some article is left, usually pursuant to a contract (called a "contract of bailment"), who is responsible for the safe return of the article to the owner when the contract is fulfilled. .'' ``When you're teaching, you're acting - 99 percent of time I got mad, I wasn't really mad.'' ``You want to know what makes a great student? They have great moms.'' Bunch, 60, retired Friday. On Thursday, he held an open house in Room 305 at Burroughs High for former students and fellow teachers. ``I remember his class being a lot of fun,'' said Tanya Woiceshyan Oldson, one of several former students who showed up to congratulate Bunch. Oldson, who graduated from Burroughs in 1993, remembered being assigned as·sign tr.v. as·signed, as·sign·ing, as·signs 1. To set apart for a particular purpose; designate: assigned a day for the inspection. 2. interesting projects. Bunch had all his U.S. history students make five-minute videos to re-create a period in history. ``My partner and I did a World War II romance story. He was a soldier who went off to war and he'd write me letters from the front,'' Oldson said. ``My mom (1) (Messaging-Oriented Middleware) See messaging middleware. (2) (Microsoft Operations Manager) Software that monitors and captures system and application events throughout the network. is always saying, Let's watch that video you did in high school.'' It turned out to be one of Oldson's first film projects of many. She's now studying film at California State University, Northridge CSUN offers a variety of programs leading to bachelor's degrees in 61 fields and master's degrees in 42 fields. The university has over 150,000 alumni. It's also home to a summer musical theater/theater program known as TADW (TeenAge Drama Workshop) that leads teenagers through an . Bunch made an unsuccessful bid for the school board in 1997 at the urging of his students. ``I always made a big deal out of teaching local government. I always told them you can't change (Washington), D.C., very much and you can't change Sacramento very much. But you can make a lot of difference at a local level,'' Bunch said. ``My students kept saying, Why don't you run for office.'' Bunch, who taught at Jordan Middle School David Starr Jordan Middle School is a middle school in Palo Alto, California. Currently in attendance are approximately 1000 students from grades 6 through 8. The school is named after David Starr Jordan, who was the first president of Stanford University. for 18 years before joining the Burroughs staff, said he hasn't ruled out running again in the future, but for now he's going to take some time off, travel to Australia with his wife and then find a part-time job to pay for the extras he requires. ``My retirement will pay for the basics, but it won't pay for fun and I like fun,'' Bunch said. ``My students all asked me what I was going to do when I retire and I told them when you start school at 8 a.m., I'll still be in bed. I might sleep until noon!'' While he's convinced it's the right time to retire, Bunch said letting go is hard. ``You have all this junk junk Classic Chinese sailing vessel of ancient unknown origin, still in wide use. High-sterned, with a projecting bow, the junk carries up to five masts on which are set square sails consisting of panels of linen or matting flattened by bamboo strips. up on the walls and all over the place and now it's gone,'' said Bunch, who had cleaned all his stuff from Room 305. ``I went home last night and I didn't have to prepare anything and I didn't have to grade anything. I was lost.'' What he'll miss most is the students. ``The best part about being a teacher is you have a captive captive said of naturally wild or feral animals kept in captivity for educational and scientific investigation with no attempt being made to domesticate them. audience,'' Bunch said. ``They had to listen to all my dumb DEAF, DUMB, AND BLIND. A man born deaf, dumb, and blind, is considered an idiot. (q.v.) 1 Bl. Com. 304; F. N. B. 233; 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 2111. DUMB. One who cannot speak; a person who is mute. See Deaf and dumb, Deaf, dumb, and blind; Mute, standing mute. jokes.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Ted Bunch is retiring from John Burroughs High School John Burroughs High School is a public high school located in Burbank, California. Emilio Urioste, Jr. is the current principal. The school was built in the 1920's, but wasn't established as a high school until 1948. The school was named after naturalist John Burroughs. after 37 years as a teacher in Burbank. He says he will travel and sleep in. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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