John Cunningham is a graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ Bachelor of Arts in English program and a current Graduate Student in the Education program. He graduated Magna Cum Laude and is a lifetime member of the Alpha Mu Gamma National Honor Society. This, of course, is just a fancy way of stating that John graduated college without truly knowing what he wanted to do and has since made up his mind and gone back to pursue it. That choice has been teaching. He is a “Teacher of the Year” in training, needing first to satisfy the state requirements for certification. Oh, by the way, John has a wonderful family, a crazy Beagle and a million dollar book idea. Wish him luck, because if teaching fails, he has vowed that he will become a hobo.
Writing Sample:
I want to be an Astronaut!
“We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own.”
Ben Sweetland
At barbeques. At picnics. At Christmas, Thanksgiving and birthdays. “You’re almost thirty,” chime many unfamiliar faces with familiar blood, “and you’re just figuring outwhat you want to do with your life?”
“Yes,” I answer defensively to these several anonymous relatives, feeling for everything like a real live witch during the inquisition. They usually don’t linger.
I refuse to liken my “late in life” decision to change career paths to the clichéd bottle of wine (better with age), especially since I’m a beer drinker, and the applicability of any idea referring to age and wisdom in reference to me seems a stretch. Okay, fine, it seems downright false. I don’t rush things; that’s my secret. I do not have a wife, children, a house, a dog, a yard, credit card debt, a mortgage, crabby in-laws or any other aspect of family that makes life so enjoyable. And while I understand that age 28 disqualifies me from being considered a spring chicken (yes, Mother, I know I’m not getting any younger), just clawing at some random vocation and sticking with it strikes me as a terrible waste, and incredibly boring. Instead, I strive to find something that I actually enjoy doing. Call me crazy, but I thought that was the whole point of college. I like to keep a list of all the jobs I’ve had or want to have, no matter how farfetched, and refer back to it whenever I lose inspiration. While it may not give me the biggest dose of confidence that my life has an actual direction, there is one common thread underlying each step along the tour that is life.
I published my first piece of writing when I was in first grade. Before you congratulate me, I must admit that ten or twelve of us at Trautwein Elementary published our first piece of writing in first grade. The school had a program that encouraged young, aspiring writers to realize their passion and act on it, all extracurricular, of course, but none of us minded.
The publishing house was a small room at the end of a long hallway. The tan linoleum was always polished, immaculate, and the hall had the overpowering smell of floor wax and ammonia. I remember my first piece from that room well. The Teacher’s Aide had come in the middle of a vocabulary lesson, quietly excusing herself and whispering briefly to the teacher, Ms. French. Everyone in the class saw her come in, but we all pretended not to. I stared at the paper in front of me, but I could no longer see the words. I knew why the T.A. had come; it was my day! She had come for me. When the teacher called me to her desk, my stomach leapt into my throat. Both women smiled and Ms. French told me that the Aide had come to publish my work. I followed her down that long hallway, excitement coursing through me.
When I followed the T.A. into the room, I could have died right then. A real life publishing room! There were two walls filled with gray metal bookshelves, packed full with books and numerous reams of clean white typing paper. A desk and typewriter adorned the far wall and a small, yellow padded chair filled the closest corner. I sat anxiously as the T.A. walked to the desk, grabbed a few sheets of paper that had been sitting next to the typewriter, my story, no doubt, and began assembling my book.
I stared up at her with unabashed excitement; my palms were sweating and I felt my heart beating faster and faster. I couldn’t even see what she was doing, with her back turned to me, but I could hear her. With ever click and snap my anticipation grew. She’s going to publish my book! I continued to think in something resembling disbelief. Excess saliva built in my mouth and I had to swallow hard to keep from drowning. Sweat began to race down my forehead, the small droplets bullets jettisoned from my pores at hypersonic speed. Still, she wasn’t done. Each second crept along with the overwhelming slowness of a separate eternity; I grew old and died within the spaces between the seconds. My heart was no longer my own, hammering against my ribs in its desperate attempt to be free of my body, to escape the unbridled excitement building inside of me. I wanted to scream, to jump up and down and have an epileptic fit right there on the linoleum, smudging the gleaming wax.
Then, the Aide was turning and I nearly fell unconscious. In her hand, she held the most wondrous riches the earth could hold. Even the treasures of the Orient paled and crumbled away when pitted against such a beautiful wonder. In her hand, she held a small group of pages, resembling a folder, her smile warm and glowing. It was my book! She had finally finished my book! Johnny the Shark, written and illustrated by John Cunningham, bound in white plastic spiral, the cover a field of unornamented azure. I knew then, with all the surety and conviction of a childhood mind, that I was going to be a writer. With her congratulations, the title “published author” was solidified forever behind my name. I would publish dozens, no hundreds, of books and live in a big castle in Ireland!
That has been the most enduring aspect of my entire life, actually. For all my half-brained theories and get rich schemes, I still envision myself as a writer some days. I can still see my name on the cover of a seven-dollar paperback novel sitting in the back corner of Barnes and Noble collecting dust. Thankfully, my last name starts with a “C,” so I would be close to some of my dearest favorites. Michael Crichton, Jorge Luis Borges; I’ll have to fall off the shelf sometime to visit F. Scott Fitzgerald, but it’d be worth it.
Moving on. In high school, I discovered that I was the Math God. I think the realization hit sometime during sophomore year. It was Trigonometry that year, the highest level Cleveland N.J.R.O.T.C. usually taught, and it was easy. Just saying that made me giddy. “Trig is easy, trig is easy.” Because of this, well, partly, at least, a special meeting was required to determine the fate of the Math God and his select few peers. The school’s administration got together with a few of their counterparts from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and decided to offer Calculus the next year for college credit. I leapt at the opportunity, thanks mostly to a private grant provided by my father, ensuring that later, when I actually did attend college, I would do so without the need to take a single math class to graduate! I became the Math God when I received my schedule for the next year with the word “Calculus” printed on it. It was engineering for me! My grandfather had been an Aeronautical Engineer, had even worked on designing the F-15 fighter jet for McDonnell Douglas. I would follow his lead. No, I would take a step further; I would go into Aerospace! I would design space shuttles!
I juggled the desire to be a writer and an engineer through high school graduation, managing to keep it through taking “a year off” (which consisted of an extended moratorium lasting almost two years). I even dreamed I could be both. In time, though, chiefly after declaring a major upon returning to school, this idea faded. Engineering wasn’t as shiny and new as it had originally seemed, and I lost interest in writing. Graphic Design was where I was headed, the colorful world of print advertising. That lasted one semester. I remember leaving the class, which happened to fall during my last semester at community college, with the solemn vow that if I had to sit in front of a computer for an extended period once more, I was going to rip it from the wall and throw it from the roof of a tall building. I changed my major to English when I got to UMSL.
I have since been a rock star, a chef, a farmer, a banker, a dairy clerk, an inventor, a union organizer, a club owner, a house rehabber, an editor, a painter, a video-game writer and designer, a brew master and lastly, woefully undecided. I graduated from college with a beautiful piece of paper bearing the university name in shiny red and black calligraphy, but with no sense of direction.
It has taken me many years to realize perhaps one of the most important things about my life that I will ever uncover. Behind all my achievements, all my successes and abilities, sits a teacher, behind his or her desk, grinning proudly. There always has been. Whether anonymously binding a few sheets of typing paper, pushing me harder than I really want to go or standing at the board for an hour working on one single math problem until they want to throw the chalk at me, there have been teachers. Now, I want to be the proud, smiling face behind someone else. I want to shape young minds like a wet clump of clay, pushing, pulling, nagging, irritating, challenging. I have never known anything as I know this. I may not be the best teacher on the face of the earth, it is a fear of mine, but I know that I’ll be inspirational, which, to me, is far more important than all the teacher of the year awards and “Greatest Teacher ever” stickers that a district can hand out. So, to those loving, nurturing relatives who love to wonder when I’ll get married and get a job, I say:
“He that can have patience, can have what he will.”
Benjamin Franklin
Curriculum Sample:
A Hobbit’s [Companion’s] Tale
OVERVIEW
RATIONALE: Students will have the opportunity to live vicariously through one of the characters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.They will discover how a writer uses vivid description to encapsulate his or her audience and give them a sense of grounding and familiarity through use of sensory details and meticulous description of geography, landmarks and people. They will engage in seeing the world they read about through their own eyes and channeling this into their own words, creating a travel log to recount their interactions within a fictitious world. Once completed, students will use their creativity and critical thinking skills and imagine that J.R.R. Tolkien has asked them to write the next chapter of The Hobbit. They will write a 2 to 10 page piece of fiction building on the material that they have just read. Such literary devices as dialogue, foreshadowing, figurative language, conflict and resolution should be included.
OBJECTIVES: Students will hone the creative writing skills, including imagery,
dialogue, foreshadowing, figurative language, conflict and resolution
Garner an intimate knowledge of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth through
personal discovery
Students will focus on geography and how it influences the telling of a
story and how it affects culture and life.
Explain similarities/differences between Middle-Earth and their own
Geography
Learn the link between reading and writing
Learn the concept of writing styles through author emulation
MATERIALS: This is a minimal material assignment. Materials may include magazines, composition notebooks and computer publishing software. However, should access be limited, students may turn in several handwritten pages stapled together.
LENGTH OF CURRICULUM: This will be a two week assignment: 5 school days for the travel log and 5 school days for the chapter.
ASSESSMENT: This assignment has a total possible 70 points, taking the place of a traditional end-of-section standardized test. The travel log will be worth a total of 20 points, leaving the chapter project with a total of 50 points.
TEACHER CALENDAR
DAY 1–TUES NOV. 10TH:Distribute travel log handout
Discuss assignment
Begin brainstorming
DAY 2–WED NOV. 11TH: Discuss influence of geography on storytelling/culture/life
using the Shire as an example.
Give students class time to begin and ask any questions
DAY3–THURS NOV. 12TH: Work on logs in class
Individual conferences
DAY 4–FRI NOV. 13TH: Work on logs in class
Students may go to library for resources
Individual conferences
DAY 5–MON NOV. 16TH: Travel Log Due
Distribute the chapter handout
Literary device discussion
DAY 6–TUES NOV. 17TH: Discussion on the lands and character’s of Tolkien’s
Middle-Earth
Work on chapters in class
DAY 7–WED NOV. 18TH: Work on chapters in class
DAY 8 –THURS NOV. 19TH: Work on chapters in class
DAY 9–FRI NOV. 20TH: Work on chapters in class
DAY 10–MON NOV. 23RD: Chapter 14 Due
RUBRIC
Travel Log
5 pts / 15 pts / 20 ptsLittle or no descriptive language, several grammatical mistakes, no personal connection, very bland design / Some Descriptive language, a few grammatical errors, personal connection, creatively appealing / No grammatical mistakes, deep personal connection and introspection, creatively appealing, vivid descriptions
___/20
Chapter 14
5 pts / 20 pts / 50 ptsLittle connection to story, several grammatical mistakes, little or no figurative language and literary devices, not very interesting / Some literary devices, a few grammatical errors, personal connection, creatively appealing / Piece is an imaginative work of fiction, containing many literary devices and containing few grammatical mistakes
___/50
A HOBBIT’S (COMPANION’S) TALE
“Never laugh at live dragons,” Bilbo says, and it’s good advice. Especially now, seeing as J.R.R. Tolkein’s book has captured you so much that it’s magically sucked you in.
You’re now a character in the novel, traveling along with Bilbo and pals to hunt down the dragon Smaug and obtain the treasure. What will you do? Who will you meet? What will the lands look like where you travel? For chapters 7-13 of The Hobbit, you will make up a travel log, detailing all the places you go and the people you meet. Make sure to be as detailed as possible, so that your reader can picture the lands you visit.
You will be graded on how descriptive you can be, so make sure to have your words paint a picture of Middle-Earth!
Now it’s your turn
In a strange twist of luck, you’ve made it out alive. You’ve escaped the dangers of Middle-Earth and have made it back to tell about it. J.R.R. Tolkien and I are so impressed with your adventures and your Travel Logs that we’re going to give you a chance to rework the histories of Middle-Earth. From your time with Bilbo and the dwarves, you must have gained an intimate knowledge of all things Hobbit. Now, take what you’ve learned and continue the story how you think it should go. Write a 2 to 10 page chapter continuing the story.
YOUR CHAPTER 14 SHOULD INCLUDE:
- Literary devices such as: foreshadowing, figurative language (simile, metaphor), dialogue, conflict and resolution
- Some means of emulating J.R.R. Tolkien’s writing style
- Concise, polished writing
MONDAY / TUESDAY / WEDNESDAY / THURSDAY / FRIDAY / MONDAY
1. Handout
2. Discuss literary devices / 1. Discuss Middle-Earth
2. Work on chapters in class / 1. Work on chapters in class / 1. Work on chapters in class / 1. Work on chapters in class / CHAPTERS DUE!!!!!
Name______Hour___ Date______
A Journey Through Middle-Earth
Directions: For this assignment, you will take out a separate sheet of paper and copy the graphic organizer. Fill in the bubbles with the appropriate information. When you’re finished, staple the pages together and turn them in. **DON’T FORGET TO WRITE YOUR NAME ON BOTH SHEETS!**
LESSON PLAN:
Subject: English Teacher: John Cunningham
Date: November 10
Block: 1 Students will engage in: cooperative learning
Semester: S1 visuals
whole group instruction
Standards/Objectives Met:
- Garner an intimate knowledge of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth through personal discovery
- Students will focus on geography and how it influences the telling of a story and how it affects culture and life
- Explain similarities/differences between Middle-Earth and their own geography
Class objective:
Understand the importance of geography in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit
Time / Procedures Followed / Materials/Text References5 min. / Class Starter: Sentence activity: grammar builder
10 min. / Discus assignment/ field questions / Student Handout
35 min. / Brainstorming activity / Graphic Organizer
Homework given:
Complete Graphic Organizer