A Temendous Tooty

"What did he just say? Who is this person? How long does this last?" Those were all the comments flying around the Humble HS Auditorium on my first day In-Service as a new teacher there. The auditorium was packed to gills. Teachers, old, new, fat, skinny...restless...why are we trapped here in this uncomfortable chair?
And, then, after several boring people, the Assistant Superintendent walked to podium to give an elaborate intro to Ms. Tooty Byrd from Austin, Texas. Well, curious name, for sure. She's the Keynoter...sounds good. Okay, refreshed, refocused, bring her out!
Taaaa daaaaahhhhhhh there she was. She entered from stage left. Awe, man, who were they kiddin'? Was she 80 or a 100? She walked slowly across the stage, slowly lifted her prompts to the lecturn, laid her forearms across the wooden lecturn and engaged, "Hello, I'm Tooty Byrd." Her voice was 3 octives lower than a good man with a slow, steady Texas drawal. Speak that for second...it's funny. But, that was on purpose.
Yeah, yeah, we see ya...they fooled us. Teachers began pulling work out to put in their laps, scrambling for crossword puzzles, anything to ignore this little old lady on the stage.
Tooty stood about 5'3". She was somewhat plump, white hair, wavy all over her head, dressed very fine, and a voice that sounded just like...TOOTY BYRD!
Suddenly, she spoke. Her intro was dynamic and interesting. She was a counselor for many years in the Austin ISD. The goal of her speech was to light a fire under 1500 teachers, coaches, administrators and all. Slowly she began to set the 'hook' as she talked of her past.
Within minutes, we couldn't take our eyes off this little 'ol power packed, dynamic woman. Suddenly, we respected her and all the 'junk' disappeared from laps. Immediately she was making sense and speaking of real world stuff that had happened in her tenure as teacher/counselor.
She told stories that had us rolling in the floor with laughter as we wiped the tears from our eyes. Her stories were real and she had the knack to 'pull it off' in front of a huge crowd of disgruntled employees. As the laughter rolled, she segwayed into the heart thumper. She had us, now it was time for the real reason she was there.
She began to speak of a freshman boy that entered her high school. Tooty was, at that time, the Sophomore Counselor. The counselors there moved year by year with their grade level. They got them in ninth grade and took them to graduation.
All of the counselors' offices were housed in the hallway just beyond the main building entrance. It was that place where students could slip in a few minutes early if they chose and move to their lockers. I heard Tooty in 1981, so her experiences were from those days of goodness, trust and what do you mean 'a gang?' Those were the good days in the world of public education!!
A tall, slender Freshman boy walked past her door, early every morning. About the third day as he passed, she caught his glance as he looked in her doorway. As was her practice, she smiled and said, 'good morning. Have a good day!' The young man acknowledged her salutation every day of his life. It was as though he could not begin his day unless he walked past Tooty's office to hear a welcome from her.
The years passed, Freshman, Sophomore, Junior....and then in the middle of his Senior year, his familiar face was not walking past her door. She had never been his counselor but she wondered where he was. Did he move? Did he drop out? Was he ill?
Towards the end of that school year, the young man walked into her office and asked to speak with her. She welcomed him, curious to hear from him. They had shared smiles and good mornings for many months.
He began with, "I want to thank you." Tooty was surprised. "No need to thank me, I say good morning to lots of kiddos." His reply, "Ms. Byrd, for four years at this school, you have been the only adult to acknowledge I was alive. You have shared a smile and hello with me each time I've passed your open door. I want to thank you for encouraging me to graduate." Tooty was dumb struck. Where was he leading? All she had done was said 'good morning'.
She leaned across her desks, peering into his eyes and asked, "why are you saying this?" Without hesitation, he said, "my dad died in January of this year. He left my mom and three of us behind. I started to drop out because I needed to assume the man of the house role. But, I remembered you taking time each day to wish me a good day. Because of you, I chose to find work at night and continue here. I'm graduating with my class."
To hear Tooty share that story brought us to our knees. We had laughed at comical stories til the tears rolled, now, the tears rolled because our hearts were touched. Her kindness to a student she never knew or worked with had impacted his life.
You see, whether it's kids or adults, someone is always watching us and hearing what we say. Sometimes, it's the one in the back of the room with a newspaper stuck in his face. Be aware and share a good morning or hello with a smile.
The reason we were all humbled with her Keynote Speech was because she stood for the real reason teachers should be in the classroom. It's not about the money or the time off (they all work two and three extra jobs)...it's about the kids.
Thus, I took that little 'ol Tooty Byrd's message to heart and went into the first day fired up to the nines. I was always thankful that I was one of the teachers in Texas privileged to hear her.
She impacted me, changed my thinking about the classroom and instilled tremendous desire to positively affect students.
I can't tell you how many students received a smile and a 'hi, have a great day' from me at Humble Middle School. Ihad the best room in the building...back corner across from the amphitheatre and the exit door to the buses. I stood in that hallway between every class and threw hello to many faces.
It's never too late to bring 'light' into someone's day. I hope many of us are doing on a regular basis. We have family and friends facing challenges, dealing with health issues and much more. It's not necessary to know every detail of our friends/family, but it is necessary to pause once in a while and say 'hello'...it makes a difference!
As I departed the auditorium that day, I carried some important tools with me that Tooty handed off...respect, courage, kindness, patience, honor, hard work and more. Building blocks of character. They made me who I am today and hopefully, made some impressions on many students who walked through my door over the years.
Building blocks of life = a strong foundation. Due to that...one day closer, one day stronger. I can do Lap Band! Have a good day!