Room N-9: Lessons of Life from Behind the Classroom Door

Room N-9 holds stories of struggling kids, achieving kids, wacky teachers, surprising classroom moments, inspiring coaching messages, and once-in-a-lifetime lessons. Ultimately, the spirit of middle school ed-ucation and the love of a teacher for his students fills every page.

In the public school, some days may not be Omaha Beach rough, but society's problems do not stay at home. They come to school too. Being a classroom teacher is a front-line occupation and some of my stories are raw because they're real and some of them are beautiful because the human spirit cannot be suppressed. You'll have a hard time believing some of these events actually occurred, but I assure you, they did.

Teaching can also be a peek into heaven because working with children is God's choicest profession and oftentimes those few minutes we give to the one connects us in a beautiful way, forever. There is no more rewarding feeling for a teacher than when a student looks into your eyes and you know, they get it! Learning has sprouted in his or her mind and they feel the intrinsic worth of understanding, accomplishment, and personal growth.

Teaching is life. We even become part of family discussions at the dinner table for a school year and sometimes more. "Mr. Shurilla ripped his pants on the playground today, Dad! (Really happened!) Oh, Mom, Mr. Shurilla said he was ready for the nut house after teaching our class today!" Well, hopefully, they'll mention something about math or science once in a while, too!