Michael F. Shaughnessy
Senior Columnist EdNews.org
Eastern New Mexico University

John Perricone is the author of Zen and the Art of Public School Teaching. His presentations and keynote addresses have motivated teachers nationwide and the response to his workshops has been nothing short of phenomenal. In this interview he discusses the issue of motivating teachers, keeping them motivated and helping them to remember the real reasons that they went into teaching and instructional work in the first place. His web site is www.johnperricone.com for those seeking more information. His work on developing a philosophical identify is exceptional and insightful.

1) John, you travel around the U.S. giving key note speeches, and in general, motivating teachers. How do you keep up the grueling pace?

My karate teacher, world renowned Master Hidy Ochiai has been the greatest role model for me in this regard and he is, unequivocally, the reason I became a teacher.  He always speaks to and then lives his philosophy of "live each day as though it were your first with the realization that it may be your last."  Those are easy words to say, but he is 68 and in my 34 years of training with him he has not wavered once in living what he teaches. I share his philosophy of Sho-shin which means "Cherish your beginner's mind" with teachers and I do my best each time I step into my classroom or into an auditorium to literally say to myself "This is the first and last time I will ever teach again".  It's amazing how much energy you can muster when that philosophy seeps into your bone marrow.

I love the work that I am doing with teachers and they inspire me over and over again to continue on this wonderful and fulfilling journey I'm on.  If there is any aspect of what I'm doing that is grueling it's the flying because out of 78 flights I had this summer only four left  and arrived when they said they would, and had my luggage waiting on the other end.  I had many 36 hour nights making connections (sometimes bus rides through the night) to honor a commitment I had made to a school.  A school's invitation, is to me, a great honor -- and one that I do not take lightly.  I'll do whatever it takes to get to them and have not missed a single engagement yet -- despite the aviation plight everyone is dealing with.

2) What do most teachers say to you after one of your presentations?

It's difficult to talk about this objectively but I have been honored to have men who have taught 38 years come up to me with tears in their eyes and say "Thank you for reminding us why we became teachers.  We had started to lose our way".  There are times that I get back on the plane after speaking to teachers and my eyes are watering as I think to myself "Outside of being a father and a teacher, this is the most important work that I will ever do in my life" 

3) What is the feedback that you get from teachers about parental involvement?

That completely varies from school to school.  Some teachers lament and indeed resent the fact that they feel they've been asked to raise someone else's children, and other schools report tremendous parental involvement.  I believe everyone envies the latter, as long as the "involvement" is of the healthy kind.

4) Do you often sense fear in the schools? I am thinking about Columbine and Virginia Tech and these various other incidents that seem to be occurring with greater frequency?

I do not sense a "conscious" fear but I believe for every student and teacher that that awareness is ever present.  Whenever a principal comes over the schools address system and says "We are now in a lockdown mode" your mind can't help, until you are told otherwise, think about the past and the possibility that others' reality could become your own.

I believe there is an important difference between awareness and paranoia, and I believe we need to be aware.  It is fruitless to live one's life in fear.

 

5) Are you ever asked to do specific presentation on specific topics for certain specific schools? 

Schools are usually kind to ask me what the nature of my talk(s) are about and they decide whether they are interested in pursuing a commitment to having me speak.  I begin with my first address entitled "Why Am I A Teacher?: Developing A Philosophical Identity?" It is in this address that I pursue my belief after 25 years in the classroom that a teachers's philosophy of life is intimately tied to their philosophy of teaching, and that it's one's "philosophical identity" -- one's sense of mission or purpose that a teacher envelops themselves in as they walk into their classroom each day (or lack of same) which ultimately distinguishes those who find passion and joy in the teaching profession from those who find drudgery and just pick up a paycheck every two weeks. So both in my address and in my book I take my audience on an introspective journey looking first at their identity as a human being -- then as a teacher -- and then we look to see if and where those lines intersect.  Many schools have honored me with an invitation back and it is then that I give my follow-up address entitled "Know Thyself:Know Thy Students."  Both are heavy on looking inward and both are pure  joy for me to deliver. It's is during the question and answer period that we can take the dialogue in any direction they wish. During a breakout session after my address to 168 professors at a Cornell University sponsored "Excellence in Teaching Conference"  I was voluntarily held captive by these veteran professors who asked deeply thought-provoking questions of me for over two hours.  We would not have stopped had someone not come by to say "It's lunch time." It was an extremely enriching experience for me both personally and professionally.

6) Give me one word that describes the current teacher in America today- then explain why you choose that word?

Forgive me Mike, but I find this an impossible task. I've met a lot of impassioned teachers who love their work but who simultaneously feel as though much of their professional life has been reduced to teaching to some anonymous politician's view of what education should be about. They feel as though their entire job is about "teaching to the test."  It's unfortunate that teachers feel like they are choking on these standards but no teacher has to allow the soul of what they do to be defined by tests that were designed to serve political ends and not educational ones. I do my best to remind them that our ultimate job as teachers, in my humble opinion, is to enable our students to live their lives at the fullest and deepest expression of their humanity and that this end should not be incompatible with setting high academic standards.   This is, to me, what the "art" of teaching is about.  There is no other job like it...working with flesh and minds every day. What teachers do is very hard work, but I can't imagine doing anything more satisfying or meaningful. To help other human beings grow?  Please tell me that there is a more meaningful professional journey to be on.  I'd love to know what that is. 

7) Besides mowing your lawn, what do you do in your spare time?

I don't mow my lawn and my neighbors are not happy about it.  Actually, I find mowing the lawn great meditation.  In my spare time I spend time with my lovely wife Vicki and my two daughters Loren and Hannah, I sing with a touring stand-up comedy barbershop quartet called the Troubadours as well as a Barbershop Chorus (The Southerntiersmen), I read, and as mentioned earlier I am deeply involved with my martial art training with a teacher who has taught me everything I know about the teaching arts. I've been very blessed in my life and try wherever I can to "pay it forward."

8) What question have I neglected to ask?

What is the meaning of life?  I've got my answer...I'd be intrigued to hear yours.

Published October 30, 2007