#Education STUDENT APPRECIATION Day 2019

My title for this photo is "Pig Frenzy." It's a shot of the lab at Great Oak High. It's after school. These are AP Biology students who sacrificed free time to make sure that their lab team was up-to-date on their pig dissection. It illustrates my point, probably better than anything you'll read below.

My title for this photo is "Pig Frenzy." It's a shot of the lab at Great Oak High. It's after school. These are AP Biology students who sacrificed free time to make sure that their lab team was up-to-date on their pig dissection. It illustrates my point, probably better than anything you'll read below.

This post is a refinement of a Facebook post from May 8, 2018. That day was designated, possibly by Hallmark, as Teacher Appreciation Day.

I am in favor of the concept and implementation. I have hundreds of comments from students of mine over time that express their appreciation of my teaching in a number of ways. 

Thanks to you all!

In this post, I'm going beyond "thank you" and instituted... 

STUDENT Appreciation Day!

If you were my student, you had many classes that were easier then my class. I suspect you had few that were more difficult in content, expectations, or process than biology, AP Biology, Anatomy and Physiology, Coordinated Science, or Global Science. 

I now know about the horrific family situations and catastrophic life events that many of my students faced every day. In addition, other classes my students took required copious amounts of time.

In spite of those circumstances, many, many, MANY of you made my class and its associated "make you think" assignments a priority. 

A small sample of the quality of the creative tasks I assigned. In fairness, the art piece with the pig was for another class, but it's me!  The percentage of assignments turned in by the students in my classes exceeded 90% EVERY YEAR.  A small sample of the quality of the creative tasks I assigned. In fairness, the art piece with the pig was for another class, but it's me!

Those assignments demonstrated hard work and thoughtful presentation more often than not. 

I'm proud to call you "my kids."

Even after graduation, a significant number of you have remained in contact. Several of you traveled a long way to come to my retirement party. The photo below shows a portion of the 100+ Great Oak High School students that hung around after school for "Story Time with Uncle Chuck" the week before I retired. 

Click on the title of a video of a story at this event to see the "real deal." When I tore my quadriceps muscle. How the immune system works. Why boys and girls are different.

I'm welcomed with open arms at reunions. I get an occasional card, message, post, or email. I'm humbled by those gestures.

There are more student photos below. In all honesty, I don't remember the vast majority of names of those shown. For that, I apologize. 

So, to all 5000+ of my former students, know this:

I APPRECIATE YOU MORE THAN I CAN EVER EXPRESS!

Sincerely, 

Coach, Mr. Downing, The Chief Chuckaroo, Dr. D

From My Photo Archives

A "Coincidental Meeting at the Murph." That's a euphemism for "let's all go on a non-school sanctioned trip to a Padres baseball game in Jack Murphy Stadium. This was an annual event for my AP Bio classes for several years. This might be spring 1983. If you're in this, let me know the year.

Great Oak High. 2011-2012. My last year teaching high school. I left the poster for my colleague, Jen Mosley. She promised to keep on making kids listen and think!

Homecoming float for the club with the name on the banner. Keep checking in. I'm working on the "The Complete History of Al Spagonawitz" blog post.

The original Chuckaroos, the name they chose because 

I wouldn't let them call me "Chuck." I did allow "Chief Chuckaroo!"

Photos at graduations. The middle photo is at my son, Doug's graduation from Monte Vista. 
That photo and the lower right-hand corner are two of the few times I was "on the field" during a high school graduation ceremony. 

December 1981.

First photo a Bio II-All Kazoo Marching Christmas Choir. 


Click this to see another year's band perform LIVE.

Pig dissection gets the same reaction at Point Loma Nazarene University as at MVHS and GOHS.

Pig dissection gets the same reaction at Point Loma Nazarene University as at MVHS and GOHS.

Students doing group work (cell analogy) in room 1011. However, they will not all get the same grade!

Students doing group work (cell analogy) in room 1011. However, they will not all get the same grade!

These are students from APU in one of my methods classes for their teaching credential. These are part of the 180 teachers I pray for by name every weekday during the school year. Although they're now teachers, I put them here to represent the several hundred teacher credential candidates I've been privileged to work with.
Back row: Katie, Jackie, Nick, Alex.  Front Row. Emily, Juli, Kelly, Baily.

A Professional Writing class. These are RNs working toward a BSN. Notice the names on the photo. It only took me three years to figure out that plan for calling students by name.

Final Photo. Above is the cover for the science fiction book that the students listed on the back cover wrote. The school is in Ramona, California. Their teacher, Debbie Ray is one of the best. These students worked hard, and they learned a lot. Click here to see the book on Amazon. The students still collect royalties through June 15, 2018.

To read the story of the book production process, click this sentence.