6. Learning Love: A Teacher's Gift

Claire, my best friend from third grade, recently invited me to dinner with our 7th grade math teacher, Larry Greco.  We met Mr. Greco in 1976, when he had just graduated from college and started his first job teaching at the Junior High East.  Needing a professional wardrobe, Larry went out and bought plaid, polyester bellbottoms, in five different colors, with thick ribbed turtlenecks to match.  He was very Mod Squad, and we were impressed.  We were his first class, and he taught us with love.

The Junior High East embraced the “Open Classroom” movement that bloomed in the 1960s and ‘70s.  Focused on student-centered learning, the 7th grade floor was a big open space that could be divided up in multiple ways to support creative and collaborative activities.  Our class sat in a circle facing each other and felt ourselves to be a community instead of a hierarchy. There was no “back of the class”.  The core subject teachers worked together on projects like studying the math, science, language and culture of a tribe from Australia.  Then we turned the entire 7th grade space into that Australian village, acting out the way this tribe used math in their businesses, their currency and trade.  Math came alive and we could see its place in the world. 

Mr. Greco also taught “The History of Rock-n-Roll”. We dug into the iconic musical stories referenced in Don McLean’s “American Pie”, feeling ourselves to be the next generation in our American story.  We knew Mr. Greco invested his whole heart in teaching us and so we brought our full selves to the task of learning.  We developed a strong sense of community based inside the classroom, that extended into our lives.  That community reinforced my love of learning, fostered deep friendships and transformed my pre-teen struggles into strengths.  Mr. Greco continued to teach for another forty years, and he has kept in touch with generations of students.  The learning love he invested in Arlington’s extended community for almost a half century is an equation of exponential growth, greater than even this great teacher can comprehend.

The Junior High East in Arlington Massachusetts was just outside of Cambridge and was influenced by Harvard educators and professors, who wanted their children to have an excellent public education.  I met Claire when my family moved to Arlington in 1972. We were both enrolled in Peter Orton’s combined 3rd-4th grade class, which was creative, entertaining and fun!  I remember Mr. Orton teaching the difference between long and short division and the long equation was so long he had to chalk it up onto the ceiling and down onto the floor!  For the rest of my life, I will associate the idea of long division with joy, amazement and laughter. How many people can say that?

Our class went on “Survival Trips” to learn how to navigate the Boston subway system as a team.  The teachers and parents would drop off a group of kids somewhere in Boston with subway tokens and map and we had to find our way home.  There were always parents hiding behind pillars not too far behind us, but we felt inspired to demonstrate our independence and competence.  It was a great adventure that built our confidence in ourselves and our ability to explore the world.

Everyone does not have great memories about their education, but learning love is not a commodity limited by supply. That 3-year-old wonder at the miracle of nature and the beauty of the world exists in all of us.  It is a natural resource that can never be extinguished, as long as we breathe.  It may be hidden, forgotten or discouraged by the pressures of life.  You might love to build things or create beauty or read thrillers or make up your own recipes.  Learning love manifests itself in a million different ways, but if you have lost it, it’s time to find it again.  No matter our age, the journey of curiously exploring some new facet of the world is our pathway to joy and renewal.  Teachers who put their hearts and souls into manifesting that pathway are simply light.

When we were in 8th grade, my friends and I experimented with smoking marijuana and word got back to Larry Greco.  He called us into his classroom to say he had written us a poem, which I have kept to this day.

Poem from Mr. Greco

Who am I not to let you grow

Is that what you have come to know

All I seek is understanding

As I will try to express my thoughts demanding

When you were young, as once you were

You would share your feelings without a lure

We probed, we laughed, we cried a little

And felt as if we would solve the riddle

But now you’re older and it’s not the same

I’m here to tell you there is no blame

What we felt is not uncommon

It’s universal, its timeless, yet it feels so foreign

You’re traveling a path as all youth must do

On which you need to experiment with a lot that’s new

You will stumble, you will walk, you will fall, you will run

An adult you’ll be when all is done

So if you feel that I love you less

Because in your path lay things I deem not best

Realize that no matter what you find

My love for you is right behind

Then why you ask do I appear so non-forgiving

And express to you nothing but misgiving

And show you not willingness to be tolerant

Even when your needs may warrant it

The truth is that your path I too have crossed

And realize now what mistakes do cost

I know of things that will make you fall

And I try to warn you, so that you will miss them all

But too I realize for you to see

The ground will have to hit your knee

And not you alone will feel the pain

As I there weeping will pass to you my cane.

          -  Larry Greco -

Growing tips: These days you can find a YouTube video to teach you anything.  At the same time, this world is filled with amazing teachers who love to teach and know how joyful learning can be.  If there is something you want to learn, find a teacher! If you have a teacher who has made a difference in your life, tell them so..  If you are a teacher, recognize that the love you invest in your students transforms their lives in more ways than you can ever know.