A Terry Crenshaw Teaching Method
“Clear off your desks. If I see any papers or you not paying attention, you get three detentions,” his stern voice would boom as he paced back and forth the front of the classroom. Students made themselves comfortable, sliding out of their desks to the floor, or placing their feet on the desks. With in seconds the high school history class would appear to be in story time, Mr. Crenshaw would weave dramatic and sometimes tragic stories of the actual past, without referring to notes, remembering it all from his history-loving mind.
Crude tactics to make students learn, you might think, but they were surprisingly effective. His teaching style was simple: occasional book work, a test every three weeks, a lecture once a week, and projects that students decided and designed on their own. All assignments were due by Wednesday for every one of his classes.
The projects were titled “Projects Points,” where student had to earn a minimum of 100 points within nine weeks of every semester. Anything under the sun could be done for a project as long as it dealt with history of the time period the class was studying. People turned in drawings: of places, people, tools, clothes, maps, important events, or daily life. Anything, as long as you could explain how it related to history. Some students with literary gifts would turn in essays, reports, or fiction stories. The lazier section of students would watch educational videos, do book work, or chapter summaries. Mr. Crenshaw permitted any effort, as long the information was as accurate as possible. After each lecture the projects would pour in from inspired students.
Mr. Crenshaw’s irregular teaching methods made his lectures all the more refreshing to learn, so different from the other teachers’ method of notes and nonstop book work at the school. Walking back and forth with a meter-long thin pole in his hand, he used it much as a fancy cane. While snapping his suspenders quietly over his 100% cotton, thermal shirt, he spoke the front of the classroom, bringing the past alive in the minds of the students. Occasionally, as he walked around the room, stepping over the comfortable student on the floor, he would check to see if anyone had dared take a nap, or worse yet, do some school work as he talked.
Kids who were in his class before, or who had older siblings that had learned the hard way, knew he was not bluffing about giving out three detentions. With his assigned detentions came an extra special prize, copying out a complete page out of the dictionary by hand. He required the penmanship to be readable, or else the writer would have to do it again, plus another page as extra incentive to be neat. Mr. Crenshaw was never one to fool around about making idle threats, and because of that, much of the student body respected him.
However, though he was quick to threaten any actions that were out of line, Mr. Crenshaw was actually a very laid-back teacher in many other respects. While most teachers required students to sit in desks and take notes through lectures, he believed in letting the students listen to him without the distracting chore of taking notes. Also, having the students’ attention allowed him more ease to describe the past with all the drama and excitement students need to hear.
Mr. Crenshaw’s love of history came through in the way he could simply stand up in front of the class and talk. His students learned the same fascination through his lectures. If you ask any of his former students, they will confirm the fact he had made history enjoyable, not dull. Taking constant notes of the past had made the class less interesting, thereby smothering many of the students’ interest in learning history.
In 1995 Mr. Crenshaw developed health problems, so he reduced his teaching schedule to three times a week. Mr. Crenshaw shared his class with Wallowa High’s present history teacher, Mrs. Davis. Within a year this schedule proved be too much for him, so he shortened his teaching to half a day, switching weekly between mornings and afternoons. Upcoming class never fully received or felt his love of history. In 1996, Mr. Crenshaw was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. By this time he was no longer physically able to come teach anymore.
For twenty-odd years, he had lectured his students weekly. The suddenly, those lectures stopped. Many of the students Mr. Crenshaw might have fascinated with history found little interest in it. On rare occasions when his fragile health allowed it, he came to his former room, invited by Mrs. Davis, to give one of his lectures.
Yet, Mr. Crenshaw’s body was not as healthy as his mind, and he began to lose speech control. Even on days when he felt better than average, lecturing became a very strenuous joy. In 1999, Mr. Crenshaw lost his ability to speak coherently. His main way of communicating with people was through his computer. On April 3rd, 2000, Mr. Crenshaw passed away.
It pained many of the students who had enjoyed Mr. Crenshaw’s class throughout high school to see him in a wheel chair. Too weak to move his hands to snap at his suspenders or to hold his pole, not strong enough to talk and hold discussions that Mr. Crenshaw once reveled in. His eyes still showed his mental activity, more than ever, with his constant contemplation: Reviewing history and its exciting past in his mind, holding within his mind more lectures, wishing once more to say, “Sit down and shut up!”