Thelma and Louise: B.A.D. Girls of Education

Photo courtesy of badteacher.store

By B.A.D. TCHR

After more than 30 years of teaching, Cheryl Lowe (Thelma) and Erica Kreiling (Louise) know well that "the best way to behave is not to." It was common practice for the BRILLIANT AND DEDICATED (B.A.D.) girls to sit in the back of faculty meetings scoffing at the promotion of avant-garde pedagogy because they knew students were suffering from political motives and its influence on public education.

For decades, the now retired reading teacher duo circumvented trendy status quo educational approaches by pushing the proverbial envelope and administrators to recognize all levels of understanding are not the same.

The women knew reading was the not-so-secret weapon that could significantly enhance children's learning experiences. While many students may not find reading fun, Lowe and Kreiling knew it to be an indispensable skill necessary for endless POSSIBILITIES beyond their classroom's doors, something they endeavored to bring to life.

"Reading has to be made real for students. It must apply to real life and not the forced-fed passages given by state mandate. Everything cannot be textbook! Not every child is college material but providing them with something to read relative to their pursuits engages them in the reading process," Lowe said.

To that end, working in an environment where peers did not share their belief in the power of reading was challenging.

"I have had some very confrontational conversations with teachers who did not respect the value of reading," Lowe said. "We have had teachers tell students they didn't have to pass reading because it was an elective and wasn't relevant to moving on to the next grade. They couldn't understand students must comprehend what is happening in their core content classes." 

In addition to prioritizing reading, they bucked the "bumper sticker" approach [they] found counterproductive. 

"You know, where everyone gets a prize for the bare minimum or nothing? Well, we were not with the shit. We didn't believe in extrinsic rewards but intrinsic rewards. We were labeled 'hard' by our students because we did not give them treats," Kreiling said.

"Learning was not about the gummy worms a teacher gave if you answered a question correctly. For us, your candy is that you learn to read and get a high school diploma, a trade certificate, or a college degree, and you'll have a job. Wouldn't that be sweet?" she added.

The duo knew they needed to inspire a love of reading and facilitate students' passion for themselves. Instead of celebrating insignificant milestones with "gummies," they sought to instill a genuine appreciation for learning. They saw a correlation between their students' resistance to reading and not being "genuinely congratulated for anything academic."

Enter TeenBiz, a learning management platform designed to accelerate reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and fluency dependent on student Lexile, which would serve as a means to a necessary end.

Lowe and Kreiling said they used TeenBiz to create self-serving competitions. So that "something is rewarding about intrinsic value. ... we took a no-nonsense approach like, 'Look, kid, you better start feeling good about yourself,'" Kreiling said, adding, "but that could only happen by acknowledging their successes."

 They celebrated their students' reading accomplishments with pizza parties.

"Our students had become lovers of reading and wanted us to know it by asking us to increase their workload and for novels to read at leisure," Lowe said. "You love a novel--you're a lifelong reader," according to Kreiling.

In retirement, Thelma and Louise relish the full-circle success of their BRILLIANCE AND DEDICATION to the classroom experience.

"Do you know how it feels when students you've taught have gone on to do great things, especially when they tell you about the success of others?" Lowe asked.

"Yeah, like having Daystar, now known to the world as Torey Lanez. We are glad to hear who he has become. He had a talent we never knew about," Kreiling said.

The most exhilarating career highlight for the tag team occurred during a surprise visit to their former sixth-grade student's Class of 2022 high school graduation. 

"They remembered us!" Kreiling shrieked. "They asked us to pull down our masks to make sure we were who we were. So, we pulled them down, and they went crazy. Then, they told us their favorite novels, like Rodman Philbrick's Freak, the Mighty, Sharon Draper's Tears of a Tiger, and Theodore Taylor's The Cay. It was emotional," Kreiling shared.

 "It was priceless," Lowe added.