| A new chapter begins for Michael |
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1969 |
2002 |
| A new chapter begins for Michael |
|
|
1969 |
2002 |
By Jenny Fisher
Editorial Assistant
In September of 1968, Jim Michael walked into IVCC, ready to begin his career in education. Now, after 34 years of teaching, he is preparing for a new chapter in his life. Beginning next semester, Michael will retire from teaching English classes and concentrate on teaching German part-time.
Michael was able to bring a unique cultural perspective to the college due to his travels to places such as Germany, Turkey, Austria, and Russia, among others.
He graduated from the University of Oregon in 1962 with a Bachelor’s in History and stayed there another year to receive teacher certification.
At that time, the Peace Corps was introduced to Americans, and Michael, inspired by John F. Kennedy, decided to apply and was accepted for the second group to travel to Turkey. There, he taught English to Turkish youths for two years.
After Turkey, Michael traveled to Germany, where he attended the Goethe Institut, a German language school. He lived in Berlin for a year, where he made his living creating English subtitles for German movies and traveled in eastern Europe.
A friend sent him an application for a Peace Corps Graduate Assistantship at Northern Illinois University, which led to a Master’s in English in 1968.
At that time IVCC was moving from L-P High School to the new campus on the hill and hiring many new teachers of whom Michael became one. Three years later, in the fall of 1971, the position to teach German was open. Michael was granted a sabbatical in 1974 and obtained a Masters in German language from Middlebury College, in Vermont after studying for a year at the University of Mainz, in Germany.
In 1985 -86 he was a Fulbright Exchange Teacher at a college prepartory school in Berlin.
Since the start of his career, Michael has taught English Composition, World, American, and English Literature, as well as introducing students to German and helping them through four stages of the language.
Over the years, Michael has seen many changes on the campus. He witnessed the current IVCC campus being built, has seen many administration changes, and has noticed a shift in students’ educational goals from when he first started.
“Students now seem to have more priorities, more responsibilities, rather than just school,” he said.
Michael will step down from his full-time teaching with many fond memories.
When asked of what he will miss the most, he mentioned his English classes.
“I love to teach the great works of literature, such as Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, the poems of Chaucer and Wordsworth,” he said. “Teaching these subjects that I greatly enjoy, it doesn’t seem like work.”
He said that, “IVCC is a good place to work, and there is good fellowship among the teachers.”
Michael has always enjoyed his daily bicycle ride to and from work, a three-mile trek each way, which he makes rain or shine, barring ice and snow or surgical interference: “What a deal, to be able to get to and from work under your own power. You're in fresh air, getting exercise, and saving money all at the same time.”
In addition to part-time teaching German, Michael is looking forward to spending more time with his wife, Jeanette and their three grandchildren. With his time he would like to take some bike excursions, train trips, and catch up on some reading, and he plans on continuing to help out with their church’s Kid’s Klub.
Michael also would like to do some traveling, possibly back to Germany and Turkey, as well as Eastern Europe.
Michael has spent a lifetime immersing himself in education and culture, and the last 34 of them sharing that wealth of experience with his students.
“I like to challenge students to think,” said Michael, revealing his own passion for learning and teaching.
