Author: Chris Bowen
ISBN: 978-1-4327-2453-5
Publisher: Outskirts Press.com

 Click Here To Purchase Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom

Today, Norm Goldman Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as our guest, Chris Bowen author of Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom.

Good day Chris and thanks for participating in our interview.

Norm:

How long Chris have you been teaching and what motivated you to become a teacher?

Chris:

I’ve been teaching for twelve years. Before I was teaching, I was working at a YMCA. I had the front membership office with big glass windows and I always found myself looking out the windows at the people working in the preschool or in the after school programs, wishing I was working with the kids. I just finally went and did it.

Norm:

How much leeway does your school board permit you in using your imagination when teaching children? When I was a student, many “moons ago,” I was told that teachers were obliged to follow a defined curriculum and they were not permitted to wander astray.

Chris:

As long as I’m teaching the standards, I have a great amount of leeway in terms of how I teach it. It drives me crazy when I see middle school teachers do a power point presentation day after day after day. I don’t know any 13 year old that comes back to school on Monday and says, “I had an awesome weekend. I went to three different lecture series in town and they blew my mind.” Lecturing isn’t teaching. My creed is, “No matter what I’m teaching, I’m always teaching reading. Make every lesson a literacy lesson.” Of course that’s a bit tricky with math, but otherwise it’s what we should be doing. Literacy is everybody’s job…and it’s everybody’s top job.

Norm:

How do you make such subjects as poetry, mathematics and history come alive in the classroom?

Chris:

Get them up and moving. In math, the kids may each have a card with a fraction and they must walk around the room and find all the other kids that have fractions equal to their own. I’ve created human graphs on the blacktop and each kid was a point on the graph. They had to graph themselves, basically. Once, to demonstrate “vigilante justice,” I arranged it with one student that I would accuse her of stealing a dollar from my desk and the case against her was shaky at best. We then watched how the other kids reacted. Half of them had her guilty despite almost no evidence. That lesson really stuck with them.

Norm:

How did it feel to be named Teacher of the Year for Los Angeles County? What are the requirements to be honored with this award?

Chris:

It was huge for me. There are 80,000 teachers working in the county. That’s the number that always blows me away. Basically, it’s your district that has to nominate you. I have a lot of respect for the people running my district and for them to even consider my name was humbling.

Norm:

Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? What do you see as the influences on your writing?

Chris:

I have always been interested in writing. I just never figured out how to make it pay. I think hearing Bob Dylan on the radio was my first big inspiration to write. When I was about 11, a friend asked me if I knew about FM radio. I really didn’t. I was used to listening to AM radio with my parents. He explained how to switch over and where to look for cool songs. One of the first things I heard was Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” I was mesmerized by it. I grabbed paper and started copying down the words. I only got about a third of it. This was about 1977, so the song wasn’t a top hit. I had to listen for days until I heard it again, and then wrote down the rest of the words. After that, I started writing words to my own imaginary songs. It all took off from there.

Norm:

What motivated you to write Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom? Whom do you think will benefit from its reading?

Chris:

A bunch of amazon reviews have mentioned that it should be mandatory reading for first year teachers. I think the book offers a lot of insight to someone starting out in the profession or those that have sort of lost their way. I’ve seen teachers that have been at it a while and they’ve lost their spark. It’s understandable. With so many requirements and tests that get thrown on top of everything you do, it almost seems as if there’s less and less time to teach. But, I don’t see it as just a book for teachers. Most people that have read the book are not teachers and just loved the stories.

Some parents have read the book and told me that I must be a wonderful teacher. I do ok, but I could’ve just as easily written the book, “101 Time I Blew it with Kids.” It’s not such an exact science with kids. You do the best you can do. I think what really motivated me to write the book was to show people just how much lies below the surface on any given school day. It’s not the stuff that typically gets talked about. And, that’s a shame.

Norm:

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

Chris:

I didn’t think about the stories as a single book until I was many, many stories into it. I was just writing. As I read it for the first time as a book, I really began to appreciate how much I lean on compassion and kindness. These are my greatest teaching tools. I mean, I still need to know what I’m doing, but it’s kindness, empathy and compassion that pulls me through. More and more, kids need kind, adult role models.

Norm:

What has your experience been like with self-publishing? Do you recommend it over traditional publishers?

Chris:

I’m glad I did it. The book is out there. If I had gone the traditional route, I might still be shopping the book. And, I can still sell the book to a larger publisher if that comes up. There’s absolutely nothing to lose by doing it this way.

Norm:

How do you intend to promote your book? What do you think of the Internet as a marketing tool in the promotion of books?

Chris:

I’m really just learning how to do this. I’m a total newbie. Recently I’ve been able to get my book in some local teacher supply stores. I’m hoping to find some more. And, my book is now at educational trade shows with a company called, “Anything Educational.” So, slowly I am getting out the word. The internet is great. I’m sure it will be greater, the more I learn how to take advantage of all it has to offer.

Norm:

Where can our readers find out more about you and Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom?

Chris: Just go to www.outskirtspress.com/ourkids. Also, I have spoken at a few local libraries and I do parent education nights at schools all over the place. If someone out there is interested in having me come and speak at their school or library, please feel free to contact me at cebowen@peoplepc.com. Hopefully, we can work something out.

Norm:

What is next for Chris Bowen and is there anything else you wish to add that we have not covered?

Chris:

Right now, I’m working on a book for struggling middle school readers. After sorting through so many books they don’t like, I decided to try one myself. I’m hoping to finish up by summer’s end.

Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

Click Here To Read Norm's Review of Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom.

 Click Here To Purchase Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom