Progressive with Purpose Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Brian Grimm

By Michael W. Sasser   

The way Brian Grimm sees it, teachers can most help their students by taking an entirely different approach to imparting knowledge.

“We have to learn to shut off,” Grimm says. “We’re big talkers. But young people today are plugged into a wired world. What they need is to talk, and it’s amazing to see what happens when you let students talk.”

            Although the self-effacing Grimm doesn’t like to focus on his own accomplishments, clearly many significant figures around the state of Oklahoma feel that the teacher at Tulsa’s Will Rogers High School knows what he’s talking about. A state committee comprised of education, business and civic leaders selected Grimm as the 2010 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year in a formal selection process that included individual and group interviews, a portfolio and video.

            Grimm sees the acknowledgment in a particular framework.

            “I did not get this award because I am the best teacher in Oklahoma,” Grimm says. “I’m just lucky enough to represent the best teachers.”

            Grimm teaches English II and III and pre-Advanced Placement English and has been at Will Rogers – where he is also English department chair – for five years. With 13 years’ experience in education, he is a graduate of the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.

            The recently anointed educator feels that the award actually reflects the progressive methods Tulsa Public Schools and Will Rogers High School in particular utilize to reach students and help them achieve in a rapidly changing world.

            “I think Oklahoma is taking a second look at what we’re doing in Tulsa,” Grimm says. “Oklahoma is saying, ‘We want this model. We want to do in other schools what TPS is doing so well.’”

            It is this system at Will Rogers that Grimm cites as the reason for his recognition, and for what he sees as escalating esteem for TPS.

            “Today we have to re-prioritize,” he says. “Different things are needed in the 21^st century. As teachers, we are accustomed to using skills to teach content. But what we need to do is use content to teach skills, because for many different reasons, many students don’t have the skills.”

            At one school where Grimm worked previously, a poll of students revealed results Grimm felt were “shocking.”

            “Students felt they were not respected,” Grimm says. “It’s amazing what even simple things can mean to students – such as answering questions at students’ desks.”

            By first listening to students, teachers open doors to new ways to reach them.

            “That is our whole campus approach,” Grimm points out. He says he uses a lot of movement and energy – evidently natural for the enthusiastic teacher – in Will Rogers’ 90-minute classes to keep students engaged.

            “We also find ways to get students to talk about themselves,” says Grimm. “That is our hook. It can’t just be about fundamentals. You hook students with a means of engagement, then you can teach them. We hook them with something shiny, let them have a little success, and then the real teaching can begin.”

            Grimm feels most of his job is marketing.

            “We have to sell it not with our enthusiasm, but with theirs,” he says.

            In his written portfolio for the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year competition, Grimm wrote that his greatest contribution was his message.

            “Teachers need to know they can do it [because] it is not an easy task to pull kids away from failure,” Grimm wrote. “Apathy is easy, but change is a challenge. Students must know that they are not a product of their environment, but rather through education and empowerment, their environment becomes a product of their resolve to change. Students must know that their beliefs drive their actions, and their actions drive their community.”

            Grimm further credits his colleagues by asserting that once he discovered what worked for other teachers, he included their practices to his own system.

            Oklahoma’s Teacher of the Year came to education naturally – both of his parents were teachers.

            “I loved to read, and I thought teaching was the coolest thing,” Grimm says. “Our whole lives when we were kids were about learning and school. I saw my parents and every day they decided what to make of it. It was awesome. Being a teacher is all I’ve ever wanted to do, and I think it’s the greatest gig in the world. Every day you get to make a difference in someone else’s life – you get 185 days in the life of a child to make a difference. So, it’s my parents’ fault. I guess you could say I had pushy parents.”

Grimm’s father was a football coach as well as a teacher. As a youngster, the family moved around frequently. Grimm graduated from high school in Sapulpa and went on to study English and History at Brown University in Rhode Island.

            The pull of family eventually drew Grimm back west. Before joining Will Rogers in 2004, Grimm taught at several Texas school districts, including Dallas, La Porte, Clear Creek and Anahauc public schools. He was chosen Clear Lake High School Teacher of the Year in 1999, and has been the Will Rogers Teacher of the Year since 2007.

            The Will Rogers of today has changed much from the school at which Grimm first arrived.

            “The school was in crisis,” says Grimm. “It’s amazing to see what committed teachers and staff can do. I have never seen a more gifted, talented staff.”

            These days, Will Rogers’ suspension rate is down almost 50 percent and referrals have also been massively reduced, Grimm says.

            However, for the next few months, Grimm won’t be on his home campus often. As Teacher of the Year, Grimm will conduct presentations to teachers, business and civic groups. In turn, the state Legislature funds a full-time, certified replacement to head his classroom while he serves as Oklahoma’s Ambassador of Teaching.

            These days, Grimm is traveling the state, speaking to students, teachers, faculty and other groups with an interest in education.

            “I am so homesick for the kids, my family and colleagues,” Grimm says. “It’s been a huge change for me. I’ve never had any other job besides being a classroom teacher. I’m thinking it’s like taking it on the road – speaking to organizations, colleges, etc.”

Grimm’s first experience speaking to elementary school students was “definitely outside my skill set,” he says. “I was watching Spongebob beforehand, because I had absolutely no frame of reference. But this is my routine for a year.”

            One former Teacher of the Year described the frenetic experience to Grimm.

            “He said it was like going 100 miles per hour with your hair on fire,” says Grimm. “I was busy before with school, student organizations, etc. But I had no idea. This is a 24/7 gig, but I love it.”

            Given Grimm’s message of engaging students and of teacher leadership, in addition to his infectious enthusiasm, it’s unlikely he will find any new educational milieu daunting for long.

            “If you love what you do, you never do a day of work in your life,” Grimm says. “I never have.”