Good Morning, Everyone! Today’s special guest is author and retired teacher, Pete Springer. I’m very happy to have Pete join us, and I know that you are going to enjoy his post, so without further ado, let’s get started. Pete? You’re on!
Thanks for the pleasure of visiting The Write Stuff, Marcia. While I loved my career as an elementary teacher, my wife and I have embraced retirement and the opportunity to try new things. As you probably know by now, I’m following your path by writing later in life. While teaching, I knew I wanted to write middle-grade novels for children after I retired. I’ve spent the last few years learning how to write fiction by taking classes, reading books, joining a critique group, starting a blog, and writing most days. I love the creative challenge of building a fictional story from scratch. It’s what gets me excited to get up in the morning.
Before diving into that, I wanted to pay back a profession that had been so good to me. I wrote a book (They Call Me Mom) about my 31-year teaching career to pay it forward to the next generation of teachers. I call it a combination memoir/advice book. After serving as a master teacher to four student teachers during my career, I wanted to share my experiences and some of the moving and funny moments.
Now, I’m following through with my original goal and writing novels for the age I know best—middle grades. I’ve got two manuscripts going, one about to go to my editor any day. From the start, I wanted to write entertaining contemporary novels for kids in grades 5-8 about problems that today’s children face. Don’t let anyone tell you we had it much more challenging than kids do in 2023 because that’s not true.
Ten Things You May Not Know About Me
ONE:
I’ve visited each of the 50 states, though I don’t remember some because I was too little to recall much. Right before Covid started, my wife and I made it to the last one. (Alaska)
TWO:
People tell me I’ve got a good voice for the radio, and I’m one of those rare people who doesn’t mind public speaking. I used to read our local newspaper over the airwaves once a week for the blind and those with limited vision. I spent my career as an elementary school teacher, but my backup plan was to become a sports broadcaster if I didn’t like teaching.
THREE:
While happily retired, I miss reading aloud to children as I love literature and am a big ham. It was my chance to be an actor, imagining how the author wanted the characters to sound. I now read to seniors at assisted living twice a week as part of my community service work.
FOUR:
Several of my previous students have become teachers. I taught the last five years of my career with one of my former 4th-grade students.
FIVE:
I love almost all sports. Though not a star athlete, I won some local racquetball tournaments (spelled racketball in the UK). Now, I enjoy going to sporting events. I’ve attended the Super Bowl and the Final Four College Basketball Championships. Our son is a college football coach.
SIX:
I try to stay in touch with my former elementary students as much as possible to see what direction their lives took them. One of my past students became a nanny to Jennifer Lopez (J. Lo—the singer and actress) and later to one of the Kardashian sisters. I recently connected with a student from my first year of teaching. (He’s now 49—yes, I feel old.) He is now a Hollywood film producer, director, and writer. He has a film coming out later this year starring Lindsay Wagner (from The Bionic Woman).
SEVEN:
I met my wife in the teaching program in college. We started and finished our 31-year education careers in the same years. I taught elementary school (grades 2-6), and she was a preschool teacher and then director at the same site.
EIGHT:
Last year I fulfilled a Bucket List item by flying across the country and spending time with each of my three older brothers. The four Springer brothers ended up in the four continental time zones, so I got my miles in. I went to New Jersey, Minnesota, and Colorado, before returning to my home in California.
NINE:
On the same trip, I met two blogging friends in person. I spent part of the day in the classroom of the brilliant teacher, Jennie Fitzkee, and read a story to her preschoolers in Massachusetts. I then traveled to Pennsylvania and met Villanova University professor Jim Borden. I spent a glorious day with him in Philadelphia and visited many historical parts of the city. Jim filmed me running up the famed Rocky steps. Meeting them was one of the highlights of my trip.
TEN:
We live within a couple of miles of the Pacific Ocean and our famed redwoods, the tallest trees in the world. Coast redwoods reach 370 feet tall, while giant sequoias are seldom more than 300 feet tall. Temperatures are mild year-round, ranging from 30-80 degrees Fahrenheit.
BLURB
Who Will You Inspire Today? Teachers face this challenge and responsibility each day, but in the process, the author discovers that his students can also have a profound influence on him. Pete Springer takes you on his memorable thirty-one-year journey in education as an elementary school teacher and offers the many valuable life and teaching lessons he learned along the way. Get ready to laugh out loud at some of the humorous and memorable experiences that all teachers face, feel inspired by the inherent goodness of children, and appreciate the importance of developing a sense of teamwork among the staff. Learn valuable tips for working with children, parents, fellow staff members, and administrators. This book is ideal for young teachers, but also a reminder to all educators of the importance and responsibility of being a role model.
(Photo was taken by my former sixth-grade student, Breanne Egbert.)
My name is Pete Springer. I taught elementary school for thirty-one years (grades 2-6) at Pine Hill School in Eureka, CA. Even though I retired over three years ago, my passion will always be supporting education, kids, and teachers.
When I came out of the teaching program many years ago, I realized how unprepared I was for what was in store for me in the classroom. My college education mainly focused on learning theory rather than the practical day-to-day challenges that all teachers face. Thankfully, I had some great mentors to lean on to help support me in the early part of my career.
I have made it my mission to pay it forward to the next generation of teachers. I was a master teacher to four student teachers, and I have several former students who are now teachers, including one who teaches at my former elementary school. That is pretty cool!
While teaching, I decided to write books for children one day. That ship is now in the harbor. I took some writing workshops, found a writing critique group, joined SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), and recently finished writing my first middle-grade novel. I’ve always connected with kids, and this is my new way of teaching.
You can Buy They Call Me Mom HERE
You Can Reach Pete on Social Media HERE:
Photo of another climber on “High Exposure.” See #6 Above)
The Write Stuff 