Weekly WINGS
Wisdom and Inspiration Nurturing Growth and Success
There are people in our lives who make such an impact that it’s hard to express how much they mean to us.
Mr. Earl “Rudy” Rudisell, my 10th grade World History teacher, was one of those people for me.
Sadly, he passed away just a few days ago, at the age of 81.
This article is dedicated to Mr. Rudisell; but first, I’d like you to think back to your favorite teacher.
As you think back, try to remember… what exactly was it about this teacher that made such a lasting impression on you when you were a child?
Was it the lessons they taught? The homework and tests they gave? The curriculum standards that they covered?
My guess it that even though you learned a lot in that teacher’s classroom, it probably was not any of those things that made them your favorite teacher.
Cro-Magnon Man, Art History, and Balance of Power
When it comes to enthusiasm and student engagement, Mr. Rudisell was unsurpassed by any other teacher I have known, past and present… and as a career teacher and life-long student, I’ve known hundreds.
The very first day I walked into his classroom in 10th grade, I was a little nervous because at first he didn’t speak to anyone. He had created a seating chart based on our last names, and quietly, with a dead-pan face, directed us to our seating assignments one by one.
As soon as the final student was in place, his demeanor changed completely.
Suddenly, his face became animated as he started walking around the room in an odd, slightly menacing way.
Wandering in and out of the rows of student desks without a word, he paused a few times to gaze deeply into the eyes of several students and appeared to be looking under our desks and all around the room for something he needed.
His strange movements captured everyone’s rapt attention.
It was just…. really, really weird. I mean, all the other high school teachers on that first day of the school year simply passed out a list of required materials, gave us a copy of the textbook which we were to have covered with a brown paper grocery bag (no later than Friday), and went over all the classroom rules.
Not Mr. Rudisell.
Instead of following the standard routine, he finished the mysterious wandering scene and then jumped up on his desk. Moving his arms around strangely, he began another wordless pantomime with odd grunts and gestures as we all gawked up at him.
Sitting silently in curiosity and confusion, we chuckled nervously with more than a little concern for this teacher who appeared to be completely out of his mind.
Eventually, we learned that he was acting out “Cro-Magnon Man”… the earliest known human hunter-gatherer civilization.
We finally got our textbooks and materials lists at the end of class that day, but it wasn’t the last of his awe-inspiring performances. Over the rest of the school year, he acted out so many other important eras, people, and events in the history of the world and held us fascinated with anticipation and delight.
Mr. Rudisell used every visual tool available in the pre-internet 1980’s to illustrate the wonders of history, geography, art, culture, language, and architecture.
Most of this was done on chalkboards covered from top to bottom in his bold and distinctive cursive writing, large sheets of white paper with colorful student group notes affixed to the walls with masking tape, and overhead projectors with hundreds of slides.
He also often used his own body to act out war, peace, kings, queens, popes, civilizations that rose and fell, and so much more that kept us interested, entertained, and eager to learn more.
I remember how he would stretch his long arms all the way out on either side like a balance scale… tipping the balance up on one side to show how a country was gaining power, then tipping it back down as the other side gained more power through gaining resources and alliances.
He did this with other important recurring historical themes as we learned that history does tend to repeat itself, and humanity seems to have a hard time learning from our mistakes.
But while his delivery was stellar, his depth of knowledge was astounding, and his teaching was brilliant, it was so much more about who he was as a human being and a mentor that made him my favorite teacher of all time.
You see, Mr. Rudisell really cared about his students.
He cared about each one of us. Even the shy, awkward ones like me.
Mr. Rudisell would stop me in the hall every so often just to comment on something he thought I did that was great – like being in a school musical, or tutoring ESL students during my study hall.
He noticed me. And he acknowledged me.
And… he did this for everyone. He loved his students, and we loved him back.
I enjoyed being his student so much that I decided to take his AP European History class my senior year.
At some point during that year, he gave us all a “lifetime homework assignment” that we all absolutely had to travel to Europe some day to see all the sights we had learned about in his class.
I took him up on that assignment. This shy, awkward girl whose big annual family vacation each year was traveling two hours from Cincinnati to Columbus by station wagon to the Ohio State Fair finally took my very first airplane trip my final year of college to do student teaching…. in Europe.
That trip to London on the way to do student teaching in Kilmacolm, Scotland, was the first of many global adventures over my lifetime.
In college, I decided to become a teacher because I wanted to be like Mr. Rudisell.
Mr. Rudisell shared the sad news a few months ago about his third battle with brain lymphoma in ten years and his decision to go into hospice/palliative care because the treatment had failed to work.
He asked his friends and former students if we would all just share a little story or memory on his page to help keep his spirits up during his last chapter of life.
Unsurprisingly, within just a few days there were literally hundreds of stories posted about how his kindness made an impact and how he gave so many of us a love for history, art, cultures, and global travel.
I am so grateful for the role model he was for me, and I’m grateful for all teachers like him out there who may not ever be well-known or receive any honors for their work, but whose legacy comes from a daily commitment to bringing a love of learning and a love of the students they serve.
Thank you, and farewell, Mr. Rudisell. Your life and legacy have made a world of difference.
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If you are a teacher, THANK YOU for what you do for children each day. Remember that just like Mr. Rudisell, you are making an impact, even if it doesn’t seem like what you do makes a difference. It really does.
If you are a parent or caregiver, THANK YOU for pouring your heart into what you do and caring deeply for your children each day. They notice it, and they know that you care even if they don’t thank you for it!
And for everyone reading… what do you want your legacy to be when it’s your time to say farewell?
I know I want to be someone who made a difference, like Mr. Rudisell did for me.
Thanks for reading, and I will see you again next week!
