Many years ago on a pleasant January day in Hanahan, SC, (near Charleston) I came home from work one evening and was confronted by my wife and youngest daughter, our fifth child. Would I adjust the training wheels on the child's bicycle so it could be a real two-wheeler? We bought the bike as a Christmas gift and within a couple of weeks she had mastered riding it so the training wheels were no longer necessary.
"Are you sure, I asked?" Wynn's little face lit up and she assured me she could handle it. I smiled, went to the garage, got a wrench and the training wheels were history. I stood on the walk outside the front of house and enjoyed the moment as my daughter successfully wheeled off toward the house of her best friend.
Last evening this same daughter, now an outgoing, exuberant adult, wife and mother, teacher and businesswoman, sent an e-mail announcing her book, How To Be a Great Teacher: Create the Flow of Joy and Success in Your Classroom, had been published and was available at Amazon.com five days ahead of schedule.
Wynn taught school, kindergarten through fourth grade, for several years and then created her own business, The International Academy of Bee-Sharp Teachers, to help teachers improve their skills and make learning better and most enjoyable for students. She attracted the attention of McGraw Hill education representatives and joined them in similar goals. Now, after several years of traveling all over this wonderful country and interacting with teachers, principals, students and parents she has published a 108 page softcover book that ought to be in the hands of every primary school teacher, principal, and school board member, as well as parents involved in their children's education. If it takes a village to raise a child, then this book will help teachers do the work and parents to know what to expect.
The girl who could ride without training wheels, Wynn Cooper Archibald Godbold, is riding on different streets now but I am still enjoying the moment of her success.
