All children can learn.
Dale Hibbs
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Dale Hibbs said he has taught just about every kind of student during his 42 years in the classroom.
He taught in poor neighborhoods in his hometown of Omaha, Neb., and in Waterloo. He taught students from wealthy families in Rochester, Minn. He taught children of factory workers in Newton, and farmers' children in Eagle Grove. He taught a variety of children during 29 years at City High, and religious students during the last two years as a government and economics teacher at Regina High.
He has determined one thing from his experiences: All children can learn.
"I've taught about every kind of kid on the planet," said Hibbs, 67. "All kids can learn."
Three things are universal when it comes to teaching, Hibbs said. First, every child needs to know who is in charge.
"They need to know where the boundaries are," he said.
Second, a teacher has to make teaching relevant to what is going on in the students' lives, he said. A teacher needs to bring home a lesson to students, such as those on military actions approved by the government since World War II. "They need to know the president can kill you," Hibbs said.
Finally, a teacher needs to have good examples along with his lessons, he said. As an example from his own life, Hibbs showed how he coached a boxer in Cedar Rapids on different fighting techniques, and how amazed he was when they worked.
"All of a sudden, I understand geometry," he said. "I understand angles."
Hibbs said he was able to use his experiences as a state legislator in the 1970s and as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C., to teach government.
"When you teach government out of the book, it's not true at all," he said. "I've been really lucky because a lot of the examples I can use. You make education relevant."
— Rob Daniel
