Miss-Delectable
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SW Iowa News - ISD's Schulze has put in more than 40 years teaching
Bob Schulze thought that he would check out Iowa School for the Deaf after finishing his master's degree in industrial education. That was nearly 42 years ago and Schulze is still teaching metal technologies at the school.
Schulze is originally from Bemidji, Minn., where he received his masters and undergraduate degrees at Bemidji State University, and had a fellow classmate ask him to think about visiting Iowa School for the Deaf.
"He was the vocational coordinator and got his master's degree (at Bemidji). He said, 'We need a teacher, you should come check it out,'" Schulze said. "I didn't think too much about it, but they would pay my way down to visit and I thought it would make a good Christmas break."
If you are wondering why Schulze thought Iowa would make a nice winter break, first consider that he was working in Cavalier, N.D., an area bordering Canada and Minnesota in the northeast corner of the state.
"It looked like (ISD) was doing a lot of nice things, so I thought I'd try it for a couple years," Schulze said.
Nearly 42 years later and more than 2,000 students through his classrooms, Schulze still calls the school home.
"Sometimes you just start running down a path and forget to change," he joked.
Schulze, 66, had no experience working with deaf students before joining the faculty in 1967, but that was one of the selling points for taking the job. Schulze considered working with the University of Nebraska at Omaha's deaf education program and learning sign language as a benefit.
Still after years of working with deaf students, Schulze is not sure that he considers himself fluent in sign language.
"I don't know that I'm fluent in English, but I get by," he said.
Schulze said the reason he enjoys his job so much is that he is teaching what he considers his hobby: metalwork.
"My hobbies are in the same area that I teach, so in that aspect I am doing what I enjoy," he said. "And I like working with people."
While Schulze has taught consistently since moving to Council Bluffs, he has also had numerous other part-time gigs. He has worked as a machinist, at motorcycle shops, owned a gun repair store and even wrote a fix-it column for The Daily Nonpareil. Schulze was also an adjunct professor for the machine shop program at Iowa Western Community College.
He also enjoys working on old cars. He has restored a 1934 Ford Roadster and is currently working on a 1960 Chevy Impala. Schulze also uses the car projects to teach.
"Sometimes the students help me with the cars in class. It brings something new to class instead of doing the everyday assigned projects," he said.
Schulze's classes follow the trimester Lewis Central High School schedule because L.C. students also are allowed to participate in his tutelage. Every trimester, the students have an opportunity to learn something different.
Schulze teaches sketching drawings, using computer-aided drafting, traditional machining, computer numerical control machining and welding. Students also learn how to use a number of tools, including lathes, welders and milling machines, and construct everything from screwdrivers to weathervanes.
The small class size allows Schulze to give hands-on lessons to his pupils.
"If students are sitting down and you're lecturing, they are only going to get about 10 percent of it," he said. "Hands-on teaching and training is the best way to learn."
And the students are learning a valuable skill. Schulze said between eight and 10 of his former deaf students work at Omaha Standard, and he takes his current students to the business for a field trip whenever possible.
"Their lead manufacturing person is also deaf, so it really relates well," he said.
Even after 42 years and thousands of students, Schulze is still motivated by the highly motivated children in his class.
Bob Schulze thought that he would check out Iowa School for the Deaf after finishing his master's degree in industrial education. That was nearly 42 years ago and Schulze is still teaching metal technologies at the school.
Schulze is originally from Bemidji, Minn., where he received his masters and undergraduate degrees at Bemidji State University, and had a fellow classmate ask him to think about visiting Iowa School for the Deaf.
"He was the vocational coordinator and got his master's degree (at Bemidji). He said, 'We need a teacher, you should come check it out,'" Schulze said. "I didn't think too much about it, but they would pay my way down to visit and I thought it would make a good Christmas break."
If you are wondering why Schulze thought Iowa would make a nice winter break, first consider that he was working in Cavalier, N.D., an area bordering Canada and Minnesota in the northeast corner of the state.
"It looked like (ISD) was doing a lot of nice things, so I thought I'd try it for a couple years," Schulze said.
Nearly 42 years later and more than 2,000 students through his classrooms, Schulze still calls the school home.
"Sometimes you just start running down a path and forget to change," he joked.
Schulze, 66, had no experience working with deaf students before joining the faculty in 1967, but that was one of the selling points for taking the job. Schulze considered working with the University of Nebraska at Omaha's deaf education program and learning sign language as a benefit.
Still after years of working with deaf students, Schulze is not sure that he considers himself fluent in sign language.
"I don't know that I'm fluent in English, but I get by," he said.
Schulze said the reason he enjoys his job so much is that he is teaching what he considers his hobby: metalwork.
"My hobbies are in the same area that I teach, so in that aspect I am doing what I enjoy," he said. "And I like working with people."
While Schulze has taught consistently since moving to Council Bluffs, he has also had numerous other part-time gigs. He has worked as a machinist, at motorcycle shops, owned a gun repair store and even wrote a fix-it column for The Daily Nonpareil. Schulze was also an adjunct professor for the machine shop program at Iowa Western Community College.
He also enjoys working on old cars. He has restored a 1934 Ford Roadster and is currently working on a 1960 Chevy Impala. Schulze also uses the car projects to teach.
"Sometimes the students help me with the cars in class. It brings something new to class instead of doing the everyday assigned projects," he said.
Schulze's classes follow the trimester Lewis Central High School schedule because L.C. students also are allowed to participate in his tutelage. Every trimester, the students have an opportunity to learn something different.
Schulze teaches sketching drawings, using computer-aided drafting, traditional machining, computer numerical control machining and welding. Students also learn how to use a number of tools, including lathes, welders and milling machines, and construct everything from screwdrivers to weathervanes.
The small class size allows Schulze to give hands-on lessons to his pupils.
"If students are sitting down and you're lecturing, they are only going to get about 10 percent of it," he said. "Hands-on teaching and training is the best way to learn."
And the students are learning a valuable skill. Schulze said between eight and 10 of his former deaf students work at Omaha Standard, and he takes his current students to the business for a field trip whenever possible.
"Their lead manufacturing person is also deaf, so it really relates well," he said.
Even after 42 years and thousands of students, Schulze is still motivated by the highly motivated children in his class.