Vol. 20, No. 2 - Spring 2004

"Manning" the classroom

A student and colleague reflects on John Manning's life as a literacy leader

by Brenda Shearer

Shearer is a professor of reading education at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, and was a doctoral student of John Manning from 1985–92.

The life of John Manning is characterized by paradox. On the one hand, there is pageantry. Manning’s flamboyant attire is legendary in the corridors of Peik Hall where he will soon be ending three decades as a professor of reading education. (Manning will be retiring in 2005.) On the other hand, his life and his work are characterized by a high degree of discipline. These two qualities, pageantry and discipline, are integral in his life.

It has been more than 20 years since I met John Manning when I began my doctoral studies at the University, but his ideas continue to influence my thoughts and actions. I remember Dr. Manning telling us that he attempts to see things in students that they do not recognize in themselves. This was evident in my dealings with him, and it was one of the reasons he was recognized with the International Reading Association’s Outstanding Teacher Educator Award in 1987.

After completing a doctorate at Boston University as a student of Donald Durrell, a giant in the field of reading, Manning taught for six years at California State University, Fresno, before joining the College of Education and Human Development in 1965. Since then he has been a visiting professor and lecturer at more than 300 major colleges and universities and has served as consultant to more than 500 national agencies, state departments of education, and major urban and local community school districts.

He has written numerous book chapters, articles, and curriculum publications, and is an author and educational consultant to Scott Foresman Publishers.

In 1985, Dr. Manning was elected president of the International Reading Association (IRA), the premier professional organization in the field, with almost 100,000 members throughout the world. He continues to serve as a consultant to the Mississippi State Literacy Initiative two weeks per month, working with students and teachers in some of the poorest communities in the United States.

On many occasions I have sat in filled auditoria at national conferences to listen to the man who could make you feel as if you were the only person in the room. Recently, the Wisconsin State Reading Association honored Dr. Manning at a special reception, “High Tea with John Manning,” during the 2004 WSRA Conference. At that tea, as I listened to this remarkable man, I saw the same passion that could still hold the audience spellbound.

In June of 1999, I watched him working with young students enrolled in a summer reading program in Taylors Falls, Minn., guiding and inspiring them as they read to him. Although it had been almost 50 years since he began teaching, his face had the radiance of a first-year teacher, rapt in that elusive “teachable moment.” That day, I was reminded that not a single week goes by, ever, that John Manning is not found in a public school somewhere.

When Dr. Manning walks across campus, you will notice that he stops to greet the person sweeping the sidewalk by name and the person trimming the shrubs by name and they greet him back. He knows something about them and mentions it. These are the kinds of lessons that he taught me. They are the kinds of lessons I try to impart to my own university students. Of all the things that Dr. Manning has accomplished, the title I know that means the most to him is “teacher.”

Perhaps the best way to capture the essence of the man is to allow his words to speak for themselves. What follows are excerpts from my 1999 interview with my teacher, my mentor, and my dear friend, Dr. John C. Manning:

On valuing students

“Apparently Durrell saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. And I see that in terms of my own graduate students, all of my own students at the University, all of the students in the public school. I see things in them that they do not see in themselves or know they possess: that they can influence others; that they are convincing; that they are contributing.”

On ethics, morality, and teachers

“Schools must be places of morality and ethics. Absolutely. And to talk about schools without discussing issues related to morality is absurd. What I’m talking about is the behaviors of the classroom teacher who has internalized morally and ethically the Ten Commandments and whose behaviors clearly indicate that.”

On recruiting “the best and brightest” teachers

“I want teachers who are bright, who are intelligent, who know something. On the other hand, I’m unaware of any strong relationship that exists between the best and the brightest and common sense, for example; the best and the brightest and forgiveness, for example; the best and the brightest and moral judgments, for example; the best and the brightest and ethics. I’m unaware of those correlations; you’ll have to point them out to me. I want teachers who can find their way to school; I want that. But I want a teacher who exercises some humanity.”

Sidebar:
John Manning makes an impression on everyone he meets