Issue date: January 26, 2000
By MARJORIE MADER
"An expert is someone who goes out of town to speak," quips Hal Urban, Woodside High School teacher, playing down his latest award.
Mr. Urban is one of four educators, and the only high school teacher, selected from more than 3,000 schools nationwide as a recipient of a National Educator of the Year award for his "exemplary leadership in ethics education."
The award was given by the Character Education Center, based at the Bureau of Essential Ethics Education in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. He has done more by teaching, writing and speaking than any high school teacher to foster the growth of character education, said Gene Bedley, CEO of the Bureau of Essential Ethics Education.
Mr. Urban has been teaching about "character education" long before the term was invented. Basically, he says, it's about bringing out the best in young people.
"We are talking about good character things, like kindness and hard work and honesty," he says. "I think we need to help young people become good human beings as much as we need to help them learn math."
Research has shown, he adds, that manners, order and thoughtfulness produce better learners and improved grades and test scores.
Mr. Urban is unusual in that he's a public school teacher who juggles an everyday teaching position with a national and even international public-speaking schedule. He has traveled more than 240,000 miles and made more than 300 presentations in 31 states, South America and Asia in the past four years, sharing character education strategies with other teachers and speaking to students and parents.
Mr. Urban practices in his classroom what he writes and speaks about on the lecture circuit. "Kids are treated here with a lot of respect," he says. "I try to create a caring community in which everyone treats each other well."
Each semester he begins his classes by asking students to write down a list of class rules: Do's and Don'ts in Mr. Urban's class. "If you let students know what is and isn't OK, they will demonstrate good manners," says the veteran teacher.
Mr. Urban's phone has been ringing off the hook with requests to speak since receiving the award. He will be the keynote speaker at two major character education conferences this summer in New York and St. Louis, speaking to a total of 1,300 educators from around the world.
A native San Franciscan, the tall, trim Mr. Urban won a scholarship and played forward on the University of San Francisco's basketball team while earning a bachelor's degree. He began his teaching career at San Carlos High School in 1966-67 and moved to Woodside High in 1982 when San Carlos High was closed. Teaching psychology, U.S. history and government, he received Woodside's Teacher of the Year Award in 1994 and again in 1998. He received a doctorate from University of San Francisco and has done post-doctoral study at Stanford University in the psychology of peak performance.
Along the way, he wrote the book, "20 Things I Want My Kids to Know," published in 1992. After the original printing of 16,000 copies sold out, his book was republished in 1997 under the new title, "Life's Greatest Lessons," with 24,000 more copies sold.
Becoming a speaker on character education "kind of evolved," he says, after his book was published. He started going to conferences and making presentations. He spaces out his speaking engagements during the school year and schedules them for Fridays or Mondays to cut down on the time he' s away from his class. He has the same substitute every time he's gone, John Leipelt, who taught social studies at Woodside before he retired. "The kids don't lose anything," says Mr. Urban. He has cut back on his part-time teaching at the University of San Francisco, helping working adults earn college degrees.
Mr. Urban enjoys and takes pride in his teaching and relationships with students. He goes to sporting events and all the plays at Woodside High. He's at the point in his career where he has taught at least 40 parents and their children, but classes are not the same. "You're always sharpening the saw," he says, "looking for new ways to do things."
Hear Hal. "Life's Greatest Lessons: 20 Things I Want My Kids to Know" will be Hal Urban's topic on Tuesday, February 15, when he speaks at the Woodside High School PTSA meeting. His talk, open to the community, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the school's multi-use room, 199 Churchill Ave., Woodside.
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