A method to Miller's madness
Desk like 'a box of crayons when a toddler tips it over'
By Savana Parenteau
Published March 31, 2022
Everyday he brings a thermos into his classroom. It holds approximately ten cups of coffee. His wife drinks two and he drinks the remaining eight cups throughout the day. He enjoys his coffee bitter and black with no cream or sugar. While lecturing and carrying on conversations he occasionally pauses, sips from his mug and continues on. Sometimes it is easy to tell when people are tired in the morning by the way they drink their coffee. This isn't necessarily the case with Scott Miller. He told me, “I am very much not a morning person. It takes a long time for my brain to get chugging. I come into my room and need to get everything set up for the day before school starts.” In his classroom there are posters and quotes all over the walls. Everything is neat and organized, but his desk looks like a box of crayons when a toddler tips it over. All of the items on his desk are the typical things teachers would have, except for the name plate that says “I AM THE BOSS” next to the bamboo plant.
I really think that Mr. Miller looks like Jeff Dunham’s puppet, Walter. When Miller smiles, his face gets all crinkley around his eyes and his cheeks have vertical lines on them. If you look at his face after he is done smiling, you can see the smile lines that have formed on his face from all his time spent smiling and laughing. His eyes look tired, like a father who was woken up early on Christmas morning to open presents. But whenever you talk with him, he always looks directly into your soul. He sees straight through you and whatever you're saying. If you watch him while he's having a conversation, you can almost see the gears in his head turning. By the time you’ve asked him a question, he's already filled in the blanks in his mind and has a solution for you. When I think about how his mind works I picture a whole bunch of formulas just floating around inside of his head. Like a hurricane of words and football plays and coffee.
While talking to people about Mr. Miller, I realize there is a lot that we don't know about him. I know that students usually don't know much about their teachers’ personal lives, but there are things that our teachers do for us that we never really acknowledge. While interviewing Mr. Chance Goudge, I asked if he could describe Miller's work ethic. He answered, “Miller goes above and beyond what is expected and needed. Right now, he is taking extra masters classes to improve himself and his knowledge. And he isn't doing it for himself, he's doing it for his students. He is very knowledgeable, wise, and experienced as a teacher. He is challenging but fair and he tries to bring out the best in kids. Sometimes they hate him for doing it, but it does make them better people.” I don’t think I've ever met a person as passionate about their job as Mr. Miller. I have never heard him complain about his job or anything that comes with the responsibility of being a teacher. I've never met someone so proud of being their genuine self every single day.
Last year I took Mr. Miller’s general psychology class. During the first few weeks we learned about how our brain makes decisions. We were asked questions like “Would you lie to someone to make them feel better?” or “Would you lie to protect someone?” We all answered and then Miller told us his answer. He said, “I wouldn’t lie to you to make you feel better. If you put on some weight and ask me ‘how do I look?’ I will tell you that you look like you put on some weight.” Most of us in class scoffed and I was thinking “Holy crap, that's pretty straightforward.” And it was. As the school year went on, I learned that Miller is a straightforward person. He's not the type of person to think about doing something. He just does it.
I asked Mr. Dustin Richters if he could describe Mr. Miller as a staff member. He said, “Miller is definitely one of the top staff members. He is constantly looking to improve his lessons. Before our school had computers, we had iPads. He was always pushing to learn and do more with them. Now that we have computers, he still continues to learn more about them. He has always been on the forefront of technology for our school. Miller is a key figure in the building. He's involved with sports, BPA, and planning for the senior class every year. As a teacher, Miller puts student learning first. He wants his students to be able to correctly think from as many views as possible to benefit them down the road.”
This fall, I walked into his classroom to return a book we had read in class. I asked him where to put the book. He said, “Well, you could put it on my desk with the others or you could put it on the shelf back there.” I picked up the books on his desk and put them all on the shelf in the back of the room. While I was walking he told me, “You are an extraordinary person.” It really caught me off guard. I’d never heard anyone say that and if I had, it definitely wasn't directed towards me. I kind of scoffed and asked him what he meant. I was just putting books away, it wasn't a big deal. He replied, “I heard you had something to do with your softball coach this summer.” Ah, that made more sense. I then told him the story of what happened and we talked about how the program is moving forward and improving with all the changes that have been made. After we were done talking, I remember walking out of his classroom and saying “that made my day.” It was really bizarre to me that someone as important and sophisticated as Miller could be so humble.
Everyone always talks about Mr. Miller as though he purposefully makes our lives as students harder because he enjoys seeing us fail. I've come to the conclusion that everything he does is for a purpose. He makes the curriculum for his class hard on purpose so that maybe we do fail. But when we do, he encourages us to try harder until we are satisfied with our results. There is a chalk board behind the posters on his wall and on it, he writes quotes. Most of them have not changed for a few years.‘HARD WORK WORKS’ and ‘GET BETTER’ are written there. I think the reason why students don't like his classes is because he challenges students to be a better version of themselves. Because there is a method to the madness.
Mr. Miller is a very particular person. He cares about the little details that go over our heads. He goes above and beyond in everything he does and is the kind of person who will admit when they've made a mistake. He loves trying new things and failing at them, just so he can try again and be successful. He’ll never tell you something to make you feel better. He’ll see you for who you are, and he will challenge you to be a better version of yourself. I don't necessarily think Mr. Miller is abnormal. I think he's the person we all want to be. The difference is we are thinking about how to become that person, and he is busy being that person. He tries to bring that person out in all of us. Scott Miller is an extraordinary person.
This profile was written as part of College Composition I.
Published March 31, 2022
Everyday he brings a thermos into his classroom. It holds approximately ten cups of coffee. His wife drinks two and he drinks the remaining eight cups throughout the day. He enjoys his coffee bitter and black with no cream or sugar. While lecturing and carrying on conversations he occasionally pauses, sips from his mug and continues on. Sometimes it is easy to tell when people are tired in the morning by the way they drink their coffee. This isn't necessarily the case with Scott Miller. He told me, “I am very much not a morning person. It takes a long time for my brain to get chugging. I come into my room and need to get everything set up for the day before school starts.” In his classroom there are posters and quotes all over the walls. Everything is neat and organized, but his desk looks like a box of crayons when a toddler tips it over. All of the items on his desk are the typical things teachers would have, except for the name plate that says “I AM THE BOSS” next to the bamboo plant.
I really think that Mr. Miller looks like Jeff Dunham’s puppet, Walter. When Miller smiles, his face gets all crinkley around his eyes and his cheeks have vertical lines on them. If you look at his face after he is done smiling, you can see the smile lines that have formed on his face from all his time spent smiling and laughing. His eyes look tired, like a father who was woken up early on Christmas morning to open presents. But whenever you talk with him, he always looks directly into your soul. He sees straight through you and whatever you're saying. If you watch him while he's having a conversation, you can almost see the gears in his head turning. By the time you’ve asked him a question, he's already filled in the blanks in his mind and has a solution for you. When I think about how his mind works I picture a whole bunch of formulas just floating around inside of his head. Like a hurricane of words and football plays and coffee.
While talking to people about Mr. Miller, I realize there is a lot that we don't know about him. I know that students usually don't know much about their teachers’ personal lives, but there are things that our teachers do for us that we never really acknowledge. While interviewing Mr. Chance Goudge, I asked if he could describe Miller's work ethic. He answered, “Miller goes above and beyond what is expected and needed. Right now, he is taking extra masters classes to improve himself and his knowledge. And he isn't doing it for himself, he's doing it for his students. He is very knowledgeable, wise, and experienced as a teacher. He is challenging but fair and he tries to bring out the best in kids. Sometimes they hate him for doing it, but it does make them better people.” I don’t think I've ever met a person as passionate about their job as Mr. Miller. I have never heard him complain about his job or anything that comes with the responsibility of being a teacher. I've never met someone so proud of being their genuine self every single day.
Last year I took Mr. Miller’s general psychology class. During the first few weeks we learned about how our brain makes decisions. We were asked questions like “Would you lie to someone to make them feel better?” or “Would you lie to protect someone?” We all answered and then Miller told us his answer. He said, “I wouldn’t lie to you to make you feel better. If you put on some weight and ask me ‘how do I look?’ I will tell you that you look like you put on some weight.” Most of us in class scoffed and I was thinking “Holy crap, that's pretty straightforward.” And it was. As the school year went on, I learned that Miller is a straightforward person. He's not the type of person to think about doing something. He just does it.
I asked Mr. Dustin Richters if he could describe Mr. Miller as a staff member. He said, “Miller is definitely one of the top staff members. He is constantly looking to improve his lessons. Before our school had computers, we had iPads. He was always pushing to learn and do more with them. Now that we have computers, he still continues to learn more about them. He has always been on the forefront of technology for our school. Miller is a key figure in the building. He's involved with sports, BPA, and planning for the senior class every year. As a teacher, Miller puts student learning first. He wants his students to be able to correctly think from as many views as possible to benefit them down the road.”
This fall, I walked into his classroom to return a book we had read in class. I asked him where to put the book. He said, “Well, you could put it on my desk with the others or you could put it on the shelf back there.” I picked up the books on his desk and put them all on the shelf in the back of the room. While I was walking he told me, “You are an extraordinary person.” It really caught me off guard. I’d never heard anyone say that and if I had, it definitely wasn't directed towards me. I kind of scoffed and asked him what he meant. I was just putting books away, it wasn't a big deal. He replied, “I heard you had something to do with your softball coach this summer.” Ah, that made more sense. I then told him the story of what happened and we talked about how the program is moving forward and improving with all the changes that have been made. After we were done talking, I remember walking out of his classroom and saying “that made my day.” It was really bizarre to me that someone as important and sophisticated as Miller could be so humble.
Everyone always talks about Mr. Miller as though he purposefully makes our lives as students harder because he enjoys seeing us fail. I've come to the conclusion that everything he does is for a purpose. He makes the curriculum for his class hard on purpose so that maybe we do fail. But when we do, he encourages us to try harder until we are satisfied with our results. There is a chalk board behind the posters on his wall and on it, he writes quotes. Most of them have not changed for a few years.‘HARD WORK WORKS’ and ‘GET BETTER’ are written there. I think the reason why students don't like his classes is because he challenges students to be a better version of themselves. Because there is a method to the madness.
Mr. Miller is a very particular person. He cares about the little details that go over our heads. He goes above and beyond in everything he does and is the kind of person who will admit when they've made a mistake. He loves trying new things and failing at them, just so he can try again and be successful. He’ll never tell you something to make you feel better. He’ll see you for who you are, and he will challenge you to be a better version of yourself. I don't necessarily think Mr. Miller is abnormal. I think he's the person we all want to be. The difference is we are thinking about how to become that person, and he is busy being that person. He tries to bring that person out in all of us. Scott Miller is an extraordinary person.
This profile was written as part of College Composition I.