robby turner: a song in his heart
His graduation from Randolph-Macon was imminent, and Robby Turner had absolutely no idea where life was taking him.
For several years, he’d served as a camp counselor, so he knew he enjoyed kids.
While he was still in college, he’d commuted to Richmond to work with the JV and varsity baseball teams at Huguenot, so the idea of coaching didn’t sound so bad.
He was a self-taught guitarist and singer, so playing in a band was appealing.
What did he do?
“Sold copiers,” he said.
“Hated every minute of it.”
Then, in January 1989, three months after his sales gig began, a position as a kindergarten and first-grade assistant at Good Shepherd Episcopal School presented itself, and he jumped at it.
“I really liked the relationships I was able to build,” he said.
“It was really cool when I saw children open their eyes and draw connections.”
One year became two. Two became a career.
During his 11½-year stay at GSES on Richmond’s South Side, Turner was, at various times, sometimes simultaneously, lead kindergarten teacher, athletic director, dean of students, basketball coach, assistant head, and the entire physical education department.
In August 2000, he joined the Collegiate family, hit the ground running, and hasn’t broken stride.
He teaches kindergarten and coaches three seasons (JV cross country, JV girls’ basketball – his team was 17-0 last winter – and varsity softball).
He also works a variety of sports camps in the Cougar Quest program, all the while enjoying life with his wife Kim and their daughters Abby, 13, and Lizzie, 9.
“If you’d asked me in college, even my senior year, if I’d be a teacher, I’d have told you no,” he said. “Wasn’t even on the radar.
“If you’d asked me if I’d be a kindergarten teacher, I’d have laughed.
“My friends, especially my fraternity brothers, would have laughed hysterically.”
Though a 40-something male teaching five-year-olds isn’t unheard of, it’s certainly unusual.
Creative, energetic, compassionate, nurturing, and dedicated, Turner would have it no other way
“There’s this feeling that these 19 or 20 kids are looking to you for the answers,” he said. “To see you’re making a difference is huge.
“Something’s always happening that makes me smile. The joys far outweigh the times you want to pull your hair out.”
It’s not so much that Turner teaches kindergarteners as it is how he reaches them.
You see, sitting in a corner of his Luck Hall classroom is his guitar, and rarely does a day pass that he doesn’t play it to entertain his charges or, more often, reinforce a lesson.
“I’ve always kept a guitar at school,” he said. “I learned very quickly that simple songs work and kids seem to enjoy them.
“At first, it was kind of like story time. Then, I started to realize that if I could add content, I could get through to them that way.”
Turner estimates that he’s written about 100 songs, 90 percent of which are based on real-life experiences.
“The original ones,” he said, “were about the things I saw every day. If a child said something or I thought of something I’d done when I was little, I’d put that into a song.
“I found out really quickly which ones worked and which didn’t. Sometimes, I’ve stayed up all night writing a song, come in and sung it and gotten no reaction at all. Sometimes, I make up something on the spot, and they howl.”
This year, Turner has focused his creative efforts on math-related ditties.
“Some of the stuff we were doing, I thought, was a little dry, and I wanted to spice it up a bit,” he said.
“For example, we do a ‘50’s day celebration where we dress up in ‘50’s outfits and have root beer floats. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to come up with a song about money and counting by 5’s, so I wrote one called ‘Money Hand Jive’ that goes ‘Five pennies make a nickel/ Two nickels make a dime/ Two dimes and a nickel make a quarter/ Four quarters make a dollar every time.’
“If you can refer back to a song, the kids seem to remember the lesson.”
Turner uses his musical talent far beyond his classroom
He plays at Lower School town meetings and at birthday and business parties, various festivals and fairs, and occasionally at events at several Barnes & Noble stores around town.
His class was returning from the library, so it was time for me to head back across campus.
Professionally, you’re really a composite of many things, I observed as I unfolded myself from a kid-sized chair. You’re a musician, teacher, coach, and camp counselor.
“Growing up,” he responded, “I changed my mind a few times about what I wanted to do.
“Then, I realized I hadn’t changed my mind at all.
“I’m very fortunate that I’ve found a job that allows me to do everything I enjoy so much.
“I didn’t think that job existed.”
