Teaching and Leading Through Writing with Kevin Kenealy

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

teaching and leading, diversity and inclusion, local celebrity, lifelong learner, journalism background, first book, writing inspiration, balancing roles, student mentorship, writing tips, book recommendations, writing process, teaching impact, writing motivation, future projects

SPEAKERS

Amy Vujaklija, Joi Patterson, Kevin Kenealy

Kevin Kenealy: 00:04

I'm still trying to make it right. I'm still trying to get out there. I don't consider myself like on the level of a established writer.

Amy Vujaklija: 00:13

This episode was originally released under the podcast titled teaching and learning theory versus practice. This rebooted episode has been migrated to teaching and leading with Dr Amy and Dr Joi I am Dr Amy veachlija, Director of educator preparation,

Joi Patterson: 00:32

and I am Dr Joi Patterson, Chief Diversity Officer. Our podcast addresses issues through the lens of diversity, equity and inclusion, along with solutions for us to grow as educators.

00:47

So join us on our journey to become better teachers and leaders. So let's get into it. Good morning. Dr Joi, good

Joi Patterson: 00:58

morning. Dr, Amy, how are you today?

Kevin Kenealy: 01:02

I am eager to introduce this guest, because we've had a partnership with a local high school for some years, and this teacher works in that high school. He's an English teacher. He's mentored several candidates as they've been preparing to be teachers themselves. But there is something I did not know, and that was his career, also as a writer,

Joi Patterson: 01:33

he's a local celebrity and someone that we've been partnering with.

Kevin Kenealy: 01:39

So Kevin Kenealy received his journalism degree from Eastern Illinois University and his English secondary education certificate from Trinity Christian College. He is also pursuing a master's in English in literature from Southern New Hampshire University. He worked as a reporter and designer for several local newspapers before he started teaching English and AP Literature in journalism at the high school level, he wrote his first book, 20 something at age 23 a book of poetry about growing up in your 20s and trying to figure yourself out. I think we all needed to figure ourselves out in those early 20s. And the book was featured in a local newspaper and can be found in local libraries. He completed his first novel, life and death at age 31 a horror thriller book that received local attention and is also featured in suburban Chicago libraries and in his latest book called Neighborhood Watch purpose reviews. Calls it superb characters headline in this chilling, slow burn crime tale, ooh, gripping. I

Joi Patterson: 03:01

know this is actually a very good book, Angela Lansbury, type of person Murder She Wrote. So this was very nice for me. I didn't know what to expect, especially from a teacher like it was going to be so different. So Kevin, thanks first of all for joining us happy that you're taking the time to do this, but I want to know how you describe yourself. Do you just are you a journalist who's teaching, or are you a teacher who likes to write?

Kevin Kenealy: 03:34

I've always told people I'm a lifelong learner, and I just always soak in the world around me, and I think that comes in handy with whether you're a writer or a teacher or obviously a student, as was introduced there, this will be like my 12th year as a student. My next year will be my eighth year as a teacher. I just I can't get out of education. So you know, I love that side of it, and I think that really helps me as a writer, too, because you really see a lot of different things. You really see a lot of different avenues, both in the the reading world and in the environment world, which I saw in journalism, because there's always a story out there, you just have to be attentive to the world around you, which writers do, and so I can bring that into the classroom and just kind of tell students that be attentive to what's around you and soak up the world. And there's more to life than just what's in the textbook.

Joi Patterson: 04:39

I love your modesty. You're so very broad. I was actually looking for you in an email, and I saw an email, what was about partnership? One was about you being a student. I'm giving you CPD use, you know, professional development units for being such a great partner. To go out your State University, then I send you an email because you took some classes and you're still a student, and I want to hear about what you're working on in school now, and you're a teacher and you're a writer, I mean, so and you're a father and you're a husband, yeah, so you have a lot going on, Kevin,

Kevin Kenealy: 05:20

yeah, I was just thinking about that today. I'm like, how? And I sometimes the answer is, like, I don't know. I tell students, like, find time for what you want to do, you know, and make time for that. And we just had a really quick fake news, like, fake news versus real news unit, kind of social media addiction thing in journalism class, and I asked students how long they spend on their phones, and the average time I got back was over 10 hours a day. And I said, well, think Oh no. And I said, Well, think about what you could be doing with those minutes and hours otherwise, right? So, you know, over time, I've really monitored that and kind of put my phone in the charger when I get home and spend time with the kiddos now and make that and just solely focus on the dad. Put the work away, which, when you started as a teacher, you can't separate yourself from the work. And I put that away? Focus on that. And then when the kids go to bed, you know, I spend time with the wife, and then I have a little bit of time after that to focus on neighborhood watch. And then when I get up really early, I focus on just writing and reading. So it's, it's just a cycle. It's a routine. I like routines, and I think that's what just keeps me going. So

Joi Patterson: 06:45

Dr Amy, he makes this sound so simple. It reminds me of when I was working on my doctorate degree, and I had a similar schedule because I was teaching, of when I was at work, when I got home to cook for the family, when I spent time with the kids, put them to bed early, I would take a nap to like, four in the morning. Then I would get up and work, you know. Well, I would take a nap from eight at pm to midnight, and then I would work from noon to four in the morning, and then I would take a nap, you know, like either four or five to six o'clock. And that was my schedule while I was working on my doctorate degree, which takes a lot of discipline. Looking back, I look and say, How could I have ever done that? But, you know, I was very motivated at the time, so I'm interesting. So that kind of discipline needs a lot of motivation. Where do you find this motivation to keep up with that kind of schedule. And I have a personal question for you, too, Does your wife know that she's on a schedule?

Kevin Kenealy: 07:54

Now? Don't throw him under any busses.

Kevin Kenealy: 07:58

That's really kind of funny. Well, you know she, she's really good. She's really busy too. She's on it, she's on her own schedule. So, you know, she's really, she's a very supportive person. She's really, she's on maternity leave right now, and she's, she's an excellent mother, excellent wife. She's supportive of everything I do. But as far as the motivation goes. A lot of it, you know, when you get up early, and I think you can attest to this, Dr Joi, when you were going through those odd hours, you know, when you go to bed at night, like, you think about what you do in the morning, like, and that kind of gives you that motivation to get up and sometimes, like, if you have no plans, like, okay, like, what's the purpose to get up that next day? But my purpose is like, oh, like, I get a quiet house in the morning, and I get to write, and that's kind of cool to me, to have to just be able to have that hobby, to have that space, which I'm still able to do with kids, with grad school, with working, and to still be able to find it, even if it's 20 minutes, you know, and that's my motivation, to just have that quiet space and to create

Kevin Kenealy: 09:16

you talk about I get to Have this time to write. Tell us about your journey to writing a book. What did that look like? Yeah,

Kevin Kenealy: 09:27

it's something I you know. It kind of was born out of high school gym class, which is really weird. I had a really, really good high school gym teacher, and I was a all, I forget the name of the class now, but we did like rock climbing and roller skating and rollerblading, and we learned how to make a campfire and all that stuff outdoor recreation. So one day he told us to make a bucket list of things we wanted to accomplish before we die. I and one of the things is I wanted to write a book, because from an early age, I loved writing, and so, you know, I went the journalism path and things like that. And when I I got older into my 20s, I had amassed all of this poetry, you know, just all of this stuff from my early 20s and from EIU. And I just thought back to that moment. I said, Well, what am I? What am I waiting for? I might as well just do it, you know. And I was played on a recreation baseball team at the time, and the coach told me about this publishing site that I could go through, and I could work with an agent and things like that. And I did it all myself. I designed the cover at that time, I worked with the agent on editing and all that stuff, and I was proud that I was able to start that and know what I what I was able to do. And going forward, I it just kind of became this organic thing that one step at a time, and I did that then, and turned into more. So

Joi Patterson: 11:01

who would, who would think that that PE teacher would inspire you and and I'm listening as you were talking about that, I'm saying there must be a huge age difference here, Amy, because I do not ever recall having any kind of rock climbing in school.

Kevin Kenealy: 11:19

So yeah, speaking

Joi Patterson: 11:20

of age, how have you evolved since the book 20 something?

Kevin Kenealy: 11:28

Yeah. I mean, you know, at that age, I really didn't know what I want to do, like, I got out of EIU, and I thought I'd have the world figured out. I thought, like, I would have, like, my career set like, I thought I would know who I am. And I tell my students all the time, like it's okay, like if you go on a path that is different, because, you know, the 20s ended up being a very cool age for me. You know, I traveled a lot travel. I I've seen 48 of the 50 states, and I've been everywhere. And I think because of those experiences helped me form who I am today, and I've been able to see a lot of different things that I incorporate into my books and to make those experiences, and I learned to just be okay with not being okay sometimes, which is not something I was okay with at the time. You know, I felt more anxiety, I felt more unsure of myself, and now I am more sure of myself, because when I get to those points when I don't know what's going on, I'm just okay with it, it's like, okay, it'll be fine. And I have a very supportive wife, I have two great kids, and I'm very strong in my faith too. So at that time, it did help me to express it through writing. But now, because of those experiences, the writing has totally changed. How so? So 20 something was basically about finding yourself, and kind of being frustrated with the world and frustrated with myself, and just kind of getting those thoughts on paper. A lot of that was stream of consciousness poetry, and just kind of getting it out and out there. The writing today was kind of having a broader understanding of how the world works, because I've lived that and kind of reeling it in a little bit while combining, like my love for poetry in the past and using that is like figurative language and stuff in the books and stuff like that. So knowing that it's not all about me anymore, and I think when you're younger, you think it's all about you, and it's not all about you, and I think it takes maturity to get to that point, and it's also something that I've learned to help with my high school students, because sometimes when you're younger, you can't think outside of yourself. And so I think that was a path that I took from that first book to my last my current book,

Kevin Kenealy: 14:02

having had all of these different types of writing experiences and been and being on this journey in writing in your personal life has to have affected or helped in your professional work. Talk to us a little bit about that.

Kevin Kenealy: 14:23

There have been so many like before I got on this call, I was grading poetry essays, right? So I can see where students need to go to to get to that next level. I can push Student A, who's a very talented writer, Student B, who needs to get to where student A is, and I can just spot those, those differences. And for one instance, like I told Student A, who's a who's really strong with her writing, I said, you know, you use very good. I. And analysis, but you have to work on knowing when to cut out certain words and when to elaborate on certain words. And that really takes a careful eye, and it takes practice, and it takes being able to grow up a little bit and understand when to be more concise. And I know she likes to read a lot, so I recommended, in my feedback to her a couple of things that she could read to focus in on that. And one of them was Hemingway's Hills Like White Elephants, because I said he is a minimalist, and he says a lot with little amount of words. So that's the kind of stuff where even the students that are the high flyers, I'll say, I'll try to push them and say, This is what you can do to be an even better writer. And for the students that are not high flyers, I still encourage them, and I'll say, like, you know, use spell check. And I'll show them how to use spell check, and I'll work on little things at a time, and then once they master that, then I'll get to the next thing.

Joi Patterson: 16:02

Yeah, so your practical experience has really benefited your students. Let's talk about the book. Let's talk about your latest creation, neighborhood watch. Tell us a little bit about neighborhood watch, and who was this book intended for

Kevin Kenealy: 16:20

sure. So, I mean, I think this book is intended for basically two audiences. So it's kind of intended for the kid in all of us. When you grow up, you see all these different things that you go through and just these easy going days that we forget about, like playing in a creek, when, if you're an adult, you're like, Do you think that's disgusting, but or playing games at the park, which, now, when you're an adult, you take your kid to the park, and one of the things I really liked about it is that you see how the town and the kids age over the course of the novel. So it's, it's intended for adults, mainly because you can see how adults act versus kids act, and there are some suggested scenes in it. But it's also intended for for us to kind of examine who we are, and you know, the kinds of things that we're doing to each other and the kind of standards that we're putting out there. Because what do we want for perfection? There's that difference between the woods that are in the book, which is just total freedom, and where everything can be fun and everything. And then there's the town which tries to restrict freedom, and everybody is trying to be perfect. But it's obviously not so it's it's really tended to and more adult, advanced audience so they can understand both worlds.

Kevin Kenealy: 17:47

We are talking to Kevin Connealy, a writer, journalist, teacher. What else do you do in those three minutes that you have not scheduled of your day.

Kevin Kenealy: 18:03

So I'm a huge LEGO buff. It's, it's something else that I really enjoy that just kind of takes my mind off things. So I have a whole Harry Potter world that I've designed, and right now I'm working on Star Wars world. So that's, something I I really enjoy. And I'm a huge baseball not I try to watch the White Sox as much as I can, yeah, and I don't know, aside from that, like, you know, I just, I try to keep up with my my health a little bit. My wife, Mary Ellen, and I try to exercise much we can on the bike, and we'll watch a show while we're on there. But other than that, I mean, the rest of the day is pretty taken up. How

Joi Patterson: 18:51

he had to make that exercise very productive. We'll watch something while we're exercising, because you have to use up all of those minutes productive. I get you to your students and to your peers. The other teachers. Are you a celebrity? To them? How do they see you and how has your being at Crete Moni benefited that?

Kevin Kenealy: 19:17

I mean, you got to brag a little bit.

Joi Patterson: 19:23

You're very modest.

Kevin Kenealy: 19:24

I, you know? I Yeah, it's just kind of a weird thing for me to think of myself like that right now, because I'm still trying to make it right. I'm still trying to get out there. I don't consider myself like on the level of a established writer. You know, I have had people come up to me like in awe, like saying stuff like that, and I just kind of feel weird about it, because I think the world of them as educators and students and so, you know, even if I did, which would be great if I reached the level of a Stephen King or something. Right? I don't think I would see myself any differently than anyone else. I don't think they see myself any differently, because when I step into these shoes, like I am an educator in the building, and I students do find out, they think it's amazing, and then I go on to teach. So I try to code switch there. So

Kevin Kenealy: 20:23

I don't know, I don't know if that's really a code switching situation. You've talked so much about what you're bringing into the classroom, helping students, directing them to what they can read for their own inspiration. And speaking of Stephen King, he has a book called on writing.

Kevin Kenealy: 20:44

I've read that. Yep.

Kevin Kenealy: 20:45

Have you thought about writing a book about how to write and maybe including stories that you've shared with your own students? Or what do you do to capture these ideas that you have about how to write,

Kevin Kenealy: 21:01

yeah, so I have a blog. I do write things about reading and writing, but yeah, that is an interesting idea. Right now, I am I do have another novel finished. It's in the editing process. But yeah, that is an interesting idea. I do have a lot of things to say about that, just in my personal career, through journalism, through fiction writing, through working with my students, I've done every writing capacity, pretty much that you can think of, and so I would have a lot to say about it, but yeah, in the interim, I write that stuff on my blog. When I get a chance,

Joi Patterson: 21:40

very good. We'll make sure we include those tidbits. I think that that's really special. Tell us about you said you're finishing a project now. Tell us a little bit about that project.

Kevin Kenealy: 21:51

Yeah, so I'm excited about this one. It's fun because I get to juggle marketing, neighborhood watch and working on this, this one I work on in the morning. It's called crash and burn, so it's in the same vein as like a Gone Girl or something like that. It's another thriller. And the book starts out where this house burns down, and this woman is in a panic because her husband runs off with their their newborn, and so there's police on the set, and she tells this detective, and they're, the first half of the book is they're, they're after this man. And so the first half we get the woman's story about what's happening, and she's with the detective looking for him. And then the second half we get, we find him, and we get his perspective on what happened. And then the last half they everything comes together. And so you never really know what to expect. The Crash and Burn is kind of a symbolism for obviously, the house crashes and burns, but what happened to their marriage? Is there more to the story than what's being told on both sides? And we don't find out until the end.

Kevin Kenealy: 23:09

So you said earlier that you really encourage your students to be eyes wide open, be observant, and as I'm listening to you talk about this book, there are other things too, besides just being observant to get inspiration, you're talking about having two different perspectives in the book and all of these other elements that are inspiring to me. Where do you draw your inspiration?

Kevin Kenealy: 23:40

Yeah, so I mean, so many different places, so many different places. I just I read a news story the other day that will probably turn into at least a short story about a taxidermist, and he wanted to preserve his wife, so he stuffed his wife and left her on the couch. And a pizza delivery man came by and noticed knocked on the door. She fell over. And you can't I mean, truth is stranger than fiction, and so I saw a picture of him with the article. I mean, he totally looks like a serial killer, like stone face, like so I'm like, I wrote that down as a note that's being done as something. But, yeah, I mean, you know the news, just, you know, certain things I see in the world, and definitely things I read. I do try to read every day something, because things come out of it, alright?

Joi Patterson: 24:36

So you try to be relative of what's going on today. That's a great place to draw your inspiration so that it's, it's, it's real, maybe not our reality, but we all enjoy that fantasy, right? So y'all enjoy escaping. I appreciate you giving me a bit of fantasy. I really enjoy the book and cannot. Way. I never imagined myself reading this type of book, because I don't think that I have time for fun, you know, just for pure entertainment, but I appreciate it, and I appreciate you for putting this out in the world.

Kevin Kenealy: 25:15

Yeah. I mean, that was, that was my initial you asked about my purpose, my my goal is to just share it with with others, and you know, as many people as I can, because, you know, I think other authors hope that, you know, they put a lot of work and effort into it, and I hope they get something different than maybe I was seeing in it. So

Kevin Kenealy: 25:36

do you have any last tips to share with teachers or students who have that urge inside them, those words inside them, where is their starting point? How do they get those out and maybe share them with the world? IE, Dr

Joi Patterson: 25:57

Amy,

Kevin Kenealy: 26:01

yeah. I mean, just don't be afraid, you know. Like, I think a lot of people are afraid to share their stuff, or they they have writer's block, and the best thing to do is just write down gibberish. And, you know, it comes from there. But yeah, if writing is so freeing, it's, it's one of the best things. And I tell students all the time, like, well, just write anything down. And they do, and it comes out, and they they really enjoy it, and they can't wait to share with me what they have. And so, I mean, I guess that's that's the best tip. I do have a couple of things as far as Tips Go on, on the website, on the blog, but that's the best starting point, is to just have fun with it. Because the moment you stop having fun with it, it becomes like work, and it shouldn't be work. It should be fun at first and foremost,

Joi Patterson: 26:47

Kevin, you know, you started this interview talking about that inspiration, that little tidbit from that PE teacher, and I can only imagine how many future writers that you are inspiring, and they're going to say, hey, this guy named Kevin Connealy.

Kevin Kenealy: 27:05

I mean, I hope so. I mean, yeah, you know. I mean, as as you know, I took on a student teacher from and it's the first time I had a student teacher, and I know that he's still interested in teaching. So in a way I feel like now I'm I'm helping her students, because I've helped her. So that makes me feel really, really good to be able to train that teacher. And so I was really grateful I was able to do that.

Kevin Kenealy: 27:36

Well. We look forward to having you mentor more students from Governor State University, because I know they will be inspired and have very thoughtful mentorship. Just working with you. This has been really fun. I am so glad you were able to join us today.

Kevin Kenealy: 27:54

Thanks for having me. This has been great. Thank

Amy Vujaklija: 27:57

you for listening to teaching and leading with Dr Amy and Dr Joi. Visit our website at G, O, v, s, t.edu/teaching, and leading podcast to see the show notes from this episode,

Joi Patterson: 28:14

we appreciate Governor State University's work behind the scenes to make publishing possible, stay tuned for more episodes with Dr Amy and Dr Joi you.