Tim Pattillo teaches fifth-graders using books filled with make-believe. Inside his classroom, one of many repurposed trailers outside Hexter Elementary School, they can be found on every desk, and on every crowded shelf lining the walls. In his mind, textbooks, those non-fictional mainstays of education, have no place in his lesson plan.
“I wanted a job that would let me just read novels all day,” Pattillo says. “That’s why I’m a reading teacher, so I can work with fiction. … Reading and running are my great passions, and when I’m running, I’m thinking of the novels I’m giving my students, what I’m going to say about them. That’s my life.”
In coming weeks, Pattillo will have the opportunity to make one passion work for the other when his school holds its first Hexter Howl Fun Run, a new addition to its yearly carnival. The fun run, Pattillo hopes, will raise the money necessary for him to keep teaching the way he pleases.
Because he uses novels to teach, Pattillo says, his course material isn’t bankrolled by the Dallas Public School System the way it would be for, say, math teachers. Most of his materials come from the school’s Literacy Library, a depository of mostly fictional “book sets” separate from the school’s main library, funded primarily by the school’s Parent-Teacher Association. The PTA, which is organizing the fun run and carnival, plan to donate all fun run proceeds to the Literacy Library.
“When we came up with the idea for the run, we asked [Hexter Principal Jolee] Heeley what part of the school needed the most help, funding wise,” says Tammy Bardwell, the race’s organizer. “The Literacy Library was it.”
In what Pattillo calls a coincidence, the fun run corresponds with his upcoming formation of a running club, consisting of fourth- and fifth-graders he hopes to introduce to the “mind-sharpening” power of regular jogging and exercise.
“Our first goal as a running club is to run this event,” Pattillo says. “There’ll be two races, a 1-kilometer and a 5-kilometer. I think some kids might be up to the 5k level in time, and the rest can run the shorter one or man the water tables. We want to involve everyone.”
Bardwell, whose son in the first grade “thinks he’s going to run the 5k, but … needs a bit more training,” says the event already is surpassing expectations in the fundraising department, with major sponsors such as Whole Foods, Doctors Hospital at White Rock Lake and others donating $5,000 or more, and 19 other sponsors donating more than $250.
This is good news for Pattillo, who already has a wish list of books on which he wants to spend the money.
“I keep asking [Principal] Healey if I can get some novels, and she’ll always tell me there’s just no money for them, but to keep a list, so maybe we can order them when cash comes in,” Pattillo says. “With any luck, all this running will let my students get some new stuff.”
HEXTER HOWL FUN RUN
when/ Saturday, Oct. 27, 8:30 a.m. 5K race, 9:30 a.m. 1K run (walkers and costumes welcome), 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Hexter Howl carnival
where/ Hexter Elementary School, 9720 Waterview Road
cost/ $15 early registration until Oct. 10 ($7.50 for 1k), $20 registration through Oct. 26 ($10), $25 race day registration ($12); registration before race day also includes a T-shirt and 20 tokens for the carnival
to register/ active.com or racingbytes.com
for more information/ visit hexter5k.com
