If you have walked around the Parker hallways in the past several decades, you may have witnessed the sounds of laughter, the smell of sawdust, or a line of kids getting water during their magic water break. If you experience these things, you know you are outside Chris Turner’s classroom.

Turner, the Lower School shop teacher, is retiring after 34 years of teaching. From building jump ropes to candle bases to dulcimers, Turner has spread his expertise and love of shop to every one of his students. “Mr. Turner is a great teacher because he’s kind. He is funny, and he has really fun projects,” Tete Butler, one of Turner’s students, said.

 From magic water breaks to Mr. Glue Bear (a fun classroom project), Turner uses outside-the-box teaching methods to engage his students and make sure everyone in the classroom is having fun. “Chris can take something simple like learning to use a coping saw and make it fun by adding a ‘Harry Potter’s lightning bolt challenge to the sawing practice,” Blasko said. 

“Chris has taught me to see the joy in all the little moments with students. He has a saying for art classes: “Happy in, happy out,” Blasko said. Happy in, happy out is one of Turner’s most beloved sayings. “He says it a lot in class and also he is just happy in general” 

Parker has an authentic commitment to the arts and it shines through in Turner’s teaching. “I wanted to teach at Parker because it had the most genuine commitment to the arts while encouraging innovative ways to foster the love of the artistic process in students at all levels. I was excited that I could teach JK to twelfth grade and develop a curriculum in all of the creative disciplines that the art department had to offer,” Turner said.

His love for Parker started in 1988. “I was hired to work in the fall of 1988/89, but I was lucky that I was able to meet my student teaching requirement at Parker when I was a senior in college while at the Chicago Art Institute.  I was asked to sub for the current shop teacher Bob Steffens for the remainder of the year. That showed me the lay of the land and helped me realize the fun I would have here,” Turner said. His love for children also contributed to this. “Working with children helped me to see the miracle of being a lucky human on planet Earth. They embody truthful beauty and feel the glee of life in its most basic forms while floating effortlessly upon the magic carpet of time and space.”

Through the years Turner has been able to reach all grades, however focusing on the younger grades and teaching them is not always easy. “I choose to work with younger kids not because it is always easy but because children are vibrating at their most genuine frequency while being choked full of soul power. A big breath of fresh air ,you might say,” Turner said. And Turner’s love of his students is only matched by the love they have for him. During the day, students will often go to see him and ask him for help in different areas of their lives, and some go just to talk with their favorite teacher. 

“I will always remember my first day of shop. I was new this year and I didn’t want to leave my friends at my old school, but Mr. Turner made it all OK. I am always excited to go to shop because I think he actually likes to teach us,” Jordan Felsenthal, a third grader in Amanda Palffy’s class, said. Felsenthal loves to go into shop class and use the coping saw to create different shapes. Butler agrees. “My favorite thing to do is to go and work on Mr. Glue Bear and cut out different shapes. I like cutting out different shapes because it’s like I think of it and then I can make it, and Mr. Turner always helps me with them,” Butler said. 

Turner creates a safe and loving environment for students, and he will continue on with that sense of love into retirement. “I will miss a lot of things about Parker, but the thing I will miss the most is the laughter and delightful squeals and singsong of children during moments of creative discovery,” Turner said. 

Through the years, the teacher has also learned important lessons from his students and colleagues that have helped shape his own professional philosophy.  “I would say the one piece of advice I have to any teacher and the person who will be in my position next is to be a joyful lifelong teacher, be yourself, and live in the moment.  Try to stay out of the way of discontent, negativity, and egoistic thinking and allow all of the magical creative forces to flow within you and to each student you are lucky enough to meet,” Turner said. 

Turner will be retiring this year, but he leaves a legacy of lasting impact on both those he worked with and those he taught. 

“I feel so lucky to have worked with and called Chris my friend, colleague, and mentor.  Working together on projects like first-grade jump ropes, second-grade candle bases, and third-grade dulcimers was a fun, collaborative journey, and full of surprises. Parker will miss Chris and everything he has to offer, and I hope he is happy in whatever he chooses to do next,” Blasko said. 

“I hope that Mr. Turner remembers us and thinks about us sometimes and that he is happy in his retirement. I am really going to miss him,” Felsenthal said. 

As the school year is wrapping up and Turner’s days at Parker are ending, he has started to think about what he would like to do next. “Smile and laugh, breathe easy, and follow my muse. However, I just want to say thank you for allowing me the time to grow as a teacher, expand my human awareness, and in allowing me to explore the creative nooks and crannies within my spirit. I feel my soul and compassion for life have doubled in size from teaching here at Francis Parker School. I hope you will all feel the same warmth in your heart of hearts in your future travels and creative endeavors.”