Dr. Michael Lockett
Dr. Michael Lockett is one of many successful ACI graduates from Western Illinois 
University. In the past he has been a teacher and an educational leader in McLean County Unit District #5, a career which spanned 21 years. Along with this, Dr. Lockett has also worked as a school administrator with the Peoria public school system for twelve years. For ten of his twelve years as an administrator he was also the director of the Title 1 and summer programs in the district. Dr. Lockett has recently retired from administration, after a final two years as the principal of the Greely Alternative High School, in Peoria, Illinois.
Today, Dr. Lockett spends his time as a professional storyteller, and as an author/publisher of these storytelling materials. He travels throughout the United States, and even travels overseas to tell his traditional stories in a non-traditional manner. Recently, Dr. Lockett was invited to put his storytelling skills to use for the International Reading Association, after which he received an invitation to tour Taiwan with his stories. As part of this tour and promotion, he is also producing extra written and audio materials, and assisting the Taiwanese publishers with adapting these English stories for the Asian market.
Dr. Lockett stated that he is best known today not as Dr. Lockett the school administrator, but Mike Lockett, “The Normal Storyteller.” Mike said that this nickname came about for two reasons, one of which is because he resides in Normal, Illinois. The second, and more important, is because he believes that telling stories should be part of normal, everyday life for everyone. To date, Dr. Lockett has published three storytelling CDs entitled, “Tales from the Hills,” “Tales from Around the World,” and “Tales for the Young at Heart. When telling these stories, he visits schools, libraries, churches, and community organizations to share his stories, collect new stories, and attempt to preserve a strong storytelling tradition. To learn more about Dr. Lockett’s storytelling, please visit www.mikelockett.com.
As for his past professional career, Dr. Lockett stated that his most challenging problem is one which is currently, and will remain a problem for school administrators. He stated that it was, “carrying out the duties of my job in a highly professional manner when asked to do things that I believed were against federal guidelines for the area in which I worked.” Mike also said that the supervisors who had given the orders which seemed to go against federal guidelines were ones he had worked under for several years, and also the ones that he had a deep respect for. Dr. Lockett stated that these problems always made him wonder as to whether or not one should always follow direct orders even when they are wrong, and whether or not it is wrong to question a supervisor and do what you believe is correct even when it is not what you are told to do.
Dealing with this problem was difficult, which is why Dr. Lockett is glad that he attended the ACI program at Western Illinois University. He states that,
"I was fortunate that my classes included information in ethics. I validated with federal and state authorities what the parameters of my job were and followed all established guidelines. My preparation at Western and what I learned earlier at Illinois State University taught me how to create an audit trail that supported every on-the-job decision that I made. The hard time passed. Auditors supported my decisions. I kept my job until I decided on my own to retire after successfully completing 33 years in public school education. Today, I can hold my head high about the work that I did, the decisions I made, and the knowledge that I made a positive difference in children’s lives."
Dr. Lockett is married to a 33-year veteran educator. His wife, Becky, served as a teacher and school principal before joining Mike in retirement. Becky uses her time now to sharpen her skills in art. His eldest son owns Stardot Inc. in Lakeville, Minnesota. According to Dr. Lockett, this is a business that automates homes and businesses. Dr. Lockett’s second son owns Creative Sites Media, which is a business that creates web designs for people who wish to have a website. This business can be visited at www.creativesitesmedia.com.