Why I Teach

Learning is how we live. If you do not learn -- you die. if you do learn -- you die. Learning is one of the most rudimentary yet complex ways of being. As humans we live in a suspended world of learning. Everything begins and revolves with and around the capacity to learn. My mother instilled that into me at an early age -- and even if I fought to move away from education it was always this force pulling me back. I believe today that force was my purpose which is to transform our most important way of being -- learning.

Learning cannot be relegated to a prescribed method -- but it is alive. Constantly changing. Education is important to me because it creates a pathway to my values. My Values are formed through my life experiences. That is a cycle of life -- or the cycle of learning. Education then Values then Experiences and then it Repeats. EVER. Education Values Experiences Repeat.

My true mission in life is to ensure that Education Validates the Learner. In my formative years, I got a lot of tough love. And validation of who I was or becoming was limited but I think it was present. So I always tried to fit in with others -- but I just never fitted in nowhere really.

I teach because I believe that this world is not meant to survive on the turmoil of others. The more I navigate my life or more specifically my learning path -- I realized that I cannot really ever recall someone telling me they are proud of me. Maybe it was implied in many situations, and maybe a handful of times it did happen -- but none that I can truly remember -- none that I can remember that left an impression that it is okay to make a mistake -- or that it is okay to try -- or that it is okay to be -- or that it is okay to be a black boy -- or that it is simply okay.

But there is one time I can remember. Ms Knight. I was in the 5th grade and I had received all 79.7 or 79.8 or high 79 percentages in every subject. All of the students were at Field Day because it was at the end of the year. So the entire school was outside having fun. But Ms Knight called me into the classroom. She had a look on her face that was filled with love, compassion, concern, but also conflicted, torn, and I gathered that she was not sure how she would start our conversation. As I entered, I saw a bunch of papers that she had graded and it even appeared as if she re-graded them. I also remember seeing the old school big green grading book with so many marks inside of it that it appeared to be a completely different language. She took a seat and asked me to do the same and she told me that I received all C+’s in every subject. But also she said from what I can remember or piece together -- that I matter and that life is going to get harder and that I will have to really give it my all and most importantly that it is okay. That was the first time -- I can remember a person truly believing in me. She told me I was smart and that a letter grade cannot define my intellect. This was in 1998. And I really want every student and teacher to take that into 2023 -- that a letter grade cannot define a person’s intellect. None of us really can -- intellect is something that we all simply experience because we all have it. We only need to create conditions in which all intellect is honored and appreciated and loved.

The pressure to be great in this instance is not rooted in comparison -- but is cemented in the release of pressure and the addition of validation to pursue who you are passionately. And so much so that the person is only looking to their past selves as the barometer for greatness.

The pressure for me to be great in education was huge -- my mother truly held education as a way of life. She was tenacious in her pursuit to learn. She is a great educator and grew up in an America that was built to dim her light. She watched my grandmother -- her mom -- work and pray with everything Mamacille had in her in order to give my mom and her 10 plus siblings a chance at living. Living was cemented in learning. Living was Learning.

My values are authenticity, collaboration, love, community, and relationships. My why is cemented in validation and love for each person. I really need students to understand that it is okay.

Maybe, I did not get a lot of “It is okays” as I was growing up in learning -- that only means that I must be a change maker for our children. We cannot reach students and simultaneously feed the system that suppresses their identity.

School is not the school that we know any longer. School has to be a place of healing and learning. School has to be a place where intellect is displayed in a variety of ways. Instruction must be a combination of the authenticity of the teacher and the identity of the students.

I would like to make the stand here and give the 5 pillars in which I center each student's learning experience.

1. Teachers’ Validation of every component of students' life

2. Teachers’ Recognition of Multiple Intelligences (Even the ones outside of Gardners’ Theory)

3. Teachers’ Authenticity

4. Teachers’ Ability to Reflect and Grow

5. Teachers’ Unquenchable thirst for Collaboration and Community

In 2023, I will drop a useful instructional tool handbox for each one of these pillars.

Get Ready Teachers!!!

We are about to turn up!!!