{"id":19561,"date":"2013-07-18T14:45:30","date_gmt":"2013-07-18T18:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=19561"},"modified":"2013-07-30T11:37:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-30T15:37:18","slug":"classroom-contemplations-a-student-on-the-value-a-teacher-added","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/07\/18\/classroom-contemplations-a-student-on-the-value-a-teacher-added\/","title":{"rendered":"Classroom Contemplations: A Student, On The Value A Teacher Added"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_19562\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"You pay teachers for the lessons. The advice is included for free.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/07\/7-17-GoodAdvice.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-19562\" alt=\"You pay teachers for the lessons. The advice is included for free.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/07\/7-17-GoodAdvice-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/07\/7-17-GoodAdvice-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/07\/7-17-GoodAdvice.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Daniel Y. Go<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">You pay teachers for the classroom work. The advice is included for free.<\/p><\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Editor&#8217;s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While most of these stories about the values teachers add come from the teacher\u2019s point of view, I thought it would be interesting to hear one from a student.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Benny Rawlings went to a middle school in Miami.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt was not a great school,\u201d he said. \u201cThere were hallways you couldn\u2019t walk down. \u00a0You either had to find somewhere to hide or find strength in numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">This environment was part of the reason that Benny joined a gang.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But that didn\u2019t mean he gave up on school. \u00a0While he played dumb sometimes in classes, he also would occasionally tell his other classmates to pay attention &#8212; particularly in his social studies class.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He thinks this is what drew the attention of his teacher, Mr. Edmonds.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">One day Benny was goofing around and wouldn\u2019t answer a question when Mr. Edmonds asked. Mr. Edmonds kicked him out of class and told him to wait in the hall.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHe came out and asked me why I was acting like I didn\u2019t know the answer, whether I thought that was cool,\u201d \u00a0Benny said. \u201cHe told me that I needed to stop playing around, that I needed to stop dumbing myself down. \u00a0He told me that I was a leader, that I could easily lead any group I walked into.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The effect on Benny was profound.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><div class=\"related-content alignleft\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/07\/12\/classroom-comtemplations-lessons-after-the-school-day-ends\/\">Classroom Comtemplations: Lessons After The School Day Ends<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/07\/11\/classroom-contemplations-overlooking-the-value-of-veteran-teachers\/\">Classroom Contemplations: Overlooking The Value Of Veteran Teachers<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/07\/08\/19443\/\">Classroom Contemplations: Little Books, Big Statement<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/06\/27\/19333\/\">Classroom Contemplations: Testing Reinforces Bad Behavior<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2013\/06\/25\/classroom-contemplations-the-worth-of-value-added\/\">Classroom Contemplations: The Worth of Value Added<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2013\/06\/jeremy-2011-117.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/topic\/classroom-contemplations\/\">Classroom Contemplations: Education Policies From A Teacher&#8217;s Perspective<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cNo one had ever told me before that I could lead other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">After that conversation, Mr. Edmonds continued to talk with him about his future.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHe was the first person who asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">And it was critical for Benny. \u00a0He acknowledges that his parents and others had talked to him about doing well in school, but it was different when this teacher was frank with him.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt definitely changed me. \u00a0Those early teenage years are critical, especially for young men,\u201d he said. \u201cYou ask yourself: what kind of man do I want to be? \u00a0It was a really critical point for me.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cNow, I see my friends and the kind of lives they lead, and there\u2019s a real difference from my life. \u00a0I ask myself why is there a difference? \u00a0Why did I choose the path I did? \u00a0And I think that speaking with that teacher was one of those moments that put me on a different path.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Benny told me a little about the actual social studies class and how Mr. Edmonds was an interesting teacher who was very honest with students. \u00a0He got them in groups a lot, working together during class. \u00a0But what Benny remembers the most is that one hallway conversation.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He told me that Mr. Edmonds called his parents several times, even after Benny was no longer in his class.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHe\u2019d still call my dad and tell him \u2018You should be proud of your son.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Mr. Edmonds encouraged Benny to go to a more challenging high school than his neighborhood school.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He did. And he thrived.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cMy high school wasn\u2019t a place where it was cool to be dumb. \u00a0It was a place where it was cool to be smart.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">I believe Benny when he says that he looks back on that conversation as a turning point.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Obviously, Benny was an intelligent, interested kid before Mr. Edmonds took him outside. One conversation didn\u2019t change him completely. \u00a0But, it was a piece of his transformation &#8212; an important piece. \u00a0It helped remind him who he was, and it encouraged him to think about who he could be.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">This is one of the most powerful ways a teacher can add value to a student\u2019s life. \u00a0And, according to Benny, he wasn\u2019t the only one Edmonds treated this way. \u00a0I\u2019m sure we could find other students with memories of similar conversations with Edmonds, with similar results.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">There are many other teachers like Mr. Edmonds out there, teachers who encourage kids to choose a more positive path for their lives. \u00a0And we desperately need them in our classrooms with our children.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">We need to encourage this kind of caring and this kind of involvement. \u00a0Our discussions about the value of teachers must focus on the way they can impact the wide variety of choices students are making &#8212; not just the multiple choices put in front of them on a standardized testing form.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Jeremy Glazer is a Miami-Dade teacher <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/tag\/classroom-contemplations\/\">writing a series about classroom issues<\/a> for StateImpact Florida. Want to sound off on something Glazer has written? Want to suggest a topic for him? Send us an email at Florida@stateimpact.org and put \u201cClassroom Contemplations\u201d in the subject line.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor&#8217;s note: Names of teachers and students have been changed. While most of these stories about the values teachers add come from the teacher\u2019s point of view, I thought it would be interesting to hear one from a student. Benny Rawlings went to a middle school in Miami. \u201cIt was not a great school,\u201d he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[841],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19561"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19565,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19561\/revisions\/19565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}