"Why Open A School? To Close A Prison"

Nadia Lopez, founding Principal of Mott Hall Bridges Academy, speaks about the need for teachers today to instill hope and purpose inside our students. Without these two things, our students will stop learning. When our students stop learning, what do you think happens to them?

Many students will choose the wrong path, wrong people ,etc, but being surrounded by educators who love and support them has the power to change that. We need teachers that are willing to see beyond where a student may come from. These teachers must be able to teach with empathy and understanding with regards to students from disadvantaged families or communities. 

Principal Lopez, along with Rita Pierson, have furthered my inspiration to work with disadvantaged communities as a teacher. Those kids-the ones that do not go home to sunshine and rainbows every day-are the ones that need that extra love and push. Those kids are the ones that have the potential to do great things in life. I recently came across an article that said, "Students who suffer from trauma, and those with mental health issues are not not throw away kids that we toss to the side. They are children who have the potential to do great things in life. That is not a political statement...it is a reality.”

It's these students, that come from impoverished communities and homes that often exhibit these behaviors. We cannot let their circumstances define them. 

"3 Rules to Spark Learning"

As teachers, it is vital that we follow Ramsey Musallam's  three rules to spark learning: spark curiosity in students, embrace the trial and error process, and reflect on what you have done and learned. If we continue to simply stand in front of our students and feed them this "scripted" information that is sometimes forced on us, learning will cease. Kids today need to be pushed to their limits- and in order to do so, we must make them WANT to learn. We need to inspire them to ask questions and foster their curiosity about new things.

When it comes to Chemistry, Mr. Musallam does his absolute best every single day to make learning fun and desirable in his classroom. Instead of lecturing to them for the whole class period, he shows them all of the "cool" things that are a part of Chemistry. It might be a simple experiment, but it still beats sitting in your seat listening to someone ramble on about things that you don't understand. Sometimes seeing something puts all the missing pieces together. When they seem something that they don't understand, it is natural to be curious about how it works and why. This is what learning is all about today!

"Every Child Needs A Champion"

Rita Pierson's appearance on Ted Talk embodies almost my entire inspiration for becoming a teacher. Mrs. Pierson really brought to light the fact that we, as teachers, are responsible for being the champion that many kids do not have. Every child deserves to feel confident in themselves academically, and as people.

It is also important to remember that focusing on a child's success, no matter how small, will benefit them more than you could ever know. Mrs. Pierson gave us an example about a student that only answered 2/20 quiz questions correctly, but instead of putting a huge circle around "-18", she put a circle around "+2" with a smiley face. Sure, the child clearly did not understand the concept taught, but what Mrs. Pierson did was fill that student with the confidence he needed to try harder.

I would love to share this video with my future colleagues, because I believe that it serves as an important reminder for every educator. I think that this truth gets overlooked sometimes due to the overwhelming pressures and responsibilities placed on teachers today. It only takes a simple word of encouragement, however, to completely turn a student's day and mindset around.