May 9, 2020
This wasn't part of the plan. This isn’t what
I wanted to write about, but it is necessary. If I am to honor the teachers who
I seek to honor I have to write this. For me, teaching is not about teaching new things. Teaching is often about changing
mindsets. As teachers, we often seek to give you a new way to look at something
that you are already familiar with. Teachers give words and efficient
strategies to what we tend to have already been exposed to. I learned that from
my first real mentor, Mr. Rhem Bell. Mr. Bell was like a real-life Furious
Styles, the character Lawrence Fishburne played in film Boyz n the Hood (1991). Mr. Bell wanted me to understand the power
to real change starts in the mind. Maybe that's why I fell in love with
psychology and sociology.
Too many of us think we aren't teachers
because we don't have children or because our title is not teacher. But, we are
all teachers. We teach others with our words; we teach others with our actions.
So, what are you teaching with your words? What are you teaching with your
actions? In my fight for humanity, I had a teacher who I have never told her
how much she changed my views of the world. I've known one of my Frat Brothers
since junior high. I remember being at his house and someone used the phrase “I
hate him/I hate you!!!” And then with lightning speed his mother showed up. She
said, “don't hate people; hate their attitudes.” In that encounter, she planted
a seed in me. I am eternally grateful.
Two teachers gave me two lessons. Two lessons
that I try to use every day. I'm not perfect; I have plenty of slip ups. The
key is to know when you are slipping up. To know when you are slipping up, you
have to recognize mindset roadblocks stopping you from being the best teacher
you can be. There are usually three possible mindset roadblocks…
○
#1: Cognitive dissonance: We think
one way, but behave in contradiction of that thought
○
#2: Silence: When we know we
should say or do something, but we don’t
○
#3: Guilt: You get defensive on
what’s on topic because you know you should be doing more
If we want to change future generations, if we
want to change work and community environments, we don't get to be selfish. We
do not get to pass the buck for someone else to step up to create the change.
We do not get to wait until older generations die. That is not how it works.
Their lessons live on if we do not step up. To the teachers who teach
change...Thanks! Keep it up! To those who don't...your grace period is over!
#DoBetter ...The whole world is depending on you!
-
Elgrie J., an official and
unofficial teacher in all things I do
