Every kid needs a champion

Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, "They don't pay me to like the kids." Her response: "Kids don't learn from people they don’t like.'" A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.

I have spent my entire life

either at the schoolhouse,
on the way to the schoolhouse,

or talking about what happens
in the schoolhouse.

(Laughter)

Both my parents were educators,

my maternal grandparents were educators,

and for the past 40 years,
I've done the same thing.

And so, needless to say, over those years

I've had a chance
to look at education reform

from a lot of perspectives.

Some of those reforms have been good.

Some of them have been not so good.

And we know why kids drop out.

We know why kids don't learn.

It's either poverty, low attendance,

negative peer influences...

We know why.

But one of the things
that we never discuss

or we rarely discuss

is the value and importance
of human connection.

Relationships.

James Comer says
that no significant learning

can occur without
a significant relationship.

George Washington Carver says all learning

is understanding relationships.

Everyone in this room has been affected
by a teacher or an adult.

For years, I have watched people teach.

I have looked at the best
and I've looked at some of the worst.

A colleague said to me one time,

"They don't pay me to like the kids.

They pay me to teach a lesson.

The kids should learn it.

I should teach it, they should learn it,

Case closed."

Well, I said to her,

"You know, kids don't learn
from people they don't like."

(Laughter)

(Applause)

She said, "That's just a bunch of hooey."

And I said to her,

"Well, your year is going to be
long and arduous, dear."

Needless to say, it was.

Some people think that you can either
have it in you to build a relationship,

or you don't.

I think Stephen Covey had the right idea.

He said you ought to just
throw in a few simple things,

like seeking first to understand,

as opposed to being understood.

Simple things, like apologizing.

You ever thought about that?

Tell a kid you're sorry, they're in shock.

(Laughter)

I taught a lesson once on ratios.

I'm not real good with math,
but I was working on it.

(Laughter)

And I got back and looked
at that teacher edition.

I'd taught the whole lesson wrong.

(Laughter)

So I came back to class
the next day and I said,

"Look, guys, I need to apologize.

I taught the whole lesson wrong.
I'm so sorry."

They said, "That's okay, Ms. Pierson.

You were so excited, we just let you go."

I have had classes that were so low,

so academically deficient, that I cried.

I wondered, "How am I
going to take this group,

in nine months,

from where they are
to where they need to be?

And it was difficult, it was awfully hard.

How do I raise the self-esteem of a child

and his academic achievement
at the same time?

One year I came up with a bright idea.

I told all my students,

"You were chosen to be in my class

because I am the best teacher

and you are the best students,

they put us all together

so we could show
everybody else how to do it."

One of the students said, "Really?"

(Laughter)

I said, "Really. We have
to show the other classes

how to do it, so when
we walk down the hall,

people will notice us,
so you can't make noise.

You just have to strut."

(Laughter)

And I gave them a saying to say:

"I am somebody.

I was somebody when I came.

I'll be a better somebody when I leave.

I am powerful, and I am strong.

I deserve the education that I get here.

I have things to do, people to impress,

and places to go."

And they said, "Yeah!"

(Laughter)

You say it long enough,

it starts to be a part of you.

(Applause)

I gave a quiz, 20 questions.

A student missed 18.

I put a "+2" on his paper
and a big smiley face.

(Laughter)

He said, "Ms. Pierson, is this an F?"

I said, "Yes."

(Laughter)

He said, "Then why'd you
put a smiley face?"

I said, "Because you're on a roll.

You got two right.
You didn't miss them all."

(Laughter)

I said, "And when we review this,
won't you do better?"

He said, "Yes, ma'am, I can do better."

You see, "-18" sucks
all the life out of you.

"+2" said, "I ain't all bad."

For years, I watched my mother
take the time at recess to review,

go on home visits in the afternoon,

buy combs and brushes
and peanut butter and crackers

to put in her desk drawer
for kids that needed to eat,

and a washcloth and some soap
for the kids who didn't smell so good.

See, it's hard to teach kids who stink.

(Laughter)

And kids can be cruel.

And so she kept those things in her desk,

and years later, after she retired,

I watched some of those
same kids come through

and say to her, "You know, Ms. Walker,

you made a difference in my life.

You made it work for me.

You made me feel like I was somebody,

when I knew, at the bottom, I wasn't.

And I want you to just
see what I've become."

And when my mama died two years ago at 92,

there were so many former
students at her funeral,

it brought tears to my eyes,
not because she was gone,

but because she left
a legacy of relationships

that could never disappear.

Can we stand to have more relationships?

Absolutely.

Will you like all your children?
Of course not.

(Laughter)

And you know your toughest
kids are never absent.

(Laughter)

Never.

You won't like them all,

and the tough ones show up for a reason.

It's the connection.
It's the relationships.

So teachers become
great actors and great actresses,

and we come to work
when we don't feel like it,

and we're listening to policy
that doesn't make sense,

and we teach anyway.

We teach anyway,
because that's what we do.

Teaching and learning should bring joy.

How powerful would our world be

if we had kids who were
not afraid to take risks,

who were not afraid to think,

and who had a champion?

Every child deserves a champion,

an adult who will never give up on them,

who understands the power of connection,

and insists that they become
the best that they can possibly be.

Is this job tough? You betcha.

Oh God, you betcha.

But it is not impossible.

We can do this. We're educators.

We're born to make a difference.

Thank you so much.

(Applause)