Every kid needs a champion | Rita Pierson | TED — Transcript

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1. 0:00Transcriber: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast
2. 0:13I have spent my entire life
3. 0:16either at the schoolhouse, on the way to the schoolhouse,
4. 0:21or talking about what happens in the schoolhouse.
5. 0:23(Laughter)
6. 0:24Both my parents were educators,
7. 0:27my maternal grandparents were educators,
8. 0:30and for the past 40 years, I've done the same thing.
9. 0:34And so, needless to say, over those years
10. 0:36I've had a chance to look at education reform
11. 0:40from a lot of perspectives.
12. 0:42Some of those reforms have been good.
13. 0:44Some of them have been not so good.
14. 0:46And we know why kids drop out.
15. 0:48We know why kids don't learn.
16. 0:49It's either poverty, low attendance,
17. 0:52negative peer influences...
18. 0:55We know why.
19. 0:56But one of the things that we never discuss
20. 0:59or we rarely discuss
21. 1:01is the value and importance of human connection.
22. 1:05Relationships.
23. 1:08James Comer says that no significant learning
24. 1:11can occur without a significant relationship.
25. 1:14George Washington Carver says all learning
26. 1:17is understanding relationships.
27. 1:21Everyone in this room has been affected by a teacher or an adult.
28. 1:26For years, I have watched people teach.
29. 1:31I have looked at the best and I've looked at some of the worst.
30. 1:34A colleague said to me one time,
31. 1:36"They don't pay me to like the kids.
32. 1:39They pay me to teach a lesson.
33. 1:40The kids should learn it.
34. 1:42I should teach it, they should learn it,
35. 1:44Case closed."
36. 1:45Well, I said to her,
37. 1:48"You know, kids don't learn from people they don't like."
38. 1:51(Laughter)
39. 1:53(Applause)
40. 1:59She said, "That's just a bunch of hooey."
41. 2:02And I said to her,
42. 2:03"Well, your year is going to be long and arduous, dear."
43. 2:08Needless to say, it was.
44. 2:09Some people think that you can either have it in you to build a relationship,
45. 2:13or you don't.
46. 2:15I think Stephen Covey had the right idea.
47. 2:17He said you ought to just throw in a few simple things,
48. 2:20like seeking first to understand,
49. 2:23as opposed to being understood.
50. 2:25Simple things, like apologizing.
51. 2:28You ever thought about that?
52. 2:29Tell a kid you're sorry, they're in shock.
53. 2:31(Laughter)
54. 2:33I taught a lesson once on ratios.
55. 2:35I'm not real good with math, but I was working on it.
56. 2:38(Laughter)
57. 2:39And I got back and looked at that teacher edition.
58. 2:42I'd taught the whole lesson wrong.
59. 2:44(Laughter)
60. 2:45So I came back to class the next day and I said,
61. 2:48"Look, guys, I need to apologize.
62. 2:50I taught the whole lesson wrong. I'm so sorry."
63. 2:54They said, "That's okay, Ms. Pierson.
64. 2:55You were so excited, we just let you go."
65. 3:02I have had classes that were so low,
66. 3:07so academically deficient, that I cried.
67. 3:10I wondered, "How am I going to take this group,
68. 3:13in nine months,
69. 3:15from where they are to where they need to be?
70. 3:18And it was difficult, it was awfully hard.
71. 3:22How do I raise the self-esteem of a child
72. 3:24and his academic achievement at the same time?
73. 3:27One year I came up with a bright idea.
74. 3:29I told all my students,
75. 3:31"You were chosen to be in my class
76. 3:35because I am the best teacher
77. 3:36and you are the best students,
78. 3:38they put us all together
79. 3:39so we could show everybody else how to do it."
80. 3:43One of the students said, "Really?"
81. 3:45(Laughter)
82. 3:47I said, "Really. We have to show the other classes
83. 3:50how to do it, so when we walk down the hall,
84. 3:53people will notice us, so you can't make noise.
85. 3:55You just have to strut."
86. 3:57(Laughter)
87. 3:58And I gave them a saying to say:
88. 4:00"I am somebody.
89. 4:01I was somebody when I came.
90. 4:02I'll be a better somebody when I leave.
91. 4:04I am powerful, and I am strong.
92. 4:06I deserve the education that I get here.
93. 4:09I have things to do, people to impress,
94. 4:11and places to go."
95. 4:13And they said, "Yeah!"
96. 4:14(Laughter)
97. 4:16You say it long enough,
98. 4:17it starts to be a part of you.
99. 4:21(Applause)
100. 4:28I gave a quiz, 20 questions.
101. 4:31A student missed 18.
102. 4:34I put a "+2" on his paper and a big smiley face.
103. 4:37(Laughter)
104. 4:39He said, "Ms. Pierson, is this an F?"
105. 4:43I said, "Yes."
106. 4:44(Laughter)
107. 4:45He said, "Then why'd you put a smiley face?"
108. 4:49I said, "Because you're on a roll.
109. 4:51You got two right. You didn't miss them all."
110. 4:54(Laughter)
111. 4:55I said, "And when we review this, won't you do better?"
112. 4:58He said, "Yes, ma'am, I can do better."
113. 5:01You see, "-18" sucks all the life out of you.
114. 5:04"+2" said, "I ain't all bad."
115. 5:13For years, I watched my mother take the time at recess to review,
116. 5:19go on home visits in the afternoon,
117. 5:21buy combs and brushes and peanut butter and crackers
118. 5:24to put in her desk drawer for kids that needed to eat,
119. 5:27and a washcloth and some soap for the kids who didn't smell so good.
120. 5:30See, it's hard to teach kids who stink.
121. 5:32(Laughter)
122. 5:34And kids can be cruel.
123. 5:36And so she kept those things in her desk,
124. 5:39and years later, after she retired,
125. 5:42I watched some of those same kids come through
126. 5:45and say to her, "You know, Ms. Walker,
127. 5:47you made a difference in my life.
128. 5:50You made it work for me.
129. 5:51You made me feel like I was somebody,
130. 5:53when I knew, at the bottom, I wasn't.
131. 5:56And I want you to just see what I've become."
132. 5:58And when my mama died two years ago at 92,
133. 6:01there were so many former students at her funeral,
134. 6:05it brought tears to my eyes, not because she was gone,
135. 6:07but because she left a legacy of relationships
136. 6:11that could never disappear.
137. 6:13Can we stand to have more relationships?
138. 6:17Absolutely.
139. 6:18Will you like all your children? Of course not.
140. 6:21(Laughter)
141. 6:23And you know your toughest kids are never absent.
142. 6:27(Laughter)
143. 6:29Never.
144. 6:30You won't like them all,
145. 6:32and the tough ones show up for a reason.
146. 6:35It's the connection. It's the relationships.
147. 6:44So teachers become great actors and great actresses,
148. 6:48and we come to work when we don't feel like it,
149. 6:50and we're listening to policy that doesn't make sense,
150. 6:53and we teach anyway.
151. 6:56We teach anyway, because that's what we do.
152. 7:00Teaching and learning should bring joy.
153. 7:03How powerful would our world be
154. 7:06if we had kids who were not afraid to take risks,
155. 7:10who were not afraid to think,
156. 7:11and who had a champion?
157. 7:12Every child deserves a champion,
158. 7:15an adult who will never give up on them,
159. 7:17who understands the power of connection,
160. 7:20and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.
161. 7:24Is this job tough? You betcha.
162. 7:26Oh God, you betcha.
163. 7:28But it is not impossible.
164. 7:32We can do this. We're educators.
165. 7:33We're born to make a difference.
166. 7:36Thank you so much.
167. 7:37(Applause)