"Mr. Caruthers, I'm sorry. My Dad does not like Black People"

Eleventh day of Student Teaching? Smooth as butta! (butter). I started the rest of chapter six, the revolutionary war. I taught my other set of kids. They were so good today! My cooperating teacher was right. Yesterday just one of those days…
My first hour kiddos are really chill; they do what they are told. I taught, had them watch a video, and then gave them time to start their homework. No Issues.
Second hour. The kids were really cool. These weren’t the same set of kids from yesterday but the difference was obvious. I’m guessing it is because I kept them busy. Ok pause. I got corrected by one of my students and it cracked me up. Everyday I write the agenda up on the board, and today one girl was like, “Why do you call it Bell-work? We don’t even have bells at this school!” I felt so dumb. All these days I have been teaching I have been writing “Bell-work”. I know my kids were like, what is that? So today I learned that it is called a “warm up”. So for the students “warm up”, I had them play a game. Sort of. At Barnes and Noble, there is a book that is filled with Famous First by black people. Seeing that it is Black History month I translated my findings onto a worksheet to be used as a “Warm Up”-not “Bell-Work”. I handed my students a worksheet and the questions were like this, “I was the first black film director nominated for an Academy Award for the box office hit “Boyz N the Hood” starring Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr, and Morris Chestnut. Who am I?” (The answer is: John Singleton) and another read, “I was the first basketball player to top Mr. Blackwell’s list of “Worst dressed Women” Who am I?” (The answer is Dennis Rodman). So I gave my students about five minutes to try and figure out who these black people were/are. They did okay. We had fun going over the answers. I can tell they liked that “warm up” It will be making a return with a new list of black icons.
Lunchtime came, everyday I bring my lunch and eat it in the classroom, often a group of boys will come in and talk to me and my cooperating teacher, they are good kids, kind of dorky but it doesn’t bother me. Today, Tuesday, February 15, 2011 my student says to me, “Mr. Caruthers I’m sorry but my dad does not like black people” I just looked, and then he said, “He said they are too noisy”. I forced a laugh. I wasn’t mad, but I don’t understand why “minorities” (referring to his dad) hate on other groups of color. The student is Hispanic, although he calls himself a Mexican. From what I know, many Hispanics take offense to being called a, “Mexican” it was just odd. I was just like okay that is your dad… That kid’s comment took me by surprise! I would love to live in a world where there is no such thing as race. Unfortunately this is not a dream.
After lunch I had my favorite class well I like my B4 and A3 Class the most. Today they were really buttering me up! They were like, “Mr. Caruthers you would be a really good kindergarten teacher” They were also saying things like you have a big voice, you can draw, and they just kept it going. I didn’t know what came over them.
The day was chill, no complaints. Class disruptions are rare when a teacher is well prepared and ready to go. I kept the kids extra busy today. Ending a bit early, but here is a quote,


“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”-Benjamin Franklin.

You know there was a time when I felt like I was going to be a waste. I would think: “Dang I’m going to be a loser. I’m going to be teaching history not making it.” This past school year, that mode of thinking has not even crossed my mind. I have a life. I enjoy it. I write, I may never get published or sell a script but I enjoy weaving stories together and I enjoy writing this blog. I just want to let you know that I’m dedicating my life to writing something worth reading or being a man that can be written about. Drake said, “Everybody dies, but not everybody lives” True words. I’m going to live my life and do me, so to speak. Have a goodnight.