After college, Raven Hebert worked as a junior chemist, doing the same thing every day. âIt was horrible,â she says. âMy dad, who is a teacher, said, âWhy not teach while you figure out what you want to do?ââ
Teaching was what Hebert wanted to do, and variety was why. At TC, inspired by science education faculty member Jessica Riccio, she embraced her âinner happy nerdâ and learned to gear instruction to different studentsâ needs. âWith 30-plus kids, there were so many opportunities to connect.â
Raven Hebert (M.A. â06) (Photo Courtesy of Raven Hebert)
Making connections hasnât come without bruises â like the time Hebert asked an angry student to sit down. âShe cussed me out, with all the kids in the class watching. It was a little devastating. I took two days off and was seriously rethinking my situation.â
Later the girl apologized. âHer dad had been shot. Her mom wasnât working, she was taking care of her siblings. I thought, how do you even come to school?â
Yet as rough as it can be when kids act out, the greater danger may be when they donât. Recently in this magazine, TC doctoral student Wenimo Okoya, who previously taught in New Jerseyâs public schools, wrote about her favorite student, Lakeisha Daniels â âa brilliant 12-year-old . . . far more interested in reading The Diary of a Wimpy Kid than in watching Pretty Little Liars like her peers.â
Over time, Okoya noticed that Lakeisha often was missing homework assignments, frequently falling asleep in class and, in general, becoming withdrawn. She asked the girlâs grandfather (her legal guardian) to make sure that Lakeisha was getting enough sleep. But during that summer, Lakeisha called Okoya to say sheâd been diagnosed with leukemia. Five years later, she died.
âLakeishaâs lesson should be a central part of teacher preparation across the country,â wrote Okoya, who is now a health educator at Childrenâs Health Fund, directing the organizationâs . âLetâs ensure that every educator has ample training to look âbeneath the surfaceâ before she or he enters the classroom.â