Inside the classroom, they don’t wear their hearts on their sleeves. The program immerses them in pedagogically sound practices. There are workshops run by veteran black male teachers on classroom management and strategies to deal with boys who can disrupt an entire classroom and frustrate even the best teachers.
But in the conversations I had with these men one common thread emerged: The way they use their own life stories to build a circle of trust.
They share their stories about growing up in poverty and in some cases, fatherless. They say that sends a powerful message to a child: “If I made it, so can you.”
These teachers I met in South Carolina and Georgia reminded me that all the metal detectors and surveillance cameras in the world may not be able to stop an angry, hopeless boy from turning to violence. But there are proven ways to stop a little boy from feeling angry and hopeless.