Coffee Talk

Caffe Latte by Accidental Hedonist

My name is Damani Harrison. I am the outreach coordinator, youth mentor, and studio educator for The Music Resource Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.  The Music Resource Center is a non-profit after school youth risk prevention and music education program for 7th-12th graders. Through a series of posts at Classroots.org, I would like to present what I have learned as a teacher and as a student of life. I am writing this blog for three reasons: 1) Chad Sansing asked me to. 2) I hope to inspire discussion and dialogue. 3) I want to illustrate the process of non-traditional learning which has shaped my teaching for a new generation.

My journey into teaching began when I was 21. At the time I was working at a coffee shop. A young highschooled girl who frequented my store had taken a liking to me. Her affinity was completely innocent. She would come into the shop and chat with me while I made lattes. We talked about many things – music, philosophy, books, current events. She seemed stimulated by our conversations, conversations she wasn’t having at home or with her peers.

Her father also came in the coffee shop from time to time. He was a stern, physically imposing fellow with a low voice and intimitdating look in his eye. To my surprise, one day while waiting for me to make him an espresso, he asked me to tutor his daughter because she was failing school. He offered to pay me. He spoke directly and succinctly saying something to the effect of: “My daughter seems to like you and respect you. She might listen to you and do better in school. Will you tutor her twice a week?” I immediately accepted. I was afraid to say no to this guy. He didn’t seem like the type of guy people say no to. I thought he might shoot me if I did.

I tutored his daughter for a year. I would help her with geometry, government, and English, and she would spend free moments in between our lessons trying to convince me to become a vegetarian. We finally came to an agreement. If she passed highschool with a B average I would stop eating meat for a year. She passed her senior year with an A average. I stopped eating meat for four years. What I learned being a vegetarian for that promised year completely altered the way I view my diet to this day. She changed my life. In my first real experience being a bonafide teacher I ended up being the student. This was the first of many lessons I would take with me throughout my teaching years.

We, as teachers, are also students. We are students of what we teach and who we teach. The more we learn about whatever subject we teach the better we are equiped to teach it. In the same fashion, the more we learn about and from our students, the more we can serve them better as educators. In the case of the young lady from the coffee shop, it was just as important for her to share a piece of what she was learning in life with me as it was she receive any information I had to offer her. We were not equals – I was the teacher, she was the student – but, there existed a mutual respect between us. By respecting her opinions and ideas, I opened the door for her to be receptive to what I had to offer.

I found in the 11 years following my encounter with that young lady a pattern emerged. Young people want to feel respected. They want to feel they have something to offer. They want to know you, as a teacher, are willing to open up to what they have to say. More importantly, these young people do have something to offer. The world is changing at a more rapid pace than it ever has before. The information and ideas that youth culture are exposed to have created a barrier between our generations even greater than the one that exists between us and our parents. We must learn from our students. It is imperitive for our survival and effectiveness. We must understand how they learn, where they learn it from, what they are learning, and how it is changing the very foundation of the role of the student – and the teacher.

I am no longer a vegetarian. However, I am very aware of, and control, the amount of meat I consume. Because of it I feel healthier, more energized, more even tempered, and holistically more in tune with my body. I thank my student for it. I thank my students for continuing to help me grow. I only hope that as a teacher I can affect their lives as positively as they have continued, and will continue, to affect mine.