A few months into my second year of high school, I received my first D on an assignment.
It was an essay for my honors English class. I don't remember what was on that piece of paper or why my grade went down, but I remember seeing the red diagonal line across the page and getting that sinking feeling in my stomach.
I was puzzled. I have never received a grade lower than a B on an assignment before. And English was my favorite class. AD for a difficult math assignment or chemistry workbook might make sense, but what I needed to be good at was English.
After a few tears, I met Mike Brown, then an English teacher at Middleton High School.
I cautiously entered his classroom. I couldn't bear the thought that I had let him down. I bowed his head and asked what I needed to do to get my grades up.
And he laughed.
“I’m not here to make sure you get good grades,” he said. “I’m here to help you understand the world better. So we're going to talk about this thesis, and you're going to rewrite this thesis based on a better understanding of the world. And if it gets you better grades in the process, then do it.”
Even now, 10 years later, I still remember those words.
Before that conversation, I believed that getting good grades meant I was learning. I believed I was a good student because I followed directions, sat still, and listened to class.
But Mr. Brown challenged that norm.
He taught me that sometimes you have to fail to learn.
He taught me how to think critically and challenge the dominant voices around me.
He taught me that sometimes people in positions of authority make mistakes and that it is okay to call them out.
I spent my sophomore, junior, and senior years of high school with these lessons in mind. Sometimes I challenge rules I think are unfair, such as requiring girls to wear skirts for speeches in third grade (I wore dress pants), or punish them for challenging opinions I heard students discussing in class. received.
I played Mr. Mr. during my junior and senior years of high school. Worked as teacher's assistant to Mr. Brown. When I graduated, he gave me his best copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God, his favorite book we read in second grade.
In the end, I don't remember what my final grade was in Mr. Brown's class. But I remember him being there with teachers like Brian Mattison, Peggy Rabe, Lewey Dean, Mona Oxford-Lyman, Bryan Swygart, Alex Maxwell, Tracey Houston, and many other educators. And former educators in the Middleton School District taught me how to better understand the world.
I will be forever grateful to them.