Teacher Loves Working with Young Teens - Seventh Grade 'The Place To Be'
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Author: Press and Sun
Released 19 February 2006
PRESS & SUN-BULLETIN (BINGHAMTON, N.Y., USA), February 6, 2006
Michelle Boyer-White enjoys teaching students from all over the world in her life science class at Binghamton's West Middle School. "They all have something to offer," she said. "Diversity is like flowers in the field — the more diverse, the more beautiful."
And Binghamton's classrooms are the most diverse in the region — at least when it comes to students, who come from 26 different countries. But Boyer-White, 57, is one of only seven minority teachers in the city's school district, which has 547 teachers in all.
A city native, she didn't remember any black teachers at Binghamton North High School, her alma mater. "Yes, it was a concern," she said. "I would definitely like to see a cross section of everybody represented."
Since she began her career in 1976, she has focused on teaching young teenagers, including a two-year stint teaching teens in Saudi Arabia. She also spent eight years instructing adults at IBM.
"If you want to influence the world, seventh grade is definitely where you want to be," she said, "because they come in as babies and they go out as adults."
Q: You're a graduate of the Binghamton City School District, and you've been teaching here a while. Tell me about the changes you've seen in the district and at West Middle School.
A: I'm a returning teacher. I worked for the district from 1976 to 1981, and then I took a two-year leave of absence and I taught at Arabian American Oil Company in Saudi Arabia. I was there from 1981 to 1983. I didn't think I wanted to teach anymore. When I came back, I decided to teach at IBM. I definitely discovered corporate life was not for me. I cried to come back to my seventh-graders. I'm glad I'm back.
I've always seen classes as a block, like a group of cells making up a personality or a different person. Every year you get a different personality that comes in.
Q: What's your basic teaching philosophy?
A: I believe each child should grow in their learning. Let me tell you what I tell the kids when they first come to class: We all have jobs. Their parents have jobs. I have a job, and I get paid. I feel you should get paid because your job is to make grades and to do the best you can. This is where you work all day long. Therefore, I pay my students Boyer Bucks, a motivational tool. It helps them to realize the importance of their jobs.
I have actual workers who fill out job applications. Jobs, for example, could be answering questions in class, trying to participate, being kind, helping others. They get paid for a lot of things: behavior, attitude, responsibility.
Jobs could also be cleaning the room to being a zookeeper. A zookeeper takes care of the axolotls (a type of salamander that never leaves the water). The black one and the pink one, Pinky and Ebony, are pregnant and laying eggs. Mello Yellow is the male.
It was here at West that the kids started calling them Boyer Bucks. They can buy candy. I try to give them more Boyer Bucks at holiday time when kids need to buy presents. I try to have teddy bears or other things brothers and sisters or parents might like. At the beginning of the year, I have more No. 2 pencils, erasers, binders, things that they need so that they can buy them, especially those who can't afford them. I pay for them myself, but teachers help with donations.
Q: When the school year is over with, what lessons do you want the students to take away from your classroom?
A: To be persevering, responsible and to respect themselves. To know that they have power and that they can do anything they put their minds to. I try to get them to believe in themselves and to be proud of what they can do.
Q: Do you consider yourself a role model for minority students?
A: I don't know if I consider myself to be a role model. But I know there are obviously very few people of color here. I like to tell them that I was able to be a slow reader and still get through. You can do a lot of things if you put your mind to it. I like to encourage them.
Q: What advice would you give young people?
A: To respect yourself and others, to stay safe and continue to learn and to go as far as you can. Never stop. Always keep going.
Listen to Michell Boyer-White: http://www.pressconnects.com/assets/mp3/CB1826824.MP3.
Author: Connie Nogas