Will: Growing up, I may have seen
three or four Black teachers and
I didn't have any of them.
Montenique: In Florida, it's very rare
to see, like, a Black teacher,
a Black doctor, a Black lawyer.
So I struggled trying to see myself
in, like, educated people.
Jonathan: A very vivid memory that sticks with me...
I walked in on the first day
with my little uniform
and my backpack, and I was really excited.
I was the only person of color in the classroom.
I remember thinking very clearly,
"I' am different."
Montenique: I always longed for a teacher that
looked like me, who I could confide in,
who, like, understood where
I was coming from.
So part of what I wanted to do is
help, you know, African-American girls
who are kind of searching or the same thing.
Like, I wanted to be that person.
Jonathan: At my college, that was the first time
I'd had someone standing up
in front of me that looks like me.
And that was really transformative
and a big reason as to why
I wanted to enter the classroom
myself, and kind of give back.
Will: I was married.
I started having kids.
And you always come to that question,
what's the lasting impression you want to leave?
Looking at my kids,
I kind of figured out,
I just want to be an influence,
where maybe I haven't
had those influences in my life.
Jonathan: I didn't come into the classroom knowing,
kind of, all the statistics.
I kind of came very bright-eyed
and very bushy-tailed,
just thinking, oh, I want to teach.
Very, very quickly you understand,
the stakes are really high
for Black and Brown students
who I get to see every single day.
Jonathan: A lot of students, they don't want
to talk to you.
You're told to stay quiet,
stay low, stay humble.
So most of them have a hard time,
just opening it up and talking
about, just anything.
Montenique: Sometimes, like, I'm able to sit down with kids
and, like, really talk to them.
And those are, like, always my favorite moments because
I come from a really, like,
rough background. And so,
you know, it's always, like,
surprising to kids to hear, like,
oh, this teacher who grades me,
she has a similar background
and if they're ready to talk, they'll come talk,
and if they don't want to talk,
they don't. I get that.
Will: I never tell people what I do.
Usually, being a Black man,
no one's expecting me to be a teacher,
so I'm usually disrespected on the daily.
And when they find out I'm a teacher,
you can see the respect level change,
they act and they talk to me differently.
I kind of find that part disrespectful,
that you would change the way that you talk to me
just because of what I do.
Montenique: I'm very proud of the fact that I'm a teacher.
And depending on who I'm talking to,
I feel either really, really good about it, or like,
okay, you guys can stop talking about it now.
People do seem shocked sometimes to hear
that there is a Black person who's educated,
who teaches children.
Jonathan: The impact that I'm making is going
to be slightly different on my kids,
than the impact that some of my colleagues are going to make.
But also, like, it's a responsibility that I
sometimes am not always, like,
aware of how to navigate.
Will: You have to make sure you uphold
your integrity every single day.
Even though sometimes I might want
to get mad at something small,
where another teacher may get mad at something small
and it's acceptable for them,
all those students are looking up to me and
looking to see what you do in situations.
But it's good to see that
what I do and say
may have a lasting effect on someone else's life.