As the newly appointed National Teacher of the Year, Haverford High School’s Leon Smith has been celebrated on television: from CBS Mornings and Good Morning America to the Kelly Clarkson Show.
But as the lone Black teacher when he started teaching at Haverford 25 years ago, Smith got a different reception. He experienced racism, he told a group of young people interested in teaching, and if it weren’t for a Black vice principal that listened and supported him, he might not still be teaching today.
“She would just be very honest with me, and be like, ‘First of all, you’re an excellent educator. … Keep being you. Somebody calls and says something crazy, I’m just hanging up,’” Smith told teaching fellows gathered in Germantown on Wednesday with Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia, a nonprofit that trains aspiring teachers to lead enrichment programs for middle-school students.
The event, sponsored by the Equitable Foundation, was just one of many for Smith during his yearlong stint as Teacher of the Year, a platform he was awarded in April by the Council of Chief State School Officers. In that role, he’s spending the year traveling the country to advocate for the teaching profession and growing its ranks.
Smith, who teaches Advanced Placement U.S. History and Advanced Placement African American Studies at Haverford, spoke passionately to the fellows Wednesday about his motivation to be the teacher he didn’t have growing up, and the immense impact teachers can have on students’ lives — presenting the profession as a deeply rewarding opportunity to help kids recognize their talents.
But he was also honest about the challenges. Fielding questions about his career from fellows gathered in an auditorium on the Germantown Friends School campus, Smith said he had struggled to find his way as a new teacher, staying up too late trying to perfect lessons.
He described the sometimes lonely experience of being his predominantly white high school’s only Black teacher, and how he developed strategies to respond to racism, including learning when to walk away and when to speak out.
He told fellows to find supportive colleagues and to be selective when they considered job offers.
“Do your research. Make sure it’s a space that’s going to take care of you,” he said.
Smith also described feeling self-conscious when he was younger about some of his lessons — worrying that students would say, “‘Oh, all he does is talk about Black history,’” Smith said. But he began hearing from students about how grateful they were to have learned about subjects that hadn’t been covered in other classes; an audit later identified African American studies as a class community members wanted to see added.
‘My why’
His comments resonated with the teaching fellows, some of whom said they’re committed to careers in education.
Dominique Sidae, a 23-year-old rising senior at Florida A&M University, is planning to become a special-education teacher. She said she was inspired by her appreciation for a teacher who helped her younger brothers, who have autism.
Sidae said she is often the only Black person in teaching spaces. “It feels good to know this isn’t only happening to me,” she said. “You don’t really learn that in college.”
Miles Baldwin, an 18-year-old graduate of Harriton High School in Lower Merion, isn’t sure he wants to become a teacher. But he enjoyed working with students last summer in the Breakthrough program — “a lot of kids came in hating it, and left wanting more,” he said — and Smith’s pitch about being a mentor was compelling to him.
“Honestly, yeah,” he said, when asked if hearing from Smith made him more interested in teaching.
That’s part of the goal of Smith’s role as Teacher of the Year, as a dwindling pipeline has challenged recruitment efforts.
Smith’s agenda this summer includes attending the National PTA Convention in Pittsburgh and giving a keynote speech at the Smithsonian’s National Education Summit. He also will be joining other state teachers of the year at Space Camp in Alabama and participating in professional development.
But addressing the Breakthrough teaching fellows Wednesday “reminds me of my why,” Smith said in a brief interview. He said the fellows’ eagerness to ask questions “shows they want to be the best they can be,” and reflects qualities of good teachers: “You have to be curious, sometimes silent … often humbled,” Smith said.
Teaching students to lead
In a model lesson after his talk, Smith put some of those skills on display. He started by gathering the 34 fellows in a circle, asking them each to share their name and a brief story about it; the group periodically broke into laughter at humorous anecdotes.
Smith then outlined the objectives for his lesson about assessing the credibility of sources. He passed out copies of a photo, asking fellows to silently write and then discuss in small groups whether it provided strong evidence of the Fukushima power plant explosion.
“I always tell my students, you want to be a leader,” Smith said, encouraging fellows to stand by their analyses, even if others disagreed. He then called on people, asking them to explain their thinking while challenging some of their points.
Matt Greenawalt, co-dean of faculty for the Breakthrough summer program and a teacher at Germantown Friends — which supports Breakthrough — was planning to breakdown Smith’s approach for the fellows after the lesson. He noted how Smith was walking through the room, engaging with the fellows as they talked, and Smith’s ability to affirm and redirect them when an answer wasn’t on point.
Smith’s visit came on day three of a two-week orientation for the fellows, before they would begin teaching students during Breakthrough’s six-week free summer program.
While access to academics is key for the program’s students, many of whom come from Germantown, “a big piece of it too is having role models,” Greenawalt said.
Smith told fellows that when the students arrived, “they’re going to just admire you so much.”
“You’re going to be able to see the light inside of them, and sometimes it just takes someone else to notice, right? … They’ll just kind of be doing their work, and then as you get to know them, you’ll notice certain characteristics and you’ll just pour into it.”
What really helps make a connection with kids, Smith said, is “just you being yourself.”
“You walking in there and walking in your own life, and bringing your passion and all the reasons why you wanted to become a teacher,” he said. “Your students are going to feel that.”
