I recently met Sheldon for breakfast at McKenna’s in Dorchester. Over pancakes, we caught up on life, work and our plans to make a podcast. Sheldon and I have known each other since the first day of school in September of 2004. He was a member of the first cohort of students I ever taught at the McCormack Middle School, a Boston Public School.
I often say that Sheldon taught me more about what it means to be a good teacher than any teacher preparation program possibly could have. He was a brilliant and angry sixth grader, already having learned — multiple times over — the painful lessons that young black men in our society are taught about how the world perceives them, and what the world expects of them.
Sheldon challenged me to be the best teacher I could be for him, and I failed. Miserably. I couldn’t see past my own insecurities to help him navigate his own. But in the years since, I’ve learned what it means to truly be present for a young person as they develop. What it means to be a part of their safety net.