Dr. Heidi M. Williams

With books missing, "more often than not, children do not experience lots of things," Professor Susan B. Neuman told Newsweek.

“I’m teaching my last class in a few hours. I’ve been a professor of textile design for twenty-something years, but it’s sort of on an ‘as needed’ basis. And there’s been a decline in enrollment, so I don’t think I’m needed anymore. I’ll have to figure out what else to do with my time. I don’t want to just start binge-watching Netflix. I could always go work as a receptionist somewhere. But I’d like to think I have something particular to express, and that if I pour my energy into it, and I’m disciplined enough, then something will come out of it. But it takes bravery to be creative, right? You know, you look at Pinterest or whatever, and it looks like everything’s been done already. It’s easier to find the confidence when you’re 25, or 35, or even 45; you can kind of convince yourself that you're cool and hip and, you know, of the moment. If I was still in my thirties maybe I’d invest in going to art school or something. But at this age, it’s kind of like: is that really worth the investment? At an age where most people are thinking of retiring? It’s a question of time. Because how many more years do I have of actually working, creating? But also, it’s a self-worth question. If I do a two-year degree, I’m almost sixty. If I do a four-year degree, I’m definitely sixty. You worry about investing all that time, all that money, all that energy. And then kind of being mediocre, you know, at that thing. And that would be hard to swallow at this age, right? You kind of want to finish on top.”

“Not all teachers love children. Some people just go to work for work. But as long as you love children, you’re in the right field. Helping these babies make their milestones; that is awesome for me: sounds, shapes, colors. Those things are very important. But you have to show some type of affection, right? You're with them for eight hours a day. If they come to a classroom and don’t feel love, they won’t want to be there. I’m always telling the children to give me love. And when I say to give me love, that means to give me a hug. So I hug the children a lot. One day a mother came to me, and she said that her child kept giving her hugs. She wanted to know where it was coming from. I told her it was coming from me.”

“Everyone knew my situation. I took the bus to school. It was a fairly small bus, and all of us would talk. So the bus driver knew everything. She was an old lady, in her sixties. White hair. She heard me saying that I didn’t have money to go on my senior trip. So she parked the bus, went into to the dean’s office, and said: ‘Here’s $80, let the girl go on the trip.’ I had a science teacher, Ms. Bernard. She knew that we were homeless, so every once in awhile she’d pay me $20 to clean her classroom. Just so that I could do something for my birthday, or get myself pizza one night, stuff like that. Then our dean Ms. V would let me bring home extra food from the cafeteria, which wasn’t allowed. If it wasn’t for the educators in my life, I’d have gone off the rails, the way a lot of kids who have trouble at home do. I was just craving attention so much. My mom, I love her. But she's never been the best mental health wise, especially after everything she's gone through. I was also getting bullied, just relentlessly by kids in my class. I learned pretty quick that people paid attention to me academically, no other way. In high school my science teachers were really where it was at. Dr. Khan, especially. He was my marine biology teacher. It was my favorite class, because I’ve always loved marine biology. But we also talked about music a lot. That year everything was really up in the air for me: I’d just transferred schools, I was taking care of my little brother, our stepdad was domestically violent. That Christmas Dr. Khan gave me a present. Two presents, actually. The first present was cookies. He said: ‘I always talk to my wife about you, so she made you cookies.’ His wife baked things for a living, on the side. So these were like, real cookies. With sea salt on top. Then the second present was a CD with all the songs we’d ever talked about, mixed-together with videos of all my favorite animals. I do not like dolphins. I love whales. And I genuinely have a thing for sharks. So there’d be like a Blink 182 song, paired with a video of a hammerhead shark. On the card he wrote: ‘Remember, you can always talk to me.”

Slow down, simplify, and focus.

Teachers will not thrive in an environment of distraction, hurry, and clutter.

I want to get books and sit with my college students on the university lawn and read.

The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books by Rose Horowitch

So good! Exactly my approach!

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/21/nx-s1-5159715/professor-kindness-good-news-high-school-teacher?utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwY2xjawGGbM1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHTMLh9rd-ercE8gDBNTCIfG4TGPDDTH6yjODtYBYfERqkfO7SXHE1lqFng_aem_xf9vpjS7HspnWF7eg8Dfbw

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