With the world as his classroom for the past year, National Teacher of the Year 2022 Kurt Russell shared during Oberlin City School District’s new staff orientation Aug. 15 what to prepare for during their first year of teaching, according to a news release.
“Failure is part of this profession, but you have to embrace failure,” Russell said in the release. “You have to control what you can and you have to have passion.
“You have to love kids. You can’t just ‘like to teach.’ You have to love to teach.”
Russell spoke inside Langston Middle School’s library and told the teachers that he understands their anxiety, and he shared with them that not every day they will love teaching, but to never forget the “why” of them teaching in the first place, according to the release.
“Your ‘why’ should be your North Star,” he said. “It should be the way you ground yourself.
“To me, it’s to humanize students and to have students see themselves in my classroom.”
For Dane Matthews, who will share Oberlin High School Room 200 with Russell this year, his “why” is making sure all students are represented and seen for who they are, the release said.
“I come from a small town where not everyone was the same color as me,” Matthews said in the release. “It’s important to have all races and genders represented and heard.”
Russell also told the new teachers/staff that it’s important to understand how they all ended together in the library on Aug. 15.
“How did we get here?” he said. “I say ‘we’ because it’s not just me.
“I was born and raised in Oberlin and was molded and shaped by the Oberlin City School District. Now, you are a part of our family. Welcome to Oberlin City School District.”
