Inside a teacher's mind

By Melross P

You hear that? That’s the sound we’ve been waking up to for the past several years in our lives to attend school.

To most people, you probably just see school as a place away from home (unless you’re home-schooled) for kids to learn for 5-7 hours, then come home, do homework, and repeat the same thing the next day. Well, to think of it, that isn’t wrong at all, and we go through this process from childhood to early adulthood; but have you ever thought what school was like from a longtime teacher’s perspective?

Today, I invited my former sixth grade teacher Daniel Garzon to speak of his experience at his time teaching at my former elementary school, Robert F. Kennedy.

Garzon: “This is my 11th year. But I started late. I mean, I don't know if you remember, I did other work before I became a teacher. I was a scientist.”

Kennedy is an elementary school that caters to kindergarten-6th grade. The school is located in San Jose, 1602 Lucretia Ave. Over the years, the school has evolved in different ways.  

When it came to how students learn and behave, the school then came up with an idea to resolve the problem called the “social-emotional learning,” which is a way of speaking to another with the help of how to deal with certain things.

Garzon: “We've started this thing about kind of—it's called social-emotional learning. It's learning how to speak to one another and how to deal with issues and problems. I think that's helped a lot because kids now, if they're angry or upset about something with another kid, they've kind of learned how to handle it more on their own and in a good way. I don't mean like, 'that kid hit me, so I'm gonna hit him back.'”

As an educator, Garzon wants to be more than just a “teacher.” When saying more than a “teacher,” Garzon wants to be more than just someone you see everyday for hours at a time to learn from then leave, repeating the cycle. Garzon would tell stories, interact with students outside of learning to actually try and form a connection rather than just the bland student-and-teacher relationship most people would have.

Garzon: “...Which I think helps in their learning because they see me as a real person and not as this person who just has, is spitting out numbers and words and things for them to learn. It makes me more of a person to them and more believable.” 

In fact, Garzon’s intentions now weren’t originally going to be an elementary school teacher. He indeed actually had different opportunities in mind and that was to be a scientist and a high school biology teacher and to top it off, he never thought he’d see himself in this position many many years later. He may have gotten older over time and obviously isn’t a kid anymore, but still has the jokes in him!

Melross: “What do you think is the thing that makes Kennedy so special? [Laughs].”

Garzon: “Me. No, I'm kidding.”

Melross: “[Laughs]. Good one.” 

But what was the thing that was so special about this little elementary school here in the Bay Area? To Garzon, it’s just the fact of making students' days and making sure they leave the classroom everyday with a positive mind view and a lesson learned is enough for him to be satisfied. So what if the pay isn’t everything and if there was a better opportunity? He gave it all up to do what he loved and admired. 

Students nowadays, especially elementary ones, don't really acknowledge the background of their teachers and the importance behind their school. Kids nowadays would rather focus their thoughts in their own fantasy world of electronic devices or any other shenanigans. I admit, I was even one of those kids for the longest time. When I was a student in Mr. Garzon’s class, I didn’t even think about school or anything related to it. A few years later, I finally got to know more things about my former elementary school/teacher and realized how cool of a dude Mr. Garzon is even in his current age.

So hey, whenever you ever encounter a cool teacher in your lifetime, why not take the time to get to know something cool about them?