Fourth Grade
My Formative Years
by
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Introduction
Teaching has become my life’s work. It’s been more than a calling. It has been a vehicle for growth. As a man, I am reminded daily by my students that my role is incomparable. As a teacher, I am constantly changing—adapting to the needs of my students, my parents, and my school site. That, in itself, is enough to keep anyone on their toes. Being black is its own animal. I wish that I could say that being black was just another part of the equation, but the reality is that black is the parentheses around the equation. It’s the words in the sentence. Being a man and being a teacher are just the capitalization and punctuation in the sentence that says, “I am black.”
Being a man is about responsibilities, those that we choose to take, as well as those that we were born to bear. Through teaching I have learned that my responsibility to my own well-being is as important as the job itself. When I learned how to make myself “number one,” in my fifth year (fourth grade), my students, my parents, and my peers got the best of me. The significance of this title lies in the fact that it took me that long to fully understand what it meant for me to be a man. I had to give myself the best before I could give anyone else my best!
Teaching has been wonderful, especially with little ones, preschool through third. Teaching is really just another way to say shared learning. I have learned more from my students than they could have ever learned from me. I have had more than two hundred little people walk into my life, and each one of them has taught me a lesson. Most importantly, they have taught me how to take chances and make mistakes.
All of my life my mother and I have been in a continuous conversation about life. We don’t always agree. And I hated that because I wanted her to agree with me; I wanted to be right. You know, I didn’t always like my mother, but I will always love her for what she did for me! (Does this sound like your relationship with God?)
Like most teachers, she was probably unaware of the impact of all her actions. Through this brief look into my career, you will be given some insight into the character that she built.
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About the Book
This book is a collection of my thoughts, philosophies, poems, and experiences that I have gone through as I‘ve grown as a man and an educator. Anyone who has been to the intersection of personal growth and career can relate to what I am trying to say in this book. Here are some examples of my experience:
I lost something too, my home and my family, the birthplace of my passion and the shelter of my professional soul. p 46
I’ve never had anyone in my life need me the way he needed me. When he needed me the most, I couldn’t help him! p 41
In my opinion, behavioral management is often downplayed and over-simplified. Often reduced to classroom rules and consequences, I believe that it is so much more. Used appropriately, behavioral management is the mechanism that will allow for creative and unique teaching opportunities . . . p 37
Every time a mind is opened, my soul is brought closer to God because of the simplicity and appreciation that children bring into our grown-up world, each and every time we interact with them. p 61
About the Author
Sebastian Payton has dedicated his life mentoring and educating young people. His 12 year career, in education, has been spent in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. Sebastian has worked in group homes, juvenile detention, and recreational facilities. His true passion lies in educating and mentoring youth, particularly young men.