As the ambient noise, chatter and laughter of the scurrying children subsides, as the yellow school buses pull away from Greenbelt Elementary School (GES), as Marson Richardson ushers me into his 5th grade classroom after a long day teaching English and Reading Language Arts, I expect to see a haggard man reluctant to submit to the “gotcha” questions of an annoying paparazzo.
Instead I meet a bright, vivid man enthusiastically willing to talk about the joys of his profession.
An elementary school teacher since 2002 in his native state North Carolina, Richardson is midway through his second year at GES. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from North Carolina State and his licensure to teach elementary education is from East Carolina University.
His initiation into teaching was quite unusual. At age 22 he began substituting at “my school” for Native Americans in Hollister, N.C. A member of the Haliwa Saponi tribe, Richardson helped to establish his alma mater as a charter school.
Not surprisingly, Richardson is very comfortable with GES’s broad ethnic and religious diversity. He considers it an advantage and, speaking of his own students, says that serious racial issues “never come up.” In those rare moments when non-serious issues arise, “we address it directly and move on. Usually I have a talk between two kids and me and the problem is clarified there. Rarely a parent is called in and we have a conference.”
Any discipline problems?
“Again, very rarely. I have one or two frisky kids who make a little ‘happy noise,’ but we talk and deal with it in house. I’m lucky that Greenbelt parents set expectations high at home, so everything goes pretty smoothly here.”
Mr. Richardson’s most rewarding teaching experience is “seeing student growth, seeing continuous progress, seeing them happy. It’s not how much they actually learn that counts, it’s how you make them feel. I don’t remember who taught me long division or how to write a complete sentence, but I remember who made me feel comfortable and valued.”
Who did that for you?
“Mr. Johnson, my 7th grade writing teacher. I wrote stories and showed them to him. They weren’t officially assigned, but he took them home and put positive comments on them! He took his own time to encourage me; I’ve always been grateful.”
Is there a downside to teaching?
“Well, in Greenbelt teachers are well-respected, but nationwide, not so much. Like doctors and attorneys we are trained and credentialed; everyone remembers teachers, but only with the same eyes they had as kids.”
A lingering student was chalking “MARSON RICHARDSON” on the board and I asked why. Mr. Richardson shrugged as the student chalked his own first name – ADEDAPO – next to his teacher’s. “I take it as a compliment.”
I gave Mr. Richardson a compliment of my own. I told him that when I mentioned to Sarah Jammal that I was going to interview him, she said “Oh, he’s fabulous!”
He laughed, “Oh, Sarah’s way more fabulous than I!”
Apparently Mr. Richardson practices the motto he has on the classroom bulletin board: “Kind words are the music of the world.”