Teachers are life-changers. At Noble Academy, where all students have learning differences, the impact that teachers can have is even more transformative. This episode is dedicated to All Noble and Guilford Day School teachers, past and present.
Gayle:
After working in 6 schools over 30 years, I am blessed to have known a great many talented, dedicated, beloved educators, many of whom I would describe as life-changers. Few of them, though, have had the opportunity to teach in an environment with such small classes, or with such intentionality poured into nurturing student-teacher connection, as the teachers at Noble Academy. Let me tell you unequivocally: it makes a difference for kids. Especially for kids with learning differences, having the time and space to be seen and understood by teachers absolutely changes the game. Right now, today, there are kids in Greensboro, North Carolina whose lives will be measurably improved because of the rapport they are building in classrooms at 3310 Horse Pen Creek Rd. in ways that couldn’t happen even with those same amazing teachers on large and crowded campuses with more hectic schedules.How do I know? I know in part because I have listened intently to alums describing the impact made by their Noble teachers, some of whom still are on our faculty now.
For today’s episode, I want you to hear about just one retired Noble teacher, and I want you to know this: she changes lives for the better, as do all the other Noble teachers, thanks in part to a program which prioritizes student-teacher connection. That is special. And in the age of ever-increasing class sizes in most places, and with ubiquitous promotion of artificial intelligence and online learning, small, personalized schools with small classes like Noble are essential to empowering students with learning differences to pursue their highest potential.
So, let’s begin with the impact of just one of our many Noble teachers, and let’s start by hearing from Clare, class of 2019, who is now a teacher herself, in a third grade classroom here in Greensboro.
Clare: So my English teacher was Mrs. Hughes. She doesn't work there anymore, but I think she left maybe quickly after I did, but she, I, I don't know... Sometimes you just have a teacher and everything they teach just kind of registers with you. But she respected me. She was one of the teachers that got me to help other students. She trusted me and, like it was mutual respect. She respected me. So when I felt uncomfortable or I had a question, I always knew I could go to her. She was also my adviser. So, there was also that connection, but she also picked interesting texts to read and she made it interesting. She was very forgiving and understanding. There's just, and she was just a bright face to see. I just, especially for an adviser who you see in the morning. I just loved Ms. Hughes for sure.
Greg:
My favorite class was definitely English with Miss Hughes. She got me to enjoy books in a way I never had before, even with mandatory summer reading. Before, my mom would force me to read, and I just couldn't do it. But in Miss Hughes' class, I truly began to enjoy reading.
Michelle: Susan Hughes was Zachary's adviser, so she was not only his teacher, but also his adviser. And it was during I think it might have been his junior and senior year of high school. And at that point, you know, Zachary, we were interested in pursuing college, but not certain, can he, you know, can he get in? Where would he be accepted? Still a little worried about that. And through conversations with Miss Hughes, she made it very, very clear that Zachary was more than capable of excelling and doing well in college. And so, through her encouragement, I think that meant, like, words and conversations with both Zachary and us, to reassure us that he is more than capable of that.
Becca:
And then there was Miss Hughes. Where do I even begin? She's a true legend at Noble Academy. Softspoken with a loving spirit. She helped me fall back in love with reading. I used to joke that she broke the English teacher curse for me. She was one of the most patient teachers I ever had. She saw me struggle early on. She took the time to help me with my frustration with writing. She taught me techniques that not only helped me through college but continues to help me today. She always picked out the best books, which one of them has become my all-time favorite. When she spoke about me at a senior year event, she said when you tell her she can't do something, watch her sore. She helped bring that spirit back in me.
Cameron:
My name is Cameron Norris. I went to Noble my freshman year, so probably in about 2012, and I graduated 2016.
I had Susan Hughes either all 4 years or 3 years.
My favorite memory is probably how she taught. She taught – she made us read several books. One of them is my favorite, still to this day. It's called And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. And she had a way of bringing those books to life. We also read Around the World in Eighty Days.
She made books much more interesting and actually taught students the love of reading through those books.
I do think other students connected with her. We had a special bond that we just had, like, religiously and also she was like a second parent to me. She was awesome.
She has been very supportive and very and gave me a lot of guidance through life and through previous relationships I had, And she just was I didn't consider her a teacher. I considered her my friend, and we're still really good friends.
Gayle:
Susan Hughes appreciates all the kind words from past students, and she also gives credit to the school’s mission, and Noble’s uniquely small class sizes.
SUSAN:
…if I had to go to Washington and say across the board, public education, private education, any other education, if you wanna try to do something to strengthen the educational system in the United States, it would be to lower the number of students in every teacher's class. It makes the biggest difference of anything because you could be very passionate about every child in your room, but if you have 28 or 30, there's not it's not possible to be individually communicating, supporting, paying attention to, recognizing all the things that every student needs. So, when you have 7 or 8 kids in your class,you can focus on every single student in every single 50-minute class and also that, they know that. So, they blossom in a lot of ways when a lot of kids come here from other schools but one of those ways is, well, it's kinda twofold. They know that everybody else here has some learning issue. So, it's kind of like, okay, I'm with my people. And they are very accepting of each other and very supportive. That's new to them. When they've been in the mix of, you know, 30 28, 30 member classes and people of all different levels of intelligence and work habits and all of those things, they, they tend to feel like I'm not making it. So I think it's not just that the teachers can know and, and reach and address and talk to and be at the desk with every student during every class period, but it's the atmosphere of that smaller, more intimate classroom for the students where they really get to know the teacher, they really get to raise their hands and say, I hear you, but I don't have any idea what you're talking about. We can do that again without being ridiculed, without feeling like people are gonna look at them and think, why, you know, what's wrong with you? Nobody, you know mostly every other student in the class would have that same question.
So, students who regularly reach out to me, I also reach out to them. It's reciprocal. I don't wait for them to get back in touch with me because we have kept a relationship or they've gotten back in touch with me, and I wanna keep that going. I want them to know that I am still available for them, and I still love them. And so, I, you know, it's back and forth for a lot of the kids. Others, it's accidental. I run into them. There are times when we have events at the school and, you know, we don't always get all the kids to come back, but the ones that do, sometimes that regenerates. Oh, you know, can we be in touch? Can we, you know, can we stay communicating? I don't I do not. I'm not on Facebook or Instagram or those kinds of things. So, it's harder maybe for some kids to find me, but they do.
I love it when I'm, you know, in Fresh Market, a place you don't necessarily expect, you know, some of our students to be shopping when they're, you know, they're grown. I mean, I love running into students that I haven't been in regular contact with, and they, invariably, they will come up to me. Part of that is because I have white hair and I'm hard to miss in the grocery store or coliseum event or anything like that. But I love when somebody just out of the blue I run into and they're, they you know, we catch up and talk about everything they're doing. And, you know, they always say, you know, we I just am so glad I was there. I'm so glad I had that beginning. You know, I think even if they're kind of griping through their years here, which teenagers just do whether they know they're in the right place or not.
So many of them recognize what being here has done for them and it's in all different ways. It may be because they ended up in a good marriage. It may be because, you know, they were able to start their own business. It may be because they worked for somebody else and they kept their job and they got moved up.
GAYLE:
So, we are talking this year about why people are proud to be Noble.
Susan:
Oh, I love that. And Noble, the name noble just fits right into I'm proud to be noble because.
I could name so many things.
I'm most proud to be noble because I am fortunate enough to still walk alongside a number of my past students and celebrate with them where their life is, what they've accomplished, or pat them on the back and reaffirm to them that they can do it and it's gonna be okay. It's not a pride in anything that I did for them. It's a pride in who they are and that I still get to be connected with them.
Gayle:
Thanks to everyone who let me interview them for this episode. And a huge shoutout of gratitude to Efren Renteria, a current parent in our High School who produces this show.