An Open Heart to Student-Teacher Relationships

"I’ve learned you can only self-advocate so much before you need someone in your court to back you up."

Samantha Loeks-Davis is the Program Director at Beyond Walls, an after school program for under resourced youth in sixth through twelfth grade at the University of Minnesota’s Recreation and Wellness Center. The program offers both urban squash and academic help. Samantha directs the academic portion of the program where she works in a classroom setting.

Samantha Loeks-Davis (far right) along with Beyond Walls students and staff

http://www.beyondwallsmn.org/

Background

Initially, I wanted to be an actress, and I wanted to sing and act. Then, I realized that I had a real great affinity for literature, and using that as a device to help connect and bring out creativity in young people, especially in young women and girls. Once I got done with my acting dreams, being a teacher was definitely what I wanted to do, and in particular again, I wanted to be a literature teacher.

It was probably my sophomore year of high school when I was still really active in drama, theater, and choir and I started to realize how they really impacted my life and how my English classes really impacted my life. I thought, "Wow, if I could bring that to other people or help them see that through creative arts, you can really realize yourself and your self-worth and self-concept, and that I want to do that."

My major was Teaching Communication Art/Literature, which is speech or interpersonal communications, and I minored in Theater. I really liked that they combined both teaching of literature and writing with the other aspect because it’s such a crucial skill, and I think it pairs really well in literacy.

Seattle/Transition

My husband and I moved out west to Seattle, and I was a teacher out there as a TA in a kindergarten classroom, and I’d never worked in an age group that young before. But, I worked with two amazing teachers who couldn't have had more opposite styles, which I kind of bounced back and forth between, and it was a great learning experience for me, because I learned how to adapt to different styles.

They asked me if I wanted to teach, in that classroom alongside another teacher, and we had the most amazing teaching experience together ever. I really liked working at this private, progressive school, and how education was so rich, plentiful, and vibrant. But, tuition was twenty-five thousand dollars a year for each student to go there. I wanted to bring that kind of model to students who are already not receiving those kinds of resources, so I wanted to work in the nonprofit sector. I saw how my leadership as a peer to teachers was starting to develop, so I wanted to do something a bit more in professional leadership and maybe even more administrative leadership. So, I taught with her for that year and did some traveling after that because my husband and I decided to move back to Minnesota, and that is when I came back and found a job here.

Her take on education

I think my main strength for me anyway is teaching, and the administrative aspect of my job, although very exciting and new, and being able to essentially rebuild a lot of our organization, but I get these little twinges every once in a while of wanting to be in a classroom setting. The relationships that you build as a teacher versus an after school coordinator are different in many ways. And not that it’s a bad different, but I liked the idea of that link between students realizing themselves and who they are with their educational goals in mind too. I think is really important and you can do that really effectively in a classroom.

I also learned benefits of someone who runs their classroom like a well-oiled machine and another way of working where it was very free flowing and kids decided a lot of things, and how neither was wrong, and each teacher played to their strength. Which, I think is an aspect that in regardless of what profession you go into you need to still be true to yourself, but open to the ideas and constructive feedback of other people.

And this idea of constantly trying to self-monitor can be very destructive and can stop you from moving forward. So learning slowly, but surely, that it’s a lot of trial and error and this has never been done before. You’re putting out ideas, learning from them, and you are making your best educated next step with that. That’s all that people can really ask, and also then, taking in the feedback and critical responses from them too.

I’ve always thought that education, access to higher education, and feeling successful and competent has been important, but it’s been grown with teaching at a little school. There was such a push for social and emotional curriculum and realizing that took precedence over the academics. It really started to build in my brain a little bit more that we’re trying to create young people who are passionate about themselves, the world they live in, that they understand how to fight for their communities, and how to support others. I think all of that started to really build into what I value in my work and in my life. So now it is built to this idea of hopefully being an ally and a support for underserved, under resourced communities, and being an advocate and responding in a way that my privilege can only do at this point to essentially help eradicate some obvious obstacles and behaviors in our society.

Beyond Walls Classroom

Photo Credit: Maddie Welle

Beyond Walls

The Minnesota council for non-profit had a whole list of jobs and I don't want to say it was one of many, but you know when you’re on the job hunt, you are looking for the ones that stand out. You shoot a resume, and you cross your fingers to see which one responds, and Beyond Walls responded almost immediately.

This is my third year, but it’s technically only my second full year, so I started in late January/early February of 2015. I worked along with the other woman who was in the same position before me for that year and then starting that next fall, I started off. I was the academic director when I came in, but the nature of non-profits too is that you have one title, and then you wear several other different hats, so they kind of realized that this job needed to be elevated and probably given more responsibilities because of where our organization was heading and growing, so I have been program director now for a little over nine months.

http://www.beyondwallsmn.org/

Relationships

As a fairly younger professional, sometimes comes people who aren’t going to take you seriously or people will go, "That is really a great idea, but since you do not have experience with that we’re going to go this direction because you just don’t know any better." What I’ve learned is that you can only self-advocate so much before you need someone in your court to back you up. That’s what I had my first year teaching with Alice. She was a veteran teacher but she understood that the reason we were paired together was because I’m a good teacher regardless of my age or experience. She really helped not just support me, but also acknowledging that I was a good teacher. Hopefully, I can do that one day and acknowledge when people are good at their jobs and where you can learn from them regardless of anything else. Being that support is so important for that person too.

I think it really speaks well to any professional community if you have someone who is supportive of your ideas, who is willing to collaborate, and who is really excited about collaboration. It really brings about a beautiful, magical energy to what you are doing.

I would say the other big part of my career actually has to do with tutors. I’ve realized getting to know young adults when working with students and trying to make it so that even if they never work with young people again, that they’re still getting something positive or something beneficial from the volunteering. Whether it be that they’re now confident at public speaking or now feel like they have a leadership tool that they didn’t have before. I am finding I really enjoy making those connections and being able to hopefully be a professional leader or kind of role model, in that way.

You have to take a step back and realize that some of these relationships, some of the lessons that you’re building and teaching take a lot of time, and you may or may not get to the end goal that you were really hoping for. You know that it’s going to benefit a student, but at the same time you have to meet them where they are and slowly start to chip away at the goals that I have for them, but more importantly the goals that they are building themselves. They may not have any goals at that moment or understand even why it’s important, but if you put more into them being able to make their own investments, the more they’re going to be willing to take your hand and go along in the learning with you.

I hope the students can see that the benefit of putting an ear out to what that trusted adult is trying to say or what message they’re trying to get across to them. Also, that you can find trusted adults in any capacity and not just in school, but that those communities are everywhere. If you’re open to them and responsive, and if that adult is also open and has a heart that’s there and ready to take in that child, that relationship can really be formed and really impact them.