During the middle of one of James Young’s musical theatre lessons at Johnson-Wabash 6th Grade Center in Ferguson-Florissant in mid-September, an unexpected group of people burst through his classroom door.
“All of a sudden, my door opens,” Young remembered. In came his district superintendent, and school principal, and last year’s Missouri statewide teacher of the year. They announced that Young had won this year’s prestigious, statewide award — and become the first teacher from Ferguson-Florissant ever to do so.
“So kids coming in will be like, well, I didn’t choose this,” James Young, teacher, laughed. He responds to those students: “Okay, but we’re glad you’re here!” And he finds ways to engage them, because “fine arts is good for every human being, for all our students.
As the news was announced, Young’s students were thrilled. One, he said, even jumped up to ask him to take a picture together, as if Young were a celebrity.
“I was excited, thrilled, honored,” Young said. “It was surreal.”
And he’s celebrating this victory not only for himself, or for his students, but for his North County home district, too.
“I feel like it’s a real victory for Ferguson-Florissant and North County, and our area,” Young said. “It’s some good news, you know?” He intends to use his platform to advocate for his students, and for his community, where he has been teaching for 14 years. His time as a teacher is also upholding an intergenerational legacy: his grandmother was a teacher in the district, too.
“I get an opportunity to speak, and I’m excited about…advocating for students and teachers across the state,” he said.
But first and foremost, Young has school to teach: this year, in a hybrid format. While that’s less overwhelming than last year’s remote school, Young says, it comes with its own set of challenges: some as small yet omnipresent as just reminding kids to keep their masks on.
“I try to remind students ‘keep it over your nose too! Because that’s for you, you don’t want to be breathing stuff in,’” Young said. “So it’s difficult, and it’s easy to be nervous, but you know, we plow through and try to get it done anyway.” This year, students still have the one-to-one Chromebook system the district introduced as a pandemic measure last year, which Young sees making a difference. In his music classes, for example, students can still use Flipgrid–an app similar to TikTok–to present their work, which would not have been possible without the Chromebooks.
Meanwhile, Young has learned a few things from his first year-and-a-half of COVID teaching.
“One thing we learned over the COVID period is the more you can customize lessons and your projects…to where students have a variety and choice, the better for everyone,” he said. In a hybrid environment, in particular, that customization is crucial, especially since Young’s class is an elective that most students at the 6th-grade center rotate through — whether they want to be there or not.
“So kids coming in will be like, well, I didn’t choose this,” Young laughed. He responds to those students: “Okay, but we’re glad you’re here!” And he finds ways to engage them, because “fine arts is good for every human being, for all our students. We don’t expect them to become musicians or artists, although they might, but the skill set is still valuable to every student.”
And there are some things tying the whole class together, through customized lessons and hybrid-school and Chromebooks and Flipgrid. This year’s theme in Young’s class, for example, has students excited. It’s “over and under and by the sea,” he said, meaning “think reggae genre, think Little Mermaid slash Moana slash Bob Marley. We’re still formulating it…it’s going to be a little bit different.”
With his new statewide award, Young hopes to serve as a voice for his students and for his district.
“I want to advocate for our students, to first and foremost let people know that good things are happening here in Ferguson-Florissant, and in public schools everywhere,” he said. “Teachers are working hard, students are working hard, parents are doing their best, but things are challenging. Everywhere you look, people are challenged, and so I hope to be a part of the solution.”
