The Strength of a Story
NOTE: The author of this piece, Jason Garver, received support from a YSN agency during and after high school. As a high school physics teacher today, he reflects back on some of his story and how his experience shapes his approach to teaching.
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The Strength Of A Story
I wish I was strong enough to lift not one but both of us
Someday I will be strong enough to lift not one but both of us
(B.o.B & Taylor Swift, 2011)
I am a high school physics teacher at a large urban high school in Minnesota, and every year I tell all of my students the story of my life in all of its vivid, shocking, and painful detail. Each time I share this story with my students some gasp and look around the room unsure what to do or say at first while others yell out “Man, that’s crazy!” Other students remain silent until the few minutes before the bell rings, at which time they share similarities in their own life stories. For weeks afterward, emails will trickle through in appreciation of what I shared and for the rest of the year students will come to me in private to ask for help, advice, or just for a kind ear to listen to them.
At my school, I do not mirror the student body—at least not by parts of my identity that are visible the first time kids walk into my classroom. I am White, cis-gendered, and male and although my skinny jeans and tattoos set me apart from other teachers, I still look different from my students who are mostly students of color. Many of my students speak several languages other than English and have roots that spread around the entire world. Others come from African American communities that have deep connections to St Paul where I teach. However different we are racially, linguistically, socioeconomically, and culturally, through storytelling and radical openness my students are able to see I am not what they expected at first glance.
This article is some of my story, as well as a window into how telling it brings my students together in painful and beautiful ways. Framing this narrative is a song, Both Of Us By B.o.B and Taylor Swift (2011), which also weaves a powerful cultural narrative that speaks to myself, my students, and hopefully to you, the reader.