April 30, 2024 • 3 mins
BIN's Esther Dillard talks to award-winning journalist Deborah Roberts about her new book, Lessons Learned and Cherished: The Teacher Who Changed My Life. The collection of essays features celebrity contributions from Oprah Winfrey, Jenna Bush-Hager, Robin Roberts, Brooke Shields, Octavia Spencer, Rachel Ray, Misty Copeland, and more.
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(00:00):
I'm Esther Dillard and I'm Doug Davison Your Home for twenty four to seven
news the Black Information Network. BlackAward winning journalist Devor Roberts joined the bion
to talk about how teachers are anundervalued asset in our society today and Doug
It's part of a new book calledLessons Learned and cherished The teacher who changed
my life. She said, anelementary school teacher, Missus Hardy, was
(00:22):
the inspiration any subject that I mightbe speaking on. I often will reflect
on my childhood and my growth insmall town Perry, Georgia. And Missus
Dorothy Hardy was just a teacher whohas such an impact on me because of
the fact that she demanded excellence andI decided I wanted to rise to the
occasion and she raised the bar andI wanted to be a part of it.
(00:44):
And so when I think about MissusHardy and how you know, and
I say in the book and I'vesaid it when I've talked to people in
that so of an accent, andshe said to me she thought I was
a smart girl. I just thought, wow, Missus Hardy sees something in
me. And that was the onething that I noticed with so many people
when I talked to them about theirteachers, it was always this story about
somebody who saw something in them thatthey may not have seen or they may
(01:07):
not have had the courage to reallyacknowledge. And that's what good teachers do,
and those who change lives really dospark dreams and excitement because they saw
something. I mean, don't weall want somebody to see something in us
this special? Yes? I reallygot that. Yeah. I felt that
all the way through the book isthat being seen was so important. Oprah
(01:29):
Winfrey said that in one of theher pieces. In fact, I love
the fact that you had so manybig names you had, Oprah. You
have Spike Lee, you have MistyColtland, Gail King, Rosie Perez,
just like just the name of RobinRoberts. Yes, yes, and your
husband even Elp he made an appearancetoo. I couldn't like write the book
(01:49):
without it, I would never Iwould have never heard the end of it.
Did you have a tough time convincingthem to contribute? You know what?
What surprised me when I got thisidea that I wasn't going to just
I mean, I didn't have enoughof my own experiences to fuel the book,
and I thought, I can talkabout some of my teachers. But
then I thought, wouldn't it becool to hear from other people about their
experiences Because it didn't take much tojust like start talking to somebody about a
(02:13):
teacher and they would start, youknow, going on about their teacher.
So almost anybody I ran into ifI ran into Christy Turlington Burns at Good
Morning America. She was walking outafter doing a segment about maternal health and
that's her big passion. She's anactivist. And I said, Christy,
I'm doing this book and I'm talkingabout teachers. She's like missus Dane,
Oh my gosh. And I wassaid, oh, would you talk to
(02:34):
me about missus Dane? Absolutely absolutely, let me let me know when there's
a good time. I love thefact that many of the folks who contributed
said that they really felt that teachersare undervalued these days. And based on
your conversations and you know, withothers, what do you think that they
think that can change that. Ithink that more than anything else, we've
(02:54):
got to try to use our voicesto highlight this crisis that we're in right
now in education. She said parentscan offer empathy as well as a little
kindness goes a long way. I'mEster Dillard along with Doug Davis on Your
Home for twenty four to seven News. The Black Information at Work
I'm Esther Dillard and I'm Doug Davison Your Home for twenty four to seven
news the Black Information Network. BlackAward winning journalist Devor Roberts joined the bion
to talk about how teachers are anundervalued asset in our society today and Doug
It's part of a new book calledLessons Learned and cherished The teacher who changed
my life. She said, anelementary school teacher, Missus Hardy, was
(00:22):
the inspiration any subject that I mightbe speaking on. I often will reflect
on my childhood and my growth insmall town Perry, Georgia. And Missus
Dorothy Hardy was just a teacher whohas such an impact on me because of
the fact that she demanded excellence andI decided I wanted to rise to the
occasion and she raised the bar andI wanted to be a part of it.
(00:44):
And so when I think about MissusHardy and how you know, and
I say in the book and I'vesaid it when I've talked to people in
that so of an accent, andshe said to me she thought I was
a smart girl. I just thought, wow, Missus Hardy sees something in
me. And that was the onething that I noticed with so many people
when I talked to them about theirteachers, it was always this story about
somebody who saw something in them thatthey may not have seen or they may
(01:07):
not have had the courage to reallyacknowledge. And that's what good teachers do,
and those who change lives really dospark dreams and excitement because they saw
something. I mean, don't weall want somebody to see something in us
this special? Yes? I reallygot that. Yeah. I felt that
all the way through the book isthat being seen was so important. Oprah
(01:29):
Winfrey said that in one of theher pieces. In fact, I love
the fact that you had so manybig names you had, Oprah. You
have Spike Lee, you have MistyColtland, Gail King, Rosie Perez,
just like just the name of RobinRoberts. Yes, yes, and your
husband even Elp he made an appearancetoo. I couldn't like write the book
(01:49):
without it, I would never Iwould have never heard the end of it.
Did you have a tough time convincingthem to contribute? You know what?
What surprised me when I got thisidea that I wasn't going to just
I mean, I didn't have enoughof my own experiences to fuel the book,
and I thought, I can talkabout some of my teachers. But
then I thought, wouldn't it becool to hear from other people about their
experiences Because it didn't take much tojust like start talking to somebody about a
(02:13):
teacher and they would start, youknow, going on about their teacher.
So almost anybody I ran into ifI ran into Christy Turlington Burns at Good
Morning America. She was walking outafter doing a segment about maternal health and
that's her big passion. She's anactivist. And I said, Christy,
I'm doing this book and I'm talkingabout teachers. She's like missus Dane,
Oh my gosh. And I wassaid, oh, would you talk to
(02:34):
me about missus Dane? Absolutely absolutely, let me let me know when there's
a good time. I love thefact that many of the folks who contributed
said that they really felt that teachersare undervalued these days. And based on
your conversations and you know, withothers, what do you think that they
think that can change that. Ithink that more than anything else, we've
(02:54):
got to try to use our voicesto highlight this crisis that we're in right
now in education. She said parentscan offer empathy as well as a little
kindness goes a long way. I'mEster Dillard along with Doug Davis on Your
Home for twenty four to seven News. The Black Information at Work
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