What Counts Episode 5: When relationships add up
[Transcript]
Tafari
It definitely feels good to know you have people looking out for you. Then again, it also creates, like a sense of you have to accomplish things and you have to make it worth it, like you can't disappoint these people that are, you know, putting a lot of faith into you and speaking highly of you behind closed doors.
Danielle LeCourt
That's Tafari Moe, a recent graduate of Fort White High School in North Florida. Today, he's a freshman at Harvard University where he plays football and is thinking of studying economics. But when Celena Crews first met him, he was a quiet eighth grader with a lot on his shoulders. Back then, Celena had just been assigned an eighth grade algebra one class, a first for her in the middle of the COVID year.
Celena Crews
I'd always taught since 11th and 12th grade. Well, that year, they decided to give me a class of eighth grade algebra one students. So this group of eighth graders stay in my classroom. I had them first period, and I had this student who was part of that pre AP program that they had pulled some kids and gave them to the high school teachers for their eighth grade classes. It was interesting, because the kids were not told that they were going to be in that program. Like there wasn't really any parent or student communication. Like these kids showed up and here they are in these, you know, high school classes, with these high school teachers, with these high school expectations. I just remember him kind of wandering around the classroom a little bit like, trying to be cool, but, like, he was really, really capable. And I was like, we're not, you know, I'm not gonna let him, like, slip through the cracks.
Danielle LeCourt
He was doing what a lot of middle schoolers do, trying to blend in and to seem unfazed, and that also sometimes presented as behavioral issues, the kind that can make a kid easy to misread.
Celena Crews
When I met with the other teachers, they were all frustrated with him, and they were looking at behavior, and they felt like he had an attitude. And I was like, maybe reframe that as maybe the situation has given him some confidence, and he's not with any of his friends. He has been pulled into this group.
Danielle LeCourt
Basically, Celena saw a kid that was trying to protect himself, and she expressed that to her colleagues. That reframe changed how the adults around Tafari saw him, and it changed how he saw himself. It's the kind of perspective shift we've been tracing across the series.
Danielle LeCourt
This is What Counts, a podcast presented by Impact Florida and produced by De LeCourt as part of the Math Narrative Project. I'm Danielle LeCourt. Over the last four episodes, we've heard what that perspective shift looks like in classrooms across Florida. We started by asking what relationships have to do with math, and we've discovered that they're not extra, they're at the foundation of math instruction. We saw how emotion and belief shape math learning, and how daily acts of connection can build a lasting culture of trust. And in this final episode, we're going to bring all of that together through one story, Tafari’s story. Because when you trace a single student's path over time, you start to see how relationships add up, and not just for that student, but for everyone around them. So I was just about to wrap up my interview with Celena Crews, the North Florida math teacher we've heard from several times, and we'd been talking for over an hour, and then I remembered a quick aside she'd mentioned about a former student when we first met. So before we hung up, I asked if she might tell me a little more about him.
Celena Crews
I can tell that story. So, about what would it be like five years ago or so, and it was during the whole COVID thing. I taught at a six through 12 combined School. I'd always taught since...
Danielle LeCourt
This is where we first met Tafari at the beginning of this episode, back in that eighth grade algebra one class Celena had been unexpectedly assigned during covid.
Celena Crews
He came in, I could tell that he was very bright, but I could also tell that he didn't want others to know that he was very bright. We called this the pre AP program. So it was this group of eighth graders who were identified based on test scores and grades as being maybe a little more successful than their peers. They were the students who were probably going to make it into AP classes in high school.
Danielle LeCourt
But being labeled for your potential can be its own kind of pressure that first year meant new teachers, new peers, high school expectations. And for Tafari, a lot of eyes on him.
Tafari
There's been times, you know, in middle school where a guy in trouble with other teachers, maybe, and of course, like teachers would might, you know, teachers that communicate, so teachers might would have told her that, and she would like, kind of come back to me and, you know, ask me about the situation or whatever, and kind of just guide me on certain situations and what I should be doing and stuff like that. Fort White, overall, is a great community, and it's, it's very rural town, so a lot of people that might be doing bad things are, you know, might be your closest friends. You know, I might have been caught up in certain things throughout high school, especially like ninth, 10th grade, 11th grade.
Danielle LeCourt
Sometimes what looks like a behavior problem is really just a kid trying to hold everything together. Selena had a way of noticing that when others saw defiance, she saw signs of a student carrying more than most people realized.
Celena Crews
I don't know why. I don't know what it was that made me, like, see a spark in him so quickly. But I had to talk him up to the other teachers a little bit because, you know, they saw the kid who was, I think, trying to not be the smart kid, like not be, you know, perceived as, like, the nerdy kid or whatever.
Danielle LeCourt
Celena also noticed that tafaria was often hired. She didn't scold him for it, but instead she checked in, sensing there was more going on beneath the surface than a lack of focus.
Tafari
From through like eighth grade to 11th grade, I stayed at my friend's house because my dad would like, constantly have to work. So kind of bounce around a lot of places from where I was staying, like, from two to three homes, like, just kind of staying here, there during high school. I'll say that I'd go home, maybe on the weekends, maybe just to get clothes, things like that. So my mom was very supportive. And, like, of course, my dad's supportive too, but, you know, I have to work, and my mom lives three hours away. So I kind of didn't really have my mom and dad, like a lot sometimes, next to me, supporting me, but they all support me. But, you know, I just didn't see it at times because, like, what was going on in life, and I had to, you know, stay at different homes, and so that's kind of like one of the things I was dealing with.
Danielle LeCourt
Celena didn't always know what was happening outside of school, but she could tell when something into fire's world had shifted. When his focus slipped. She didn't write him off. She pulled him in closer.
Celena Crews
just always trying to, like, just be there and make sure that I know I just always, like, kept an
extra eye on him, just to make sure that I could reel him in, or go talk to a coach, or whatever,
and see, you know, if there was anything that I could help with, or anything that he needed.
Danielle LeCourt
That instinct to look deeper, to ask what might be getting in a student's way, is what defined her relationship with Tafari, and it's ultimately what kept him on track.
Tafari
Yeah, I could recount those times, and I could count recount like countless times. You know, I may have been sleeping through her class and kind of falling behind in the curriculum, and she'll pull me to the side and, you know, tell me that I can't be doing this, and this is not gonna work in college. But overall, I'll say Miss Crews was always a figure in my life who was kind of a motherly figure, and it was kind of to the point where I added accordingly and did everything I was supposed to do, because I would just feel no kind of shame to not uphold it, because how much faith and responsibility she put into me, I would feel like I'm letting her down. And that feeling was a very, you know, instrumental feeling for me like to do everything right.
Danielle LeCourt
That trust carried into the classroom. Over the years, Celena wasn't just teaching Tafari math.
She was helping him rewrite the story he told himself about who he was.
Celena Crews
I remember in AP pre cal, we were doing a lab, and he was paired up with some other kids, and I could tell that he wasn't really engaging, and so I kind of went over and sat by him. I'm like, what's going on? It's like, these kids are nerds. I don't want to be a nerd. I'm like, I got news for you. Nerds rule the world, and you are one. And that's not a bad thing, right? It's not a bad thing at all.
Danielle LeCourt
Do you remember that interaction? Do you remember?
Tafari
Yes, ma'am, I do. I do remember that. I can actually think back on it and see how helpful that was. Because, you know, being younger, and as we get older, you kind of see things for what they really are. And, you know, like, I'm going to Harvard, and I'm completely capable of transcending my life. And if I had to, you know, be in certain groups, it's no problems to me, because I understand, like, what's going on now. And Miss Crews helped me, kind of, fully see that. So I wouldn't say I struggle with that anymore.
Celena Crews
So I think, you know, part of my journey with him, was trying to get him to see that like it's okay to let people realize that you are super smart and super capable, and that's something to be proud of. And I know that that's hard, especially given the culture that we had going on at school. It wasn't necessarily celebrated like it should have been. So I always kind of kept that in my mind, and kind of kept an eye out for him to make sure he wasn't like, you know, slipping down the trying to be cool path too much that he was still staying on the, you know, the smart and capable path. And that you can do both, right? Be an example of someone who could do both. And the thing is, because of circumstances outside of school, he didn't do homework. So I was like, you need to come into my classroom before school or after school, I have snacks, whatever, like, you know, whatever I could do to, like, get him in and let's work on some of this stuff, right? It was interesting because, you know, the next year, so ninth grade, he had geometry honors, and his teacher, who is a former student of mine, it was like, towards the end of the year, it was time for, like, course recommendations, and the other teacher was like, Yeah, this student, he really wants to make sure he's in your class. He's like, I don't care what class you put me in. Put me with Miss Crews. And I thought that was super cool. I was like, okay, he came back for Algebra Two honors. You know, had some struggles along the way in terms of living situation. He was like couch surfing and all these different things. But I always made sure to make time to check in with him and identify that like I knew how successful he could be. And I think that year, if he had ended up in another teacher's classroom, and they didn't have that background within that relationship, they might not have seen his potential.
Danielle LeCourt
Are you seeing some themes here so far? Celena and Tafari's story touches on emotion, belief, identity and a rhythm of attention--the very elements we've been exploring throughout the series. It's what happens when a teacher doesn't just see a student's performance, but their potential and their circumstances and their humanity. And in Tafari's story, Celena made sure she wasn't the only one paying attention. She looped in other teachers, coaches and mentors, recruiting a network of adults who shared one goal, to help him see his own potential and stay the course.
Tafari
I had one other teacher who was my history teacher, I'll say. And then I have a wide array of different coaches, and you know who helped me throughout my high school too.
Celena Crews
So I went to his football coaches, and I was like, listen, I'm not sure exactly what's going on in his life right now, I learned some things to that conversation, I said, but I want you to know this kid has such incredible potential, like such potential. This kid, I remember, and his football coach even said something about this when he was he was doing a signing for Harvard, I was like, this kid could go to Harvard. But we had some sit downs. Coach had some sit downs. And I was like, listen, you can do whatever you want to do with your life.
Danielle LeCourt
So when Tafari finally made it, when the kid she once pulled aside in eighth grade algebra was accepted Harvard University, Celena wasn't the only one who felt it.
Celena Crews
Oh my gosh. I think I saw it on social media. First we were I think I was actually at Grad Bash, standing near our principal. Someone showed me that on social media, and I was with Miss Heike, who is another teacher who did a really good job of molding him and shaping him and keeping him on the right path. And we just both teared up. It was like so emotional and so exciting.
Danielle LeCourt
For a small rural town like Fort White, that news was almost unheard of.
Danielle LeCourt
Can you put into context with me, like, what does it mean for a kid from your area and that school to go to Harvard? Does that happen fairly commonly?
Celena Crews
So let me put this into context. Even the University of Florida, right? Hard school to get into. It's typically only our valedictorian that gets into U.F.. Our students, by and large, do not get into big universities. We'll have a couple, maybe last year, I think we actually had our two valedictorians and one other, she was like, third or fourth in her class, get accepted to the University of Florida. You know, I've had conversations with college recruiters, and they say that the school profile is one of the first things they look at. And when you're in this rural community that just doesn't have the opportunity that a lot of schools have, it affects the kids. It affects where the kids are able to go from here. So to have a student get into Harvard is huge. It's been a huge celebration for our school.
Tafari
I'm excited to see where I go to after this, because I guess growing up in a small town, you know, your brain kind of gets confined into your environment and what you're seeing every day and what everybody else is doing. So it'll definitely be refreshing for me to go up here and experience different things and be around like minded people who are doing the same things as me.
Danielle LeCourt
Stories like this one are the kind societies love to tell. And rightly so. They're rare, they're moving, and they remind us what's possible when belief compounds over time. But as extraordinary as Tafari's story is, it is also, admittedly, an outlier. Most stories of relationship and growth don't end with a Harvard acceptance. They happen quietly in the moments when a student decides to try again or when a teacher chooses to look a little closer.
Danielle LeCourt
These stories are dazzling. And they're entertaining, frankly. They're ...people love to hear stories like this. But I'm also leery of holding up stories like this too much, because most of us are not that. Most kids are not going to be that, you know? Like the majority of the time we spend doing our whatever it is, it's not going to be that guy, you know? So what would you say, you know, to yes, these it's got to feel like a tremendous achievement and a tremendous it's got to feel great for you to have this student, to have had that story. But what do you take from this story that applies to everyone that you teach?
Celena Crews
There are also stories... There's another young lady who was in this young man's same class, in my AP Calculus class, who comes from a really rough background, she didn't know that anything past high school was even an opportunity for her. You know, the family has no vehicle. She eats at school. She doesn't really leave the house, other than on the school bus, or, you know, all of these things that I could talk about that I discovered throughout the years. And she went from, you know, high school was going to be the end of her learning journey to discovering, you know, not only could she be really good at math, because she's really good at math, but that there are opportunities and there are pathways, there are transportation systems, like there are, because of her success, ways to get college paid for, and that, like, college is actually, like she could actually go to the local college and continue her education. And just seeing her go from "I'm not going to college" to "I can actually go to college, and I can actually keep learning." Those are the little things that aren't celebrated because they're not on a stage in the auditorium celebrating assigning to Harvard, right? Those are little things, little conversations that happen in the classroom. But for me, personally as a teacher, both of those stories have the same impact.
Danielle LeCourt
What I heard in how Celena spoke in her interviews, and how her students spoke about her, was how she brought the same attention and belief to every student every day.
Abi
She didn't have favorites in her class. Nobody got special treatment. I mean, her son was even in her classroom, and he didn't get special treatment.
Tafari
So good thing about Miss Crews, she doesn't show one student or another student more attention. Like she shows everyone in her class equal attention. Whether that's the best student in class who's making hundreds on all the tests, or that's the student who's, you know, falling behind, struggling on the test, she's going to show equal attention to everybody.
Celena Crews
Yes, the big, shiny Harvard, that's amazing, and everyone knows about it, right? They don't necessarily know about my journey with that student and being their math teacher for four out of the last five years of their education, except for, you know what he talked about during his signing, and that was amazing, right? But then there's the quiet... I don't I don't want to call it a smaller win and the quieter wins with this other young, young woman that I'm talking about, where she went from not seeing any life past high school to now realizing that she has opportunity and digging in and figuring out, trying to figure out, what does she want to go to school for and learning about all of these opportunities and realizing that she can change her family tree, that she doesn't have to continue to live in the way that she has lived... For me as a teacher, that is just as powerful, and I hold on to that in my heart just as much as the Harvard story.
Danielle LeCourt
When we began this journey, we asked: What do relationships have to do with math?
Sergio Luya
I feel like students walk into a math classroom with more shields and barriers than in most other subjects.
Kayla Fulghum
Math is scary. Math is hard.
Anna Stewart
I was ready to quit.
Celena Crews
Kids don't usually like cry in their other classes, but I can't tell you the number of kids I've had cry in math class.
Danielle LeCourt
And after hearing from teachers and students across Florida, the answer is clear: everything.
Celena Crews
Because it's not that they can't do the math, it's that they believe they can't do the math.
Claire Riddell
Trusting their teachers and building a relationship that is sustainable, that allows them to dig deeply into learning.
Sergio Luya
Ever since I started shifting my mentality from hardcore curriculum has to be completed and shifting it more towards like building the culture of my classroom, I even enjoy my job as a teacher more.
Danielle LeCourt
In the end, math is about patterns. And the most powerful pattern we've seen is human connection. It multiplies, it sustains, it's what counts. What Counts is a limited series podcast produced by De LeCourt in partnership with Impact Florida and as part of the Math Narrative Project. This series was written, hosted and produced by me, Danielle LeCourt. I and Gustavo Rosa did the audio editing. Original music and sound design were licensed through artlist.io. Special thanks to the teachers and students who shared their stories with us and to the solving with students cadre whose work inspired the series, Take care, everyone.
