Beyond the Blackboard

One person can
make a difference by serving their community!

Stacey's first week at the school. How were the school with No Name and its students different from what she expected? what was the reaction to these differences?

A young woman named Stacey Bess, wife and mother of two children, who lives in Salt Lake City, has a dream: to be a teacher. After finishing her career is about to take her first teaching job.
With the school year already started, Stacey took a job at "a school without name", where she hopes to teach homeless children in first through sixth grade in the same classroom. Despite seeing the difficulty of teaching a number of students from different grades,she was excited for the opportunity and with seriousness and professionalism, she prepares for his first day. However, her dream and expectations became disappointment and confusion when she arrived and found that the "classroom" was a dirty warehouse, with a couple of books shattered, a desk, chairs and broken lair of a rat . At first Stacey was eager to ask for your hand, wanted to talk to the person who had given her the space to make sure it was in the right place; however, on that day she could not.

In the beginning of the film, Stacey said “school was a safe place with a glimpse of who I wanted to be.” How did her determination change the environment of the shelter school and her students?

Everything changed because she really loved what she was doing. She really loved to teach, and that helped her to make the difference. There we can see the importance of definition of purpose, and with effort we can accomplish everything we really want.

Stacey tried to relate to her new students by showing them a photo album of her family and talking about her life. The kids could not relate to her pictures and experiences.

Why not?

They could not relate to her pictures because they realized their life was different in every sense. Life for the homeless rarely seems to end with everything hunky dory, for some people things improve, for a lot they just go downhill quickly. Nevertheless, Stacey encourages students to share their personal stories, which more than teaching is a healing experience for them. Stacey makes a life for these children. she quickly realized that it can never be all about academics for these children, she first must get them to trust her and provide a warm, safe environment for them and their parents, many of whom are skeptical at the beginning. In response to the interest and affection of Stacey, students begin to bloom, demonstrating his great thirst for learning. The lesson is obvious. Many work for wages. It is inspiring to find real people who work by vocation and therefore are willing to go beyond their responsibility and that's what makes the difference between one person and another. Those who comply with the minimum, as the former teacher, just run away frustrated. Those who decide to do something, become the milestone that makes a difference to the lives of people.

A motivated person with a vision can make a difference. Sometimes we tend to forget, especially when we wait for others to change situations and we are only spectators or reactionary.

DISCUSS SOME OF THE LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE STUDENTS.  WHAT TYPE OF ADVERSITIES DID THEY FACE PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY? HOW DID THEIR POVERTY MAKE LEARNING MORE DIFFICULT?

Well, we agree that Stacey’s pupils were a situation out of this world. Some of them, tried to learn but they had some difficulties to do it. That’s why learning was so complicated for them. They tried to learn, and sometimes they were in class, and a mother came and interrupts their studies.

At the beginning, parents did not care about their children studies; they did not paid attention about what they were doing that was why learning could not take place. They faced some difficulties with their parents because some of them were addicted to drugs and many other things. Their poverty was something hard that affected their studies, sometimes they came to classes without taking breakfast that was why she brought breakfast to them to make learning happen. If they do not eat, they will not be concentrated in class. Because of that she did that.

With the pass of the time, they were very interested in learning new things, because she made a good environment in the classroom. We learned a lot through this movie, and we will never forget the things that she did in order to make learning happen.

The classroom initially came with almost no supplies and little support from school board officials and reluctant parents. Despite these challenges, Stacey Bess was able to create a warm, safe place for the children to learn. In addition, she was able to earn the support and respect of parents and administrators.

Stacey Bess  was not intimidated by anything or anyone, even when she came to the shelter anything stopped her from trying to make children feel in a real school, they felt relieved to get there and most importantly, that for a moment forget the problems they had with their parents. Stacey came to gain credibility and affection of both children and parents, who were at first incredulous that a young woman could push through school. She only looked for resources and did not mind spending out of pocket to buy paint and materials in order that the classroom became a nice place. The children began to believe in her, to love her and when others realized that she was making things began to give their support so much so that one day they finally had received tables, chairs and books. That image is shocking, is a reflection of that every effort is rewarded, and Stacey achieved its objective by speaking with the district superintendent to intercede for children.

Resourcefulness is the ability to find a way to solve problems in a difficult situation. What creative solutions did Stacey find to transform The School with No Name? How did she overcome the lack of supplies, environmental distractions and other issues?

She invested her spare time in redecorating the classroom, enlisting the adults to assist her. She also found an ally in the school district's empathetic superintendent, who helped her get the desks and books that her students needed and even donated his own family's piano. In their refurbished classroom, Stacey encouraged the students to share personal stories, which was often a healing experience for them. 

She convinced her students that they could trust her, and even she took one kid (Maria) into her own home because her father was thrown out of the homeless shelter, due to his drinking. She taught them that their job was to go to school, and to help their brothers and sisters.

The most important thing is that she went out of her comfort zone to help others.  So the parents started to show interest because they noticed that the teacher had improved the classroom, that their children were learning a lot of thing even they were learning to pain.She did not give up on the obstacles that were very hard, because what she felt in her heart was a deep love for her vocation.
One person can make a difference, is the message of this extraordinary film.

Stacey taught her students how to behave in classroom because some of her students were out of control. She started teaching them values as respect, honesty, and many other values that of course would help learning happen. Because of the lack of respect, she started teaching her students how to behave in class in a very good way. The only thing that she wanted is to have good students.

Through time, she gain confidence with her students, and they started to participate and give their opinion to her teacher. we can see that with patient all in this life can be possible.