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  • What would make someone want to move from California to become

  • a middle school teacher in one of the poorest

  • areas of Baltimore, Maryland?

  • Take a look.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • Go over to your worksheet now.

  • Can you read that question up at the top nice and loud for us?

  • Hi.

  • My name is Wyatt Oroke, but my kids call me Mr. O.

  • And I'm the humanities teacher at City Springs Elementary

  • Middle School in Baltimore.

  • There are neighborhoods within Baltimore

  • that have been under-resourced and underserved

  • for centuries based on political decisions made,

  • be it segregated housing or redlining

  • certain neighborhoods.

  • And so what that has led to is that our students

  • come from the highest poverty rates out of any school

  • in Baltimore City.

  • Since I've been teaching, I've had

  • students who have been homeless every single year.

  • I lost a student to gun violence.

  • I've had a couple students give birth to children.

  • One of them went into labor in my classroom.

  • And so for me, it's trying to show as much empathy

  • as I can, and just be a listening ear.

  • A lot of times, what our students like

  • is just someone to hear them.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • Growing up in Baltimore has been very challenging.

  • It just made me strong and independent.

  • And my mother always told me to be independent.

  • Baltimore has a lot of people with big dreams.

  • I want to graduate college so that I

  • can change a lot of things.

  • Our principal, our school staff, all our teachers really

  • love our students.

  • And having them function from that strong place of love

  • has meant that our students get a lot of support

  • on a daily basis.

  • I buy a lot of independent reading books for my students.

  • I believe that the smartest people in the world

  • carry a book with them at all times.

  • And that's what I tell my students.

  • So anytime a kid asks me if they can get a book,

  • I'm always like, yeah, I can go on Amazon right now

  • and order it.

  • That's important to me.

  • There are so many times where I wish I could do more.

  • You know, I wish I could say that all my middle schoolers

  • who graduated are still in high school.

  • That's not the case.

  • I wish I could say every family that's

  • asked me for help I've been able to provide that help for.

  • And that's not the case.

  • I can't sleep a lot at night because I

  • think so much about my students and what they're going through,

  • and whether I did enough for them that day.

  • Teaching is an honor.

  • I know that my community here in Baltimore

  • has given me the responsibility to educate their children.

  • And that is something I don't take lightly at all.

  • I want to go to my dream college, UCLA, and be a doctor.

  • I want to become a photographer and video editor.

  • --to become a contractor.

  • I want to be a veterinarian so that I

  • can give back to my city.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • I do what it takes.

  • From Baltimore, Maryland, please welcome Mr. O.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

  • Hello, Mr. O.

  • Hi.

  • Hi.

  • [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

  • You got me a mess already--

  • I know.

  • [INAUDIBLE]

  • Because we surprised you.

  • You didn't know you were gonna be on the show.

  • I had no idea until minutes ago.

  • And then they were like oh, by the way,

  • you're going to sit in that chair

  • that you're watching right now.

  • I couldn't handle it.

  • Couldn't handle it.

  • Well, You're awesome.

  • You're amazing.

  • Thank you.

  • I mean--

  • The kids are amazing.

  • --you're amazing.

  • It's the kids.

  • It's all the kids.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • So-- and you know, I love teachers.

  • And you say that teaching there has changed you.

  • How so?

  • I've been teaching for five years now,

  • and it has shaped the way I view the entire world.

  • It's shaped me as a person.

  • It's helped me understand patience and resilience.

  • And the honor to teach children every day

  • is something that is just unbelievable that I've

  • been given that great honor.

  • And how do you motivate them?

  • So it's a 30% dropout rate, is that right?

  • In the community that I work with.

  • Yeah, in the community.

  • So how do you motivate them?

  • How do you keep them interested?

  • It's all about opening doors for our students

  • and giving them points of access that they might not normally

  • have, whether it's meeting someone they wouldn't normally

  • get to meet, going somewhere they

  • wouldn't normally get to go.

  • I believe the more access points we can give them the better

  • experience they'll have.

  • So what are the biggest challenges

  • facing you in City Springs?

  • Access to opportunities.

  • You know, it's 2017 in America, and we

  • have kids who don't have equal access to opportunities.

  • And I get very emotional about that because it's not fair.

  • It's not fair that we aren't able to always provide

  • enough access to resources, enough books for our students,

  • enough field trips that they can go on.

  • And so access to opportunities is a huge challenge

  • that we face every day.

  • And your goals for your students are what?

  • Well, my short-term goal is to get them those opportunities,

  • be it meeting a city councilman, the state's attorney

  • came in and visited them, so meeting

  • people who will change their lives for the better.

  • Mhm.

  • And then long-term, it's to have them give back to Baltimore

  • in the way that suits them best.

  • You know, Chantelle wants to be a veterinarian,

  • and wants to open a veterinarian hospital in Baltimore

  • because she says there are stray dogs and cats that

  • need my help here, or the students who

  • want to become lawyers or doctors,

  • and they don't want to do what across the world

  • or across the country, they want to do it in their community.

  • Yeah.

  • And that's just amazing for me.

  • We're back with Wyatt, or Mr. O. And his mom's in the audience.

  • You didn't even know she was gonna be here.

  • I had no idea.

  • So, yeah.

  • What a great kid you raised.

  • He's a good guy.

  • All right, so when you hear-- we just

  • watched the tape before you came out about your students

  • and what they want to be when they grow up.

  • You know, it must make you think, well, then I

  • have to continue to do this, because they

  • have to actually-- she has to become a vet.

  • It's so true.

  • What happens in classrooms today impacts what

  • happens in the world tomorrow.

  • Like, I honestly believe that.

  • If you fill your classroom with love today,

  • you're gonna fill the world with love tomorrow.

  • Yep.

  • And so--

  • [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

  • It's amazing.

  • That's so great.

  • And so true.

  • So true.

  • Well, thanks to Cisco video technology,

  • we're gonna check in with Jeannie

  • who's with some of your students right now.

  • And-- hi.

  • [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

  • Oh my god.

  • Hey, everybody.

  • Oh, here's a latecomer.

  • Oh, that's [? Kane. ?] Hi, [? Kane. ?] Oh my god.

  • Hi, [? Kane. ?] Hi, everybody.

  • All right, so I wanted to ask you

  • guys what Mr. O means to you.

  • So tell me what he means to you.

  • To me, Mr. O is family.

  • And I've been here since kindergarten,

  • and him and this school really helped

  • me understand that what I do now will impact my future.

  • Mr. O to me is very trustworthy.

  • I can trust him with all my issues and challenges

  • that I go through at home.

  • And he give such great advice that I

  • don't have to go through those challenges anymore.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • So--

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • --so it must mean everything to you

  • to know you have this guy in your corner,

  • and that he wants to see you succeed.

  • That must really help you.

  • Yes.

  • It means everything to me that Mr. O has my back,

  • and he's always here.

  • And Mr. O is helping me achieve my big dream

  • and rewrite history in our own way,

  • and show that people-- there's more to Baltimore

  • than meets the eye.

  • Mr. O, he's very important to me because I don't have

  • the support system at home.

  • Like when I come from school and go home,

  • I don't, like, really have no one there.

  • So to have, like, Mr. O there at school in the morning,

  • and like, it's just very supportive.

  • And it's like I appreciate it a lot.

  • And this is why we all love him, because he's just

  • very supportive.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • I love them so much.

  • All right.

  • Well--

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • Shutterfly cares about supporting schools in need,

  • and they want to give your school a check for $25,000.

  • [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

  • I think they have it there.

  • Oh my god.

  • [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]

  • Oh, my god.

What would make someone want to move from California to become

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