By JAMES LUMPKIN – Variety Writer
Every day, math department teacher Valerie Russell can be seen greeting students with a smile. But few know her story or the reason she teaches with such passion.
Math department teacher Valerie Russell is known for a variety of things among the students of Clarke Central High School. Students have heard stories about her unique approaches to teaching math. These tales include everything from quilting projects, to rapping about quadratic equations, to a form of math-oriented yoga. However, Russell’s reputation is that of a caring teacher who is endlessly willing to help her students succeed.
Russell says her first interaction with education came while she was raising her three children. “I had already started teaching when I was at home,” Russell said. Photo by Porter McLeod.
Russell says her infatuation with teaching began when she met one of her most influential role models as an elementary school student in Brooklyn, NY.
“My fifth grade teacher, Ms. Skurnick, was very loving, very caring. She just had a smile that made you want to do what she asked,” Russell said. “I fell in love with her.”
According to Russell, Skurnick’s care and dedication influences the way Russell strives to teach her students today.
“She gave me a science award at the end of the year,” Russell said. “I am not even sure if I deserved the award but she always made me feel so special.”
Growing up as a teenager in New York, Russell maintained a firm interest in her education. During her later high school years, she became particularly interested in a then-developing field: Computer Science.
“Being able to take that language and convert it into an algorithm the computer could understand was very easy for me,” Russell said. “My computer science teacher would talk about how much the career would pay, and that’s what really got me interested in writing (computer) programs.”
Russell graduated high school in 1975. She immediately moved to a racially-turbulent Charleston, S.C. to attend Trident Technical College with plans to attain a degree in computer science. Despite her enthusiasm about the field of work, Russell says her African-American heritage caused for racial discrimination from her peers, an element less present in her Brooklyn high school.
“I was not used to the racial stuff. My teacher made a comment that I would never be successful in computer science because I ‘didn’t have the background for it’,” Russell said. “It was just a whole different scenario that I had trouble handling. Instead of fighting the system, I just backed down and didn’t finish. I went for three years and quit.”
By the time Russell dropped out of college, she was married and pregnant with the first of her three children. She moved to Marietta, Ga. where she hoped to start a family. Russell says it was through the process of raising her children that she discovered her love of teaching.
“I just happened to stumble across teaching,” Russell said. “When my kids were at home, I taught them all to read, and I taught them the alphabet.”
In order to interest her children in learning, Russell tried to create unique activities to teach the basics of mathematics and reading.
“I made a game of it. They would start telling me words that they thought had ‘A’ in it.” Russell said. “We would do recipes at home. Every meal had to have something “A” in it.”
Today, Russell still regards her first years as a mother as the start of her teaching career.
“Maybe I had already started teaching when I was at home,” Russell said. “The first time I stood up in front of kids other than my own, it was very empowering.”
As her children grew up, Russell and her husband looked for ways to better the educational options presented to their children. However, the price of private education seemed an obstacle at first to Russell.
“There was a great Christian school down the street, but (I) could not afford to get them in,” Russell said. “So I went to inquire about job openings.”
Russell interviewed for a job at Cobb County Christian School as an after-hours custodian to offset the cost of her kids’ tuition.
“After I gave (the interview board) my resume, they noticed that I had been to college to major in Computer Science, which is math related.” Russell said. “The principal came and talked to me and asked if I would be interested (in teaching math). I was elated.”
Russell was given the weekend to prepare to start teaching. She studied day and night to make sure she could give her students the best education possible.
“I came in Monday morning fresh and ready to teach and when I stood up in front of the kids, I had such a feeling of accomplishment that made me feel good,” Russell said. “I was making an impact on their education.”
With a new found passion for teaching, Russell returned to college to attain a degree in education while still teaching at CCCS. Russell attended a two year bible college in Marietta, Ga.
“I didn’t have a degree but (CCCS) wanted to keep me,” Russell said. “They said if I stayed in school that they would support me.”
Russell graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Education.
“I was very thankful,” Russell said. “It told me that just because someone has a degree, it doesn’t mean they are a good teacher.”
After five years as a teacher at CCCS and after attending college, Russell took a job at an elementary school in Dekalb County for an additional five years. She also worked towards earning a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Georgia State College, and succeeded.
“I took one class a semester when my kids were young and two in summer,” Russell said.
“I knew I didn’t want to give up.”
After five years in Dekalb County, Russell moved to Athens to attend the University of Georgia, where she earned a Masters degree and later a Specialist degree in Education.
“I’ve been in school for 19 years,” Russell said. “I knew if I never started, I would never finish.”
As Russell experienced numerous hardships in order to receive a college education, she made it a personal mission to better the lives of her students by making sure they didn’t have to endure the same thing.
Math department teacher Valerie Russell combined her love of teaching with her mathematical knowledge to pursue the position that fit her best. Cartoon by Gabe Harper.
“I want to help kids feel good about themselves,” Russell said. “I never wanted kids to feel the way I felt.”
Russell says that she desires to teach her students that they are more than just students, but that they are human beings and their goals matter.
“I never want them to look at themselves as a grade on a paper,” Russell said. “By telling myself that, I had to (teach) that to my students.”
Russell attributes this vow to her belief system. She also aims to instill in her class a familial environment, where every student helps one another.
“I can let (my students) see that we can all achieve and the stronger ones can help the weaker ones,” Russell said. “You have to help each other rise. That’s what life is about, helping each other.”
Russell aims to teach her students the way she wanted her children to be taught. She treats every child with the same respect and understanding that she had with her own children.
“When I sent my kids to school I wanted them to have teachers that would love them,” Russell said. “I have to be the teacher I wanted my kids to have.”
Russell goes to great lengths to ensure every student gets a valuable education.
“When I give problem solving, I need to really address what is really going on in their lives so I can see what is relevant to them,” Russell said
To help all of her students learn equally, Russell tries to interest all of her students in learning with her attitude and special projects.
“She told us a story about how she had to work really hard to get an “A” in this one class so she expects a lot from us,” sophomore Yung Kipreos said. “She made math a lot more enjoyable for me.”
Many of her students enjoy her class because of her unique approach to teaching the math curriculum.
“I had a student that was disruptive every day, so I went up to him and asked him what he liked to do and he said rapping,” Russell said. “I said, ‘If you write a rap for those (math problems) I will use them as extra credit.’”
In some cases, Russell’s unique approach to one individual student influences her greater teaching style. Her interaction with this student in particular inspired her to create a class wide project centered around the idea of rapping about math.
“(His studying improved) so well that he made a B on the test,” Russell said. “That’s when I got the other kids involved. I said ‘you don’t have to do (math) alone, let us help you and do (math) as a class.’ I made him a leader.”
Russell created unique projects to help make math more enjoyable. These projects included quilting, rapping and math-inspired music videos.
“If you tap into something kids like to do, they do it,” Russell said. “Just having the opportunity to reach 25 and 30 kids every class gets me every time, that’s awesome.”
Russell takes her class and the success of her students very personally. She acknowledges that, in some cases, this dedication can cause pain. In order to connect with each student on a personal level, she strives to understand their background.
“It’s hard, sometimes I go home and cry.” Russell said. “I think teaching is more than just teaching. I realized that during parent conferences because my conferences turned into not only talking about grades but also about what was going on at home, so you could really see the person behind the grades.”
Russell’s dedication to her students have earned recognition from her co-workers, including math department head Joy Sapp.
“She cares about the kids. She took one student under her wing in particular and got her act together,” Sapp said. “She’s willing to give time after school without pay. She will come early and stay late for anyone. She’s good with the students because they know she is trying to help them learn.”
Through all of her personal experiences and challenges she has faced, Russell has learned to understand and pay special attention to each and every one of her students.
“I absolutely love this school. I love the people, I love the support,” Russell said. “I absolutely love waking up in the morning and coming to school to teach.”
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