“As a teaching artist,” said Jacquea Mae, a teacher at Assemble, “Something that I had to figure out within itself because it’s a process, is to trust yourself, be confident, never stop learning, and teach the child through the medium you create in.”
Jacquea has been a teaching artist at Assemble since 2017, being employed at Assemble the longest out of anyone besides Nina [Assemble’s Executive Director and Founder]. Before Assemble, she worked with 1Hood Media, a grassroots arts education program. “I’ve been working with kids since I was thirteen years old, so that’s over 20 years now. Back in 2016-2017, I was working with 1Hood Media, and they wanted to do a collaboration with YMCA Lighthouse and Assemble to teach children- or to help children expand on the power of Hip-hop, beat production, beat creation, and DJing. From there, I was asked to come back in as a guest artist and, you know, slowly but surely, I started working with Assemble.”
She takes great pride in the work she has done at Assemble, especially with the Afrofuturism program. “When I think of Afrofuturism, I think of the power to give children, especially black children, black and brown children, the opportunity to create their destiny in their own special way.”
“The pushback we’ve had from teachers and administrators who don’t know what to do with themselves, and the most honest conversation I’ve had is, just think about how many times you teach these kids that don’t look like you all these things about people that don’t look like them. Because that matters so much. And how are we gonna be able to tell kids to be motivated or be confident or to love themselves if they don’t have the tools that remind them why they should love themselves, why they should look at these individuals and see themselves? That right there is powerful.”
Like most good teachers, Jacquea cites other teachers as her greatest role models. “Dr. Kim El. I met her when I was thirteen years old, and she is a black woman who dared to be her full self, everywhere she goes. It was also funny because she’s a shorter in stature- a petite woman, but when she would recite a poem or spoke a word, it would make you feel like there’s this humongous person.” But as a teaching artist, Jacquea is also naturally inspired by the artists that came before her.
“Soul music, funk music, blues music, rock music, primarily I’m thinking Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, you know, it’s a process within itself because you start to find yourself in different kinds of music that remind you and resonate with you at the time of your life and what you are right then and there. But my teachers, there are so many of them. I would just call it the tribe, cause there’s so many of them, cause whenever I think of that, I think of so many different people that, if they didn’t pour in my cup, I wouldn’t be here.”
One of the primary challenges Jacquea has faced over the years is a familiar one to many teachers across the country: Keeping herself afloat. “I love being a teacher, but it doesn’t pay very well. I’m just being realistic. It is not good pay. I love what I do. I love love love it. But I would love to have a time when I’m not worried about money when it comes to my job because I’m not getting paid enough to do what I do.”
“That’s not just Assemble, that’s the country as a whole. The devaluation of teachers and direct care workers is stifling to the point where so many people have had multiple jobs just to keep themselves afloat, and that’s a problem, that’s a humongous problem.”
The teaching artist also mentioned how these problems are compounded because she is a black woman in America. “Especially teachers who are black and brown that already deal with so much, being black and brown in America, but then also being black and brown and being teachers in America. Cause my struggle’s a whole lot different than a white teacher. White teacher, automatically from the jump is gonna get paid more. I only get 68 cents to their 93. But then we gotta talk about– like, therapy’s 125 dollars an hour, and massages are a hundred bucks a piece, and then you gotta do these things every week, every month– who got the money for that?”
These struggles become food for Jacquea’s dreams, however. If she could, she would open up schools all over the world. She spoke of the conceit most Westerners have when they take on philanthropic efforts in the global south. “They don’t need us, they need money! It’s a saying but money means power here in America, it means power in the world! So, if that’s the case, give them the money. And education is a sad reason why most do not think outside the box or do not think beyond their little bubble–”
Jacquea is already taking steps to live out her dreams, traveling as frequently as she can, both to learn and to enjoy life. “Pittsburgh is way too damn small. And now I’ve got to a point where I gotta go somewhere every three or four months if that. Like, I just got back from Puerto Rico bruh. I’m going to Jamaica in October. I’m going to El Salvador in February. I’m not playing here, man. I’m out!”
As with any good teacher, Jacquea is full of stories about her students. She told me of a recent occurrence at Urban Academy Charter School that had a large impact on her. “One of my students in the class–I will not say her name–she was crying and her head was down. And I’m just like, ‘What’s wrong?’ And she’s not a talker, but she talks to me. I try to make sure that wherever I am when I’m working with kids, I create a safe space.” According to Jacquea, when the teacher creates a safe space for the student, the student relaxes when they see the teacher. That comfort allows for honesty and genuine conversation that too many schools are lacking.
“She’s talking, and she says, ‘You know what, I’m having a problem.’ I’m like ‘Okay,’ and I talk to the teacher and I’m like ‘Alright fellows, man the fort, I’m gonna step outside, I’m gonna have this young lady step into my office real quick.’ My office of course is the hallway cause I ain’t got no office.”
“And then she’s standing outside with me and she’s crying and I’m like ‘Okay, well, I’m gonna allow you to feel, so go ahead and feel.’ She’s like ‘you’re not gonna tell me to stop crying?’ ‘No. Why would I do that? Your feelings are just as valid as any other feeling that you may have. You wanna cry, baby, cry, okay?’” One of the main lessons Jacquea wants to teach her students is that it’s okay to feel your feelings. In her book, “That’s number one.”
As it turned out, the student’s uncle had cancer. “It hit me in my gut. My mother passed away from breast cancer. I know what that feels like. That hurts, it hurts a lot. And she feels like she’s powerless. And then I start crying. I’m just like, ‘I’m so sorry.’ She’s like, ‘Oh, now I made you cry.’ I said, ‘No, it’s okay, lovely. You didn’t do this on purpose.’” Later, Jacquea would help the child pray for her uncle, and then lead her back into the room to make a meaningful piece of art. To me, Jacquea’s superpower is undoubtedly her empathy; the way she transforms her past experiences into moments of learning and connection.
In addition to empathy, one of the many talents Jacquea displayed in my interview with her was her ability to see things for what they are. In her advice for other teachers, she encourages people not to take the status quo of teaching for granted. “Don’t believe that you have to do this rigid– like, ‘Oh, I’ma teach just the way I was taught,’ let’s be honest, what we were taught, how we were taught, it’s bullshit! It was bullshit. If we had a choice, we wouldn’t learn this way! I remember the boring, asinine classes- with the projector, ‘If you look up here-’ No one wants that shit in real life! You know what I’m saying?”
Her last words of wisdom have to do with mistakes, and how we react to them around children. “Don’t be afraid to tell a child sorry.” Jacquea said, “They don’t hear it often enough. They need to hear that us adults, as much as we’re adults, we can make fucking mistakes and we can be wrong! When you’re wrong, just say sorry to that child. Say, ‘I apologize, can you please forgive me?’” She commented on the fact that recently, she made a child cry when she apologized to them, which just goes to show how much it means to kids to see adults apologize.
It’s easy to see the value that people like Jacquea bring to the table. Empathetic, ambitious, perceptive people are too rare these days, especially in the field of education. Perhaps someday, we will have schools filled with teachers that children are comfortable around, who engage them emotionally in the material, who are altruistic in their pursuit of common good, and who aren’t afraid to say sorry when they make a mistake.
By Yousuf Lachhab