Every student wants a teacher like Mr. Roberts, a Black man with an electric energy. The type of teacher that dedicates his life to the betterment of his students while teaching them good ethics and how to mature themselves into good adults. As he packs up his room on his final day one of his past students comes back to conduct an interview with him. As the interview continues the realization is clear, any teacher worth their weight in gold is more than just a teacher. Mr. Roberts was a speech and debate coach. He talks about how his career started, through all of his wins and losses as a human being as well as a coach, he in no uncertain terms shares his soul. But when his ethics and morals are challenged it forces him to reflect back on all of the things that he fought through to become the coach that he was in that moment. Someone that definitely didn't deserve to be accused of anything other than loving, teaching, and supporting his students. What we learn more than anything else is that even the most dedicated teacher can find themselves in a bad situation that makes them realize that though he may not have been ready he needed in this moment to leave. Leave education, leave his classroom, and unfortunately leave the students that he potentially could have positively affected. One of the greatest gifts that Mr. Roberts gives his students is his reality that he as an educator has the power to change lives and he will always take that responsibility very seriously. A story of the heartache and hardships of being a Black teacher and the weight that it can carry. *Performer needs to be African American.
The Untold Story
(Scene opens with Mr. Roberts, a Black man in his mid-fifties. He is wise and loving. He stands in his classroom just surveying the area. A man with a lot of stories that he has never been asked to share. Someone enters, he is excited. He moves with an energy that makes you want to stop, pull up a chair and listen. It is an interview. He hands a cup of tea to the interviewer that he smiles at lovingly. Laughs.)
Never thought I would see the day; someone wants to interview me. (smiles) This is a first, but I am an open book (being smart ass) not that anyone wants to read this old book of tea, but since you’re here, aww hell we night as well. Ask away. (beat as he listens) Good way to start, why did I become a speech coach? (beat) Umm, Lord how honest do you want me to be? (laughs) Honestly, I had a very horrible high school speech coach. She was horrible- in all capital letters. But what she was good at, it’s something the young coaches miss, she knew that the speech and debate was good for Black kids. Now, she couldn’t tell you why, didn’t know the events, and we were all self-taught by observation. But it made me realize that this thing, this standing in front of people and sharing pieces of someone else’s life, provides children not just Black children but gay children, straight children, White children it provided all children with a voice and one of the things that we talk about is how can you build a great future if you don’t create children to be the bricks of that future. The three little pigs had choices, but we all know which house was the strongest. (smiles as he watches the interviewer take that down) Did you get that little nugget; we call the good stuff, nuggets of priceless information. Get your pen ready, they just come to me sometimes. (laughs)