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Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Dear Hannah: LEarning (Fine Fellowship vs. Formal Containment (Knowing Who Reads You and Why)) (1676 Words)






 

I. The Share

I decided to share two essays … both written as extensions of my journey toward peace and purpose … with two pastors who serve in different capacities at our church.

I had written Dear Hannah: LEarning (Reaching Out (Iron Men 10-5-2025)) and Dear Hannah: LEarning ("Fine Fellowship": A Grace-Based Approach to Growth) to capture the tension and tenderness that live in the same space when a person seeks to grow in grace … while navigating mistrust, containment, and calling.

I shared them because I believed they could provide clarity … context … and connection.

I did not share them to impress.

I shared them to express.

These essays document what I see, feel, and attempt to reconcile between faith, work, and creativity.

They are a testimony in progress.

What happened next revealed how the same words can produce different worlds … depending on who receives them and how they read.


II. Pastor #1 — Containment by Courtesy

The first recipient … Pastor #1 … is the newly installed youth pastor … “thirty-something” … gifted and energetic … but still finding his way within a structure that prizes hierarchy.

I approached him carefully … because I have lived long enough to know that “new” leadership often confuses initiative with insubordination.

I wanted to be seen as a servant … not a subject.

I wanted to share my heart without handing over my autonomy.

His reply began kindly.

“Thanks for sharing brother! I love your writing style! Very descriptive but not long-winded.”

The compliment was genuine but also calculated.

It softened what followed.

His next line changed the tone … “I can tell that you reflect and process best through writing. I love the approach for conversations and discipleship that you describe. I will count our conversation as your desire to continue on with serving.”

That one sentence reframed everything. My essays were not treated as insight … but as evidence.

He “counted” my creative offering as proof of compliance … as a sign of subordination.

My act of transparency became his administrative confirmation.

The next line reinforced the shift … “At some point, I will get some ink from you on the expectations just for the formality.”

The emphasis on “ink” and “formality” reminded me that he saw me as someone to be managed … not partnered.

I had offered testimony … and received a transaction.

Then came the question that completed the tone … “Also, will your wife be continuing to serve as well?”

The inclusion of my wife expanded the sphere of supervision.

What had begun as a conversation about spiritual formation had become a procedural checklist.

His decision to copy his “team” and the new senior pastor on his reply converted the entire exchange into an artifact of oversight.

What could have been private reflection became public documentation.

His response was not hostile.

It was administrative.

But that distinction matters little when administration replaces empathy.

I felt a familiar chill … the subtle tightening that comes when bureaucracy dresses itself in benevolence.

I was reminded of previous experiences with “containment” … where creative initiative was reinterpreted as potential disruption.

The language of “serving” replaced the language of fellowship.

I was no longer being read as an artist of faith … but as a worker whose passion required management.


III. Pastor #2 — Fellowship through Curiosity

On the same day … I shared the same essays with another pastor … Pastor #2 … who leads the 8 a.m. service and mentors young men each Wednesday.

I had long admired his calm presence and his ability to connect across generations.

I had seen him sit with young men … listen carefully … and respond with patience that resembled mentorship more than management.

When I explained that I would send him some of my writing, he received the offer warmly.

His written reply carried a different spirit entirely:

“Good afternoon, Derrick, thanks for sharing and we really need to get together and just chat. I am interested in many of the same things that you guys are doing. I am a musician as well and like to dabble in digital music creation in my home studio. I am looking to build a platform that provides digital content to our youth of today that puts God front and center. I am in the process of trying to complete my second Master’s degree in Biblical Counseling and an internship that I am doing with Liberty Church through Liberty University. I would love to just have an opportunity to hear your heart and see where we may be able to collaborate.”

His tone was conversational … self-revealing … and collaborative.

He was not merely acknowledging receipt … he was reciprocating reflection.

He was telling me who he was … what he was building … and why my writing resonated.

His mention of digital music confirmed that he had visited my blog.

He had seen the layers … the intersections between faith, art, and pedagogy.

He met me where I live.

This was “fine fellowship” in practice … two practitioners finding common ground through shared curiosity.

He did not request ink or impose expectations.

He invited dialogue.

He positioned himself as a learner too … mentioning his current degree and internship.

That disclosure communicated humility.

I read his email not as containment … but as connection.


IV. The Lesson Beneath the Language

The contrast between these two responses became a study in tone … power … and perception.

Pastor #1’s email felt like a memo.

Pastor #2’s email felt like a meeting of minds.

Both men are ministers … both speak the language of faith … but one writes like a manager and the other like a musician.

Tone is theology.

The first reply revealed a belief that leadership begins with control.

The second revealed a belief that leadership begins with listening.

The first invoked “expectations.”

The second invoked “collaboration.”

One communicated hierarchy.

The other communicated harmony.

Neither man was malicious … but their instincts diverged.

Pastor #1 wrote as though the purpose of communication was confirmation.

Pastor #2 wrote as though the purpose of communication was conversation.

Their responses exposed how organizational culture shapes spiritual tone.

I learned again that how a leader communicates is often more revealing than what he communicates.

Some leaders seek order more than understanding.

Others seek alignment more than authority.

One manages reflection through documentation … the other cultivates reflection through dialogue.


V. My Emotional Reading

When I read Pastor #1’s message, I felt the immediate tightening that comes when formality enters a space that had been sacred.

I could sense my internal guard rising.

His decision to copy the senior pastor confirmed that he saw himself as gatekeeper.

I felt myself shrinking into carefulness.

I reminded myself that courtesy can coexist with control.

When I read Pastor #2’s message, I felt the opposite.

My breathing slowed.

My guard lowered.

His tone invited rather than evaluated.

His curiosity mirrored my own.

I saw in him a fellow traveler who recognized that creativity and faith share the same rhythm.

His letter made me want to reply.

It reminded me why I write.

The contrast revealed the range of outcomes when art meets authority.

The same message … the same links … produced containment in one inbox … and curiosity in another.

This is why discernment matters.

Every reader brings an agenda.

Every reply reveals alignment or avoidance.


VI. Reading as Relationship

To share writing is to share self.

The reader becomes participant.

Pastor #1’s reading was evaluative … a search for procedural cues.

Pastor #2’s reading was immersive … a search for resonance.

One read my words for what they confirm.

The other read my words for what they mean.

This difference reminded me of my classroom.

Some students read assignments to finish.

Others read to find themselves.

Both complete the task … but only one grows.

The pastors’ replies mirrored that pattern.

Pastor #1 read to maintain order.

Pastor #2 read to discover opportunity.

Reading becomes a mirror.

When someone responds to your work, they reveal their interpretive posture … faith in structure or faith in relationship.

To share art is to conduct an experiment in trust.

I learned that lesson again this week.


VII. The Aftermath and the Awareness

Tonight, I will meet with Pastor #2 before youth service.

Pastor #1 will be preaching.

The scene itself carries symbolism … one voice proclaiming from the pulpit … another listening quietly in conversation.

Both roles matter … but I know where I belong.

I belong in the dialogue … in the place where learning breathes.

I am aware that I may need to navigate both spheres … the institutional and the interpersonal.

My task is not to judge … but to discern how much energy each deserves.

I cannot afford to confuse “fine fellowship” with “formal containment.”

One restores … the other restrains.

I will respond to both pastors with grace … but my gratitude will be weighted toward the one who met me as an equal.

Pastor #2 reminded me that peace grows where curiosity replaces control.


VIII. Closing Reflection

The experience of sharing these essays affirmed that writing is not only reflection … it is revelation.

It reveals who reads with open hands and who reads with closed fists.

It teaches me that my responsibility is to write clearly … share wisely … and interpret faithfully.

Pastor #1’s reply reminded me that oversight often travels with suspicion.

Pastor #2’s reply reminded me that fellowship can still find its voice.

Both letters belong to my story.

Both inform my next move.

I will continue to write.

I will continue to reach.

I will continue to learn what my words teach about the world around me.

I know now that the same message can be read as service or synergy … as compliance or calling.

My task is not to control interpretation … but to maintain integrity.

That is what fine fellowship requires … not uniformity, but honesty … not authority, but authenticity.

Selah.



Support Our Work - Buy Our Other Podcast Series (SEE BELOW)!

 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
"Daddy's Home" (2018)

(The "Follow The Leader (changED - Volume 2)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com) 

(The "changED (Volume 1)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com) 



About Derrick Brown (Standup Storyteller)

 

 

I am Keisha's husband, and Hannah's father.

I am a “standup storyteller.”

I fuse rap, spoken word (poetry), oration (traditional public speaking), singing, and teaching into messages of hope, healing, and change that I write, direct, and produce to help people who help people.

Everything must change - and stay changED.

Tradition begins and ends with change.

Change begins with me and the renewing of my mind ... then continues through efforts to effect small-group discipleship (equipping others to equip others) with audiences that respect and embrace mentoring, mediation, and problem solving as tools of change.

I am the product of my mentoring relationships, peacemaking (and peacekeeping), and problem-solving ability.

My education began when I finished school.

After school, I enrolled in a lifelong curriculum that includes classes in ministry, entrepreneurship, stewardship, literacy, numeracy, language, self-identity, self-expression, and analysis / synthesis.

My projects execute a ministry that has evolved from wisdom earned through lessons learned.

I want to share this wisdom to build teams of "triple threat" fellows - mentors, mediators, and problem solvers.

We will collaborate in simple, powerful ways that allow us to help people who help people.

I now know that power is work done efficiently (with wise and skillful use of resources, interests, communication, and expertise).

Copyright © 2025 Derrick  Brown. All Rights Reserved.
 
 

 


 
 






Tuesday, October 21, 2025

Dear Hannah: LEarning (Knowing What I Do Not Know ... Taking The PSAT) (1552 Words)





 

Knowing What I Do Not Know(Taking the PSAT) (1552 Words) 

(52nd Day of School — October 21, 2025)

By Derrick Brown (Join Our Mailing List!)

 

I. Seeing the Whole Picture

Today began with new information that reframed old confusion.

I learned that <snip> was <snip>’s co-teacher in his regular geometry class … and that <snip>  is an “honors” literature student who also takes engineering, architecture, and construction electives … yet remains a “regular” math student enrolled in my support class.

On paper, <snip> appears serious … structured … elite. In practice, <snip> floats between worlds … more silly than serious … more defensive than disciplined.

This duality helped me name a pattern that <snip> and I had both observed.

Some students become dual citizens … honored in one realm … and honorless in another.

They want to “be down” with the crowd … while “talking down” … to the same crowd.

They want the comfort of belonging … and the currency of distinction.

<snip>  is learning how easily the two collapse into contradiction.

<snip>  carries a similar passport … but travels with more awareness.

<snip>’s balance shows that identity crises can still become classrooms for growth.

I am grateful for <snip>’s thought partnership … for helping me recognize what my intuition had already whispered.

Understanding this tension has become essential to my own peace.

It is easier to extend grace once I understand the geography of confusion.


II. Testing and Fine Fellowship

Day Two of geometry testing was rough … but not ruinous.

There was fine fellowship … small laughter … and visible learning.

Students who usually hide behind noise began walking up to me with questions.

Even the ritual phrase “I am confused” became an invitation rather than an evasion.

I practiced redirecting confusion into curiosity … answering without absolving … guiding without carrying.

One of the day’s funniest moments came when several asked whether “E” could be the correct answer … though the bubble sheet listed only A, B, C, and D.

I smiled … paused … and waited.

After a beat they laughed … “Ohhh!”

That sound … the laughter of recognition … is the teacher’s truest applause.

In 1B, I spoke with DN about perpendicular lines and midpoints … how every point on a line segment is not necessarily the midpoint … and how precision distinguishes geometry from guesswork.

That short conversation felt like the day’s heartbeat.

It reminded me that meaning survives fatigue … when relationship carries it.

By 3B, the mood had lightened enough for reflection.

I realized that yesterday’s PSAT discussion deserved a sequel … a practical bridge between concept and conduct.

So I wrote and filmed a 10-minute video titled Knowing What I Do Not Know (Taking the PSAT).

Its purpose was simple … to turn philosophy into strategy … and anxiety into awareness.


III. Filming the Lesson

The shooting script began with invitation ....

“Let me show you something. This time tomorrow, many of you will be taking the PSAT.”

The PSAT … the Preliminary SAT (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test … is a “mirror” of skill and character.

It measures not only content … but composure.

It tests aptitude … attitude … and altitude.

Aptitude is ability … attitude is resilience … altitude is what the journey yields.

Success requires honesty … strategy … and preparation.

I told them that honesty means admitting what one knows and does not know.

Strategy means organizing that admission into action.

Everyone knows something … no one knows everything.

Therefore knowing what one does not know becomes a compass.

I offered a three-level system:

·         Level 1: I know how to approach this and can solve it quickly.

·         Level 2: I know the path … but it will take time.

·         Level 3: I do not know how to begin.

Do the “Level 1’s” first … return to the “Level 2’s” … skip the “Level 3’s.”

Honest triage beats reckless pride.

An honest mind earns a strong score.

A dishonest one learns the hard way … that the best lies sound true.

I explained how reading problems and math problems share a single language … that words and numbers both demand logic.

One problem might ask for an antonym … another for a synonym … another for relationship … another for inference.

Each requires translation.

Then I said the math section “tells (all) your business.”

It reveals whether understanding lives only in memory … or also in method.

I showed 2 “difficult” math problems students might label as “Level #3” and skip … that could become “Level #2” with courage.

Both problems were brought to my attention by students in the classes that participated in my PSAT review

One student had the humility to admit confusion … then the patience to be taught … and learn how to solve the problem.

Another had the courage to ask … but lacked the humility to listen … and therefore walked away unteachable.

The camera caught me saying “This is one to skip … but let me …” … and then watching the student “escape” mid-sentence.

That is how pride interrupts learning … and how reflection preserves it.

I concluded the video with advice that felt like confession.

“The best lies sound true. To thine own self be true … especially on the PSAT. So hunker up … hunker down … and humble up. Good luck tomorrow … and better skill.”

When I finished editing … I realized that the speech was less about a test … and more about my life.


IV. The Hallway and the Phone Call

Later in the hallway I saw JW again.

I asked the same question that had silenced him yesterday … “Why did you come to me for tutoring [instead of  going to formal after-school tutoring].”

This time he answered without audience … and truth arrived in its simplest form.

He said that DL told him that DL used to come to my tutoring all the time.

JW wanted the same service … the same “exception.”

When I refused to repeat a favor … that was never a favor to begin with … JW’s ego interpreted equity as insult.

Now I understood the attitude … and could release the anger.

That evening my former evaluating administrator called.

Earlier in the day he had approached a colleague I was speaking with … delivered his trademark fist bump (to the colleague) … then waited for acknowledgment that never came.

I looked straight ahead and offered none.

The call that followed could mean many things … concern from parents … “curiosity” about my teaching methods … or a reaction to my private comment (made to another colleague) that I may need to take a break for my own health.

It is what it is.

I will not pretend peace where pain remains.

I refuse to fake public harmony to hide private harm.


V. What the Day Taught

Today taught me that testing reveals truth beyond scores.

Some students mirror their teacher’s fatigue … others mirror their teacher’s faith.

Awareness is the difference.

To know what I do not know is to be both teacher and student … both observer and participant … both coach and case study.

The PSAT became a parable.

Each bubble represents a choice between ego and honesty.

Each question offers three possible responses … ready … willing … or resistant.

The students who approached with openness left lighter … those who hid behind snark left unchanged.

My own growth came in the space between … where I finally learned to answer without arguing … and to observe without absorbing.

Dual citizenship exists not only in students … but in teachers.

I, too, live between worlds … the world of structure and the world of spirit … the world that rewards containment and the world that requires creation.

My task is to translate between them without losing integrity in either language.


VI. Knowing What I Do Not Know

I do not yet know how long I can remain in a system that measures obedience more carefully than understanding … but I do know that every reflection strengthens my resolve to finish honestly.

I do not know whether a health break will become necessary … but I do know that health and peace are non-negotiable.

I do not know what students will remember about today … but I do know that truth … once spoken … stays somewhere in the room.

Every time I teach them to choose the correct answer between A and D … I am also teaching myself to choose between bitterness and balance.

Each day is its own exam … graded by grace … curved by mercy.


VII. Closing Reflection

The PSAT is not merely a practice test for college … it is practice for character.

It reveals how students handle uncertainty … and how teachers handle them.

My own score today will not appear on paper … but I believe I earned a passing grade in patience.

To know what I do not know is to breathe without boasting … to teach without demanding credit … to lead without losing heart.

The lesson is simple and endless … humility is the highest form of understanding.

Tomorrow my students will face their test … and so will I.

The rules are the same for both of us … read carefully … skip wisely … answer honestly … and rest when finished.

Selah.



Support Our Work - Buy Our Other Podcast Series (SEE BELOW)!

 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
"Daddy's Home" (2018)

(The "Follow The Leader (changED - Volume 2)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com) 

(The "changED (Volume 1)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com) 



About Derrick Brown (Standup Storyteller)

 

 

I am Keisha's husband, and Hannah's father.

I am a “standup storyteller.”

I fuse rap, spoken word (poetry), oration (traditional public speaking), singing, and teaching into messages of hope, healing, and change that I write, direct, and produce to help people who help people.

Everything must change - and stay changED.

Tradition begins and ends with change.

Change begins with me and the renewing of my mind ... then continues through efforts to effect small-group discipleship (equipping others to equip others) with audiences that respect and embrace mentoring, mediation, and problem solving as tools of change.

I am the product of my mentoring relationships, peacemaking (and peacekeeping), and problem-solving ability.

My education began when I finished school.

After school, I enrolled in a lifelong curriculum that includes classes in ministry, entrepreneurship, stewardship, literacy, numeracy, language, self-identity, self-expression, and analysis / synthesis.

My projects execute a ministry that has evolved from wisdom earned through lessons learned.

I want to share this wisdom to build teams of "triple threat" fellows - mentors, mediators, and problem solvers.

We will collaborate in simple, powerful ways that allow us to help people who help people.

I now know that power is work done efficiently (with wise and skillful use of resources, interests, communication, and expertise).

Copyright © 2025 Derrick  Brown. All Rights Reserved.
 
 

 


 
 






Monday, October 20, 2025

Dear Hannah: LEarning (Knowing What I Do Not Know) (1523 Words)




Knowing What I Do Not Know (1523 Words)

(51st Day of School — October 20, 2025)

By Derrick Brown (Join Our Mailing List!)

 

I. The Return to Rhythm

The weekend was gentle … a soft reprieve … but Monday called me back to rhythm.

The grind resumed … the cycle of instruction, patience, repetition, and restraint.

My body was rested … but my mind carried the memory of fatigue … and the silent prayer that each class would meet me halfway.

I began the week determined to test not only my students’ knowledge … but their integrity … and perhaps my own.


II. 1A – Boundaries and Blank Stares

1A tested today … and before the test began … I approached JW.

Our unfinished business from Thursday’s “tutoring” session still lingered.

I told him that I had learned he could register himself for tutoring … that he did not need me to sponsor him.

I asked why he had chosen to come to me instead of going directly to the tutoring center … and he looked at me blankly … saying nothing.

The silence was an answer … and I received it.

During testing … I adjusted my routines … inviting any student with questions to come to the front … to prevent the kind of false “tutoring” that disguises dependency as inquiry.

I needed to be both monitor and mentor … both visible and firm.

I saw too many phones … hidden in hoodie pockets and sneakers … companions of anxiety and temptation.

I heard the quiet hum of “shop talk” between desks … students testing one another’s resolve more than the exam itself.

I established what I call “situational compliance” … students quiet long enough to pass through a moment of peace … but not yet anchored in discipline.

I fielded AW’s “I am confused” … the magic phrase that precedes avoidance … and JV’s “What does this symbol mean” … the parallel lines staring back like irony.

I explained again that they had been given test reviews that mirror the actual test … and even the answer key … yet many had not completed them.

They wanted the results of effort without its evidence.

When the last paper was turned in … my head ached.

I had stood firm … but at what cost … and to whom? 


III. 3A – Murmurs and Measurement

Third block arrived like an echo of Thursday.

I had already spoken through the gradebook … a silent reprimand written in numbers … and the room felt it.

The result was not remorse … but murmuring.

JahH, HW, KW, AS, and JL moved together … passive-aggressive … snark hiding insecurity.

Yet within the same space … JT, AW, DRM, DH, AM, and MSR maintained fine fellowship.

The class had divided itself into two energies … resistance and readiness … each teaching me something different.

I tightened boundaries … Chromebooks monitored … no snacks during class … simple structures that protect attention.

I told them about the PSAT … and asked what they knew.

Their answers revealed a familiar pattern … fragmented awareness … confidence without comprehension.

I explained that success on the PSAT … and in life … depends on self-honesty … on knowing what one knows and what one does not.

Geometry, I said, provides constant practice in that discipline … every problem a mirror reflecting one’s level of awareness.

MSR listened carefully.

She noticed that a “complex numbers” question might be too advanced … and labeled it one to skip … but still allowed me to teach her the process.

That willingness is teachability.

HW, on the other hand … approached with an exponential expression from Algebra 2 and asked derisively, “When did we learn this.”

I began to answer … “This is one to skip … let me show you” … but she turned away mid-sentence.

Her gesture became punctuation … a period that ended our conversation.

The rest of the class began to “divide and conquer” problems … their version of “cooperative learning” … efficient but ethically thin.

I reminded them that the PSAT will not permit whispered partnerships … that independence is the truest assessment of readiness.

I should not have to say it … but I did … because reminders have become rituals.

The headache that began in 1A returned … but I refused to repeat my mistakes.

I breathed … and managed the moment instead of mirroring its chaos.

Still … I left the room feeling as though I am learning to inhale toxic fumes … when I could be breathing fresh air.


IV. 4A – Freedom and Speech

Fourth block offered a gentler reflection.

I approached CK to follow up on her earlier comment “I do not know that Mr. Brown.”

She offered this as feedback to witnessing me address 4A’s work (ethic) during our Friday 10-17-2025 Quizizz review.

She said softly … “It was a lot.”

I asked … “How much was it supposed to be … and who gets to decide.”

She smiled slightly … understanding that freedom of speech carries its own restraint.

Our dialogue reminded me that liberty without listening is noise … and that discernment is the highest form of expression.

We are aligned … teacher and student … each learning to balance voice with respect.

Later … a message arrived from former student KM … who wrote to say she loved Mi Gente Day.

Her note closed the afternoon on a quiet note of gratitude … a whisper that reflection travels further than reprimand.


V. Patterns and Paradoxes

Across the day … a pattern emerged … each class revealing a different face of awareness.

1A tested my endurance … 3A tested my restraint … 4A tested my humanity.

In each encounter … I confronted the paradox of teaching while learning … of enforcing order while pursuing empathy … of guiding others toward honesty while wrestling with my own.

The phrase “knowing what I do not know” became the lens through which the day made sense.

I realized that many of my students cannot yet differentiate between misunderstanding and unwillingness … and that I sometimes confuse exhaustion with ineffectiveness.

Both are distortions of perception … both require reflection to correct.


VI. The Lesson Beneath the Lesson

Testing days reveal more than mastery … they expose culture.

Phones, chatter, sarcasm … these are not random disruptions … they are expressions of fear … fear of failure … fear of exposure … fear of learning something unflattering about oneself.

My challenge is to respond to fear with firmness that still feels safe.

When I require students to bring questions to me at the front … I am not simply managing behavior … I am modeling courage … the courage to step into visibility.

When I tell them that maturity means knowing what they do not know … I am preaching to both sides of the desk.

Teaching, at its most honest, is reciprocal revelation … students discovering content … teachers discovering capacity.


VII. Cost and Continuance

At the end of the day … I wondered again about cost.

I had stood firm in 1A … held steady in 3A … and restored trust in 4A … but each victory demanded a measure of spirit.

I left with another headache … but also with a clearer conscience.

The toll of endurance is real … yet the currency of growth is worth it.

I have accepted that my “A” days may not yield traditional instruction.

They are laboratories of self-awareness … places where I learn as much as I teach … perhaps more.

Each confrontation … each correction … each conversation refines my understanding of the profession I have almost outgrown.


VIII. Knowing What I Do Not Know

The phrase itself is both confession and compass.

It reminds me that ignorance can be instructive … that uncertainty can clarify purpose.

I know that I am nearing the end of one season … and that these days are teaching me how to leave without abandoning what matters.

I know that some students will understand later … long after I am gone … and that this delay is not failure … it is faith.

To know what I do not know is to stay curious about my own endurance … to recognize when silence is wisdom … and when speech is necessary.

It means listening to blank stares … and hearing what they will not say.


IX. Closing Reflection

Today taught me that learning is not always luminous … sometimes it is dull … like metal grinding against metal … a sound that irritates until it sharpens.

Knowing what I do not know is not weakness … it is calibration.

It is how I align myself to truth … when praise and pressure pull in opposite directions.

I am aware that I am in my last days of teaching … not because hope has died … but because purpose is changing shape.

These students, these tests, these headaches … they are chiseling the final contours of my professional identity.

Each day leaves its mark … and each reflection polishes what remains.

I will continue to learn what I do not know … and to teach what I do … until peace calls me elsewhere.

Selah.



Support Our Work - Buy Our Other Podcast Series (SEE BELOW)!

 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
"Daddy's Home" (2018)

(The "Follow The Leader (changED - Volume 2)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com) 

(The "changED (Volume 1)" Audio and Video Album / Mixtape is also available at TeachersPayTeachers.com) 



About Derrick Brown (Standup Storyteller)

 

 

I am Keisha's husband, and Hannah's father.

I am a “standup storyteller.”

I fuse rap, spoken word (poetry), oration (traditional public speaking), singing, and teaching into messages of hope, healing, and change that I write, direct, and produce to help people who help people.

Everything must change - and stay changED.

Tradition begins and ends with change.

Change begins with me and the renewing of my mind ... then continues through efforts to effect small-group discipleship (equipping others to equip others) with audiences that respect and embrace mentoring, mediation, and problem solving as tools of change.

I am the product of my mentoring relationships, peacemaking (and peacekeeping), and problem-solving ability.

My education began when I finished school.

After school, I enrolled in a lifelong curriculum that includes classes in ministry, entrepreneurship, stewardship, literacy, numeracy, language, self-identity, self-expression, and analysis / synthesis.

My projects execute a ministry that has evolved from wisdom earned through lessons learned.

I want to share this wisdom to build teams of "triple threat" fellows - mentors, mediators, and problem solvers.

We will collaborate in simple, powerful ways that allow us to help people who help people.

I now know that power is work done efficiently (with wise and skillful use of resources, interests, communication, and expertise).

Copyright © 2025 Derrick  Brown. All Rights Reserved.
 
 

 


 
 






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