Before 19-year-old Davontez Johnson found himself in a preschool classroom at Dorothy I. Heights Elementary, he was a senior at a nearby high school who, like many students his age, was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life. Not in his wildest dreams could he have imagined himself standing on a colorful carpet, leading a gaggle of 4-year-olds in a chant and dance about phonics.
"Words have parts - that's syl-a-bles," he said, enunciating for effect. The preschoolers craned their heads up at Johnson and echoed him. "Clap your hands now, syl-a-bles! Stomp your feet now, syl-a-bles!"
Johnson is part of the Leading Men Fellowship, which trains young Black and Latino men to become early literacy instructors in preschool classrooms across the country. It's a program that aims to tackle several problems at once a shortage of early educators, a dearth of Black and Latino male teachers and the acute challenges boys of color face in schools because of their race and gender.
"We're not only affecting change in the classroom with these school students, but we're also developing these young future educators," said Ivan Douglas of the Literacy Lab, which runs the Leading Men Fellowship.
Many fellows, like Johnson, are recruited right out of high school. After an interview process and intensive summer training, they go to work in schools where they may be among the only male educators. Fellows make between 16.50 and 18 an hour.
