He was a ‘troubled kid.’ How he beat the odds to be Harris County’s Teacher of the Year
Hearing his name announced as the winner of the Harris County School District 2023 Teacher of the Year award, Jalin Murphy sensed the moment’s demographic significance.
“I was just surprised because I seldom see people who look like me getting positions like this,” Murphy, in his fourth year as an English language arts teacher at Harris County Carver Middle School, told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Less than 2% of public school teachers were Black men during the 2020-21 academic year, when 15% of the students were Black, according to the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
So receiving this honor despite that gap, Murphy said, gives it more meaning.
“I think there’s a certain level of low expectations for male teachers that is a little bit unfair,” he said. “When they see somebody like me getting a title like that, I think it adds to my credibility.”
The unlikely circumstances of Murphy’s recognition are more than his race and gender. If you told this news to the folks who knew him as a middle school student in Bainbridge, Georgia, well, most would be surprised.
“They never would have thought I would turn out the way I have,” he said. “I was a troubled kid.”
Falsely accused
Home for Murphy during his childhood was back-and-forth between his single mother and grandparents. His father was absent.
Murphy was too talkative for his teachers.
“They didn’t know what to do with me,” he said. “I was a very loud, outspoken Black kid that was smart and that was inquisitive. There was a conscious effort to kind of like break my spirit in a way. … It took a long time for me to identify myself as someone with some intelligence because I didn’t have any teachers that told me that.”
All his teachers in middle school were white women, the principal was a white man, and most of the students were white.
One day in his sixth-grade science class, Murphy high-fived a white girl after the teacher announced they were the only students to earn an A on the first unit test.
The teacher accused him of hitting the girl and wouldn’t let the girl say otherwise. Murphy was sent to the principal’s office. He was punished with three days of in-school suspension.
More days of misbehavior and suspension followed.
“I think I turned into what they thought I was: this really disrespectful, very disruptive, broken kind of student,” he said. “… I no longer felt safe at school.
“I’m not a proponent of hailing my race as the downfall of any of my decisions. … But I do think, with there being an absence of Black people — particularly Black men — in schools, it’s easy to only have a negative perception of what being a Black male looks like.”
Also during his sixth-grade year, a different teacher accused Murphy of attempted assault. While students were in a line, a boy pushed Murphy into the path of a teacher alongside them.
“They made it seem like it was a deliberate attempt to physically hurt her,” he said.
His grandmother, a school counselor, spoke to the administration in his defense.
“That was the first time I saw my family really advocate for me,” he said.
‘I can do it too’
At the end of his seventh-grade year, Murphy saw a Black girl from his neighborhood receive one of the school’s top academic awards. He thought to himself, “If she can do it, I can do it too.”
Murphy vowed to do his best on every assignment the following year. He ended up ranked fourth in the eighth grade.
Then in high school, the only Black male teacher he had was in chemistry, Joe Sweet.
“To know that he had a doctorate, to me, it was like, ‘Wow. I wonder if I could do that,’” Murphy said. “It’s something I’m going to do, but it wouldn’t be a goal — I wouldn’t even consider it possible — if I had not seen or known him.”
Murphy graduated high school in 2016 in the top 10% of his class. He earned a bachelor’s degree in English language arts from Columbus State University and a master’s degree in teaching from CSU.
Career choice
Although he comes from a family of educators, Murphy didn’t think he would pursue such a career until his senior year in high school when he participated in a work apprenticeship program. He was assigned to work in the office, where an unruly kindergartner was banished seemingly every day.
Murphy thought, “If this kid is always in the office, he’s never going to learn to read, and he’s not going to have any quality of life if he doesn’t know how to read.”
The principal saw Murphy connect with the student. So, in addition to his office duties, Murphy was allowed to join the student in the classroom.
“Essentially, I taught him how to read,” Murphy said. “That was the defining experience that made me consider teaching as an option. … Now, I know this is my purpose, but I didn’t know I could be great at teacher.”
During his senior year at CSU, Murphy did his practicum and student teaching at Harris County High School, in Tameka Hensley’s 11th-grade American literature class. That’s when he realized he could excel as a teacher.
“It was a lot of work, but every day, she let me show up and be the teacher,” he said. “There were no training wheels. I loved it.”
Murphy loves helping students love learning. He loves helping students love reading. He loves helping students love school.
“A lot of times as a kid, you feel so alone,” he said. “Even when you’re surrounded by people and you have friends and family, you sometimes feel like you’re the only one in the world going through whatever experience you’re having or struggling through. … I love being able to see that in a kid and saying, ‘While we’re obviously reading about this for academic purposes, there’s also a lesson in this that you can pull from it.’”
Murphy sees this life lesson in his journey: “You can have all the skills. You can have all the know-how. You can have all the connections. You can have all the intelligence. But you have to believe that you can. Unfortunately, sometimes you don’t believe it until you see it.”
Role model
Excelling in the education profession as a Black man is an opportunity to smash stereotypes, Murphy said.
“It’s not cool necessarily for boys to want to be good in school,” he said. “I think it’s just because they don’t see it a lot. For me, as a man, No. 1, to be an ELA teacher, to be prompting them to read when they hate to read, is important. More specifically, as a Black man, I don’t know if they ever see Black men reading. Not that because Black men don’t read. It’s just because they don’t see it. The most representation Black men get in general is in music and in sports.”
While the Ledger-Enquirer observed Murphy teaching, he switched styles between strict and easygoing with his students.
“As a teacher, especially at this level, I’m always trying to strike that balance,” he said. “That balance is different for every kid. You can’t be so assertive and so hard that you shut them down and break their spirit. … I know how that feels. But if you’re too compassionate and too understanding and too lenient, then they never meet the mark, they never rise to your expectations.”
Positive impact
HCCMS principal Jennifer Taylor credits Murphy’s sincerity for helping him connect with students and be an outstanding teacher.
“Even students throughout the building he doesn’t teach anymore still come to him as daily check-ins,” she told the Ledger-Enquirer. “I see kids developing a love of reading and ELA through him in ways that they wouldn’t otherwise. Middle school is a tough age to get into reading and language arts and writing, but he really brings it alive for them and makes it relevant for them.”
Murphy has leadership roles at the school beyond his classroom. He chairs the English language arts department, sponsors the Junior Beta Club and serves as the assistant girls track & field coach and co-coach of the basketball cheerleaders.
Under his guidance, the HCCMS English language arts scores on the Georgia Milestones test soared from 48.5 during the 2021-2022 school year to 70.1 the following year.
“This is just mere points from the scoring range of the top 10% in the state,” Taylor said.
Murphy’s effectiveness come from treating all students as if they are his children, Taylor said.
“He speaks to them with respect, so therefore they respect him in turn,” she said. “He really gets to know them and what they need.”
Just ask students such as HCCMS eighth-graders Adriana Bush, Braydon Atkinson and Quinton Smith. They gave the Ledger-Enquirer examples of Murphy’s positive impact.
“I came into middle school very scared of doing really anything, and Mr. Murphy kind of showed me how to break out of my comfort zone and how to lead,” said Adriana, 13. “He helped me in Junior Beta last year, and I am now leadership representative for the state of Georgia for Junior Beta because Mr. Murphy taught me proper techniques for public speaking, for interviews, and he really prepared me for everything I do now.”
Braydon recalled having “no idea” how to make a poster for his health class. But after listening to Murphy’s advice, Braydon gained the confidence he needed to complete the task. He received a 100.
“If he sees a kid that needs something or looks sad, he’ll come up to you and ask you what’s wrong,” said Braydon, 14. “Then he would check up on you and see how you’re doing.”
Quinton considers Murphy a mentor.
“I can talk to him about anything,” said Quinton, 13. “… If another teacher or another student is bothering me, he’ll make sure I get the fair treatment I need. He’s kept me out of trouble.”
Asked to explain, Quinton laughed and added, “I have a big mouth. So he tells me, ‘You don’t always need to talk back to people. Just keep it to yourself, then tell me what you’re feeling.’”
As a fellow Black male, Quinton cherishes the relationship.
“He just inspires me to want to do more things,” said Quinton, who seeks to be a fashion designer. “… If he can (succeed), then I can do it.”
