We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mark Norris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mark, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We love heartwarming stories – do you have a heartwarming story from your career to share?

As an educator, I have worked with many teachers, and a wide variety of students for the past 20 years. While I was teaching at John C. Fremont High School in south central Los Angeles, there was a 12th grade student that had one of the worst attitudes I have ever seen in any student. He seemed to be angry at the world, and he had no respect for any of his teachers or education in general. He also had many misconceptions of White males, which is one of the reasons why he showed me such a negative attitude. However, he saw that I was honest with him, and I was patient with him. Even though I was fair with him, he decided to disrupt me daily in class. I am the type of person that will not allow that from any student. So, I intentionally assigned an project where each student had to come up and make an individual presentation in front of the entire class. When it was his turn, I walked around the room and told the class to pay no attention to him as if he wasn’t there and to talk while he was making his presentation. As he was presenting, I could see his frustration build. He stopped and looked at me and asked me to get them to stop talking. I did as he asked, and I also told him I did this to him on purpose to teach him a lesson. He was so taken by it that he came to me after class and he said he had no idea how much stress he had caused me by acting in this same manner. I told him, now you see what it feels like. He said he was sorry and said he wanted to do better. He also said he wanted a football scholarship and he wanted to improve his grades.

He told me since he was in first grade, he never earned an A in any of his classes. I was his history teacher, and I told him if he would come to my class, do the work, give me his best, and not misbehave, that I would give him an A. He worked hard and he went from a D student up to about a mid B at 84%, which is not quite an A. However, due to his effort, I gave him an A minus. I have never seen a student smile as much as he did. It made me feel great as his teacher to see the positive impact I had on him. This is what it means to be a teacher and a positive role model. I never knew if he was able to earn the scholarship or to play football in college. I have other stories about him. I always wondered what happened to him.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a school counselor. Prior to that, I taught mainly history. I also provided family counseling services, and I did some court appointed counseling. Currently, I work with junior high students. The issues I deal with go from self-esteem issues, to grades, to dealing with and addressing issues regarding self-harm. I find my work to be challenging, and rewarding.
In addition, I am also a writer. I just published my new book. “Dr. Mark Norris, Famous Quotes on Life.” It will be available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in August of 2024. I also wrote my doctorate dissertation, “At Risk Students and Resiliency.” I have also written 6 other books that I will be slowly releasing over the next 1 to 2 years. Keep and eye out for those.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I have had to deal with many personal health related issues for many years. I had been suffering with heart related issues for many years. For many, they would have given up, retired, and accepted the fact that the might not be able to do some of the things they previously enjoyed. For me, this was seen as a direct challenge. I was able to continue to work, and I also pushed myself to do things that most people half my age and in perfect health would not do. I went into martial arts, and I have been training for the last 6 years. I thought, this will either kill me or make me better. Although it has been rough, and I have had to go to the hospital a few times, I have pushed on and been very successful in my training. I also ride dirt bikes and Harleys’ and I stay active and positive.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I was very young and in high school, I had an English teacher that was always putting me down. A teacher is supposed to uplift people, not make them feel inadequate. She told me I would never be successful and tried to make me feel like I was a failure because I struggled in English. Instead of her making me feel defeated, her attitude caused me to feel empowered. I have often wanted to look her up, and allow her to see that I have been very successful, and I have become an excellent writer and speaker. However, if I did this, I might appear as rude as she was. I allow my success to speak for me. It also gives me no pleasure at all to make someone else feel bad about themselves. She taught me that no matter how much someone might put you down, to always believe in yourself. This is what I encourage my clients and students to do. Real champions never quit, no matter what the odds or how hard something might be.

• Linkedin: Dr. Mark Norris

Image Credits

Shiela Faye Norris