How Teachers Alter Public Space

In Brent Staples "Black Men and Public Space", Staples illustrates how men of African American descent can create the phenomenon of "altering public space" (Staples). However, the abstract idea of altering public space transcends racial differences. In fact, teachers are fully capable of altering public space and the atmosphere around them. Take Ms. Valentino for example. In school, students are very respectful to her, striving to do well in her class and speaking most commonly in the language of educated, well analyzed speech. Ms. Valentino is able to create respectful, intelligent students while she is standing in the classroom. However, take her out of the classroom, and into a public place that is not a classroom, BuildOn CookOff Benefit Dinner for example, and it is a completely different atmosphere. Students speak in the language of colloquialism, informal speech, and the dry humor which characterizes everyday speech. Students do not feel the obligation to put on their best scholarly image and instead attempt to elicit a laugh out of Ms. Valentino and establish themselves as Ms. Valentino's "homie" or "bro". We simply view Ms. Valentino differently in this public event rather than the sanction of school. I myself mustered the courage to ask for a picture with my "good friend" Ms. Valentino, which quickly escalated into me taking a "selfie" with one of my teachers. 

 My point is, teachers, without even knowing it, can alter the atmosphere which the students feel around them. They create a completely different atmosphere within the classroom than they realize, and in turn, change how students around them think and act.