Born and raised in Flatbush, Ivan Marrero ’09 became an elementary school educator in Brooklyn to realize his goal of contributing to his community. As a performing arts teacher at Uncommon Excellence Boys School, one of 24 public charter Uncommon Schools, Marrero is ardent about encouraging his students to embrace authenticity and emotional expression. Here, Marrero talks about his path to becoming an educator, the importance of social-emotional learning, and the positive impact that supportive educators can have on students.
Why did you choose Brooklyn College?
I went to Baruch for a year. At the time I was working as an assistant store manager at Starbucks on Hillel Place. I transferred because Brooklyn College has an excellent reputation—it’s the place to go. But also, my home and work were so conveniently close.
You majored in business.
I was always interested in businesses and their processes—I wanted to know more. Ultimately, the courses I took to complete my business degree shaped me as an educator. They gave me a strong foundation in leadership and organizational skills. They also helped me as a teacher with structuring lesson plans, fostering collaboration among colleagues, coordinating events, and even managing the school’s social media account.
What made you go into a career in education?
Before I switched to education, I was a store manager at a drugstore for five years and I felt like I wasn’t living my purpose. I felt like I wasn’t doing enough for the community and was tired of going up and down the store’s basement steps for merchandise. I applied for a teaching job thinking it would be fulfilling and started teaching first grade in New Jersey. I loved it. The school helped me gain my teacher’s certification. I became a performing arts educator when my principal learned I was a Zumba instructor on the side and suggested I teach my students. From there I became a full-time performing arts instructor. I transitioned to Uncommon Excellence Boys School in Bed-Stuy to be closer to home and to make a meaningful impact in my community.
What’s it like teaching performing arts to elementary school students?
Oh my gosh, it’s so much fun. I teach kindergarten through fourth grade. For my second graders today, next period, and we’re starting on scripts and plays. It’s so rewarding to see their energy and emotion and how they take a text and translate it into performance. I usually look for things like medieval tales as well as stories with talking animals to make it more fun for the students. I also teach them to use their emotions when they dance.
Uncommon Schools teacher Ivan Marrero ’09 captured his students performing a self-affirmation exercise for an Instagram post that went viral.
You teach your students a self-affirmation exercise that got you noticed.
It started as a lesson on authenticity. I like to teach things like teamwork, confidence, and authenticity. I ask students, “What do you love about yourself?” If you’re onstage, you need to feel confident, so in the exercise, a student stands in front of a mirror and says something positive about themselves, whether it’s a physical feature or personality trait. As students were doing this, I recorded it. I managed the social media account for my school, so I posted the video that evening with a caption: “Check out the boys giving themselves a positive affirmation.” When I woke up the next day, the video had gone viral. After that so many people reached out—USA Today interviewed me as did Good Morning America and The Kelly Clarkson Show. It was amazing.
Your affirmation exercises allow for boys to express their feelings, which society does not always encourage, even today.
For me, growing up, you had to be tough. You had to. That made me quiet. I did not want to speak out or to participate. As I started teaching, I knew it was my opportunity to remember the child that I was and get my students to speak somehow. I encourage emotion. I encourage my students to tell me when they’re angry. Let’s talk about it so they can reclaim their inner beauty and love. I have a calming corner in my classroom with a timer. You get five minutes in the corner; there’s a book there, and there’s a chart there with images of different emotions that a student can choose from to describe how he is feeling. Then we can talk about things more easily. And that’s what I love about it. They reclaim who they are.
