We were lucky to catch up with Dr. Anthony Batts, Ii recently and have shared our conversation below.
Dr. Anthony, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Are you the cat or the mouse? Are you the lion or the prey? I was the lion, tethered to an oversized hamster wheel of guilt bolted to the steel cage of neglect, where anxiety pushed me towards my purpose, yet kept me stagnant in one place, endless moving, but moving towards nowhere.
I often thought “What’s next for me,” but my circumstance as an English teacher kept me engaged enough to enjoy my students, keep my curriculum fresh only to defer my actual dream of becoming a principal, or superintendent, but when I realized that my version of academic intellect and integrity looked very different than my superiors, I quit.
But my time as an educator, and my passion for education inevitably pushed me towards my passion, which is literacy development and literary comprehension for young black scholars. I found myself teaching the “classics” of literature, but the “classics” couldn’t connect with the students I taught. Yes the curriculum challenged my students’ intellect, but my students needed more. They needed to visualize themselves in the text that they read, they needed to live the life of the protagonists of their stories, but most importantly, they needed to feel their imagination and their real world experiences on the pages that they touched. Through my academic research, I chose to recognize my purpose which is to write novels for “my” students while teaching my college students about the significance of learned experiences when it comes to understanding “How” to learn rather than “What” to learn.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My life is filled with creativity and inspiration, so I value authentic friendships and relationships within the communities in which I encounter. In 2009, I was struck by a speeding car while walking where my head shattered the windshield. Fortunately, I walked away from the accident. Years later, I attended my annual check up and my Doctor asked me about the scar on my head. He later mentioned that if my head would have hit the windshield at any other angle, my chances of survival would be less than half of a percent.
Since I’ve been blessed to live my life after such a horrific event, I want to make sure I inspire others through my gifts of education and literature. I’m currently working on a novel where Love is the focus for a recent college graduate, but life happens, which causes him to challenge his moral perspective on life. I’m excited to share the final draft with potential publishers, but more importantly, I’m eager to share the novel with the different school districts who serve students who sit in the seats that I once sat in as a middle/high school scholar.
The fact that I have the opportunity to connect with people from different backgrounds, countries, communities and social networks would be one of the most exciting features of my life. I teach English on a college campus where many of my students choose a major outside of the arts, so I understand the urgency of taking the class to fulfill a requirement, however, I love seeing my students use the content in which I teach to grow and learn about the things that spark their personal interest. I offer my students confidence, and integrity, while creating a learning environment that fosters social development and growth, because a student will learn much more through social interactions and real world experiences in contrast to the four walls of a classroom.
I also enjoy conducting academic workshops and speaking engagements that share the significance of literacy (Reading, writing, speaking and listening), while motivating an audience to achieve their goals.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The first quality that I find most impactful is the fact that I had to learn, feel, and interpret failure. Failure has taken me to a dark place on many different occasions, but in the darkest moments, the light became my source of refuge. I took pride in working towards success, acknowledging the ill-feeling of failure as a motivational factor of where I didn’t want to find myself on a continuous occasion. Ironically, I felt this sort of failure during my last year as a k12 teacher in Potomac Maryland where I struggled with my Professional Learning community, which happened to be the same year in which I achieved two of my greatest accomplishments; Publishing my first book and Graduating with my Doctorate. Removing myself from a situation where I was deemed as a failure forced me into my purpose.
Secondly, I think it is important to acknowledge that “Work, will be work,” meaning that the ideology of a shortcut is nonexistent. In college, I found myself missing a few deadlines in relation to the academic assignments scheduled for the course. My professor pulled me aside one day and mentioned that “The work will take the same amount of time to complete; when you complete the work is solely up to you.” This helped me reimagine my view on deadlines along with my approach of achieving my long-term goals.
Lastly, I would highlight the significance of entering a room with positivity. In my experience, positivity and positive energy radiates to individuals that you encounter. You never know the type of day that a person has had, but a small gesture of positivity, or an act of kindness can potentially redirect that trajectory. This also helps with adapting a growth mindset where one can have a sense of openness towards others, gaining authentic learned experiences. This is the essence and sincerity of learning which is the advice I would offer. Adapt a mindset where learning is a daily routine. Although one may believe that they are a master in a given field of study or practice, the audiences, patients, customers, and people in which we interact tend to change on a continuous basis. In order to stay relevant, in order to offer continuous support, we need to learn, change and adapt with our targeted audience.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Partners and collaborations are always welcomed. I enjoy working with educators, producers, social-media personalities, and speakers as a way to promote unique perspectives and creative ways to approach life. Most importantly, I am eager to work with students who look to hone their own learning. I am reminded of the benefits of the mentors that believed in me throughout my academic journey. I couldn’t have the life I currently live, however, there were many mentors that saw my creativity, my drive, my eagerness to help others far before I realized such qualities in myself. It’s my duty to aid students towards their gifts, whether those gifts are latent or ever-present.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dranthonybatts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.deuce_batts/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-batts-ii-ed-d-1b345553
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