Classroom Conversations: Mr. Ben Xabouathone & Nyomi
Mr. Ben Xabouathone, or “Mr. X” to students, has a long history with United Schools. Mr. X is a proud alumnus of the first class to graduate from United Middle Dana Avenue, where he is now the 8th Grade ELA Teacher, following his time as a Teaching Fellow.
Eighth-grader Nyomi is similarly a proud Bearcat. Nyomi, daughter of the campus’ Dean of Family & Community Engagement, Jasmine Wooten, has been a Dana Ave. student since her sixth-grade year in 2023, the same year Mr. X began teaching.
The two met up for their interview in the library, one of the spaces beyond the English classroom that regularly brings them together, as Mr. X serves as Library Manager and Nyomi as one of his Library Assistants.
The dynamic duo joined The Huddle to discuss a love of essays, entrepreneurial enthusiasm, and what keeps them eager to return to United Schools again and again.
The Huddle: Can you introduce yourselves, please?
Mr. X: I've worked for three years at Dana, two as a teaching fellow. This is my first year full-time as the ELA teacher. I chose Naomi because she exemplifies what it means to be a Bearcat. She reminds me a lot of why I went here and why I love this community so much. So, I thought she'd be a perfect match for this kind of interview.
Nyomi: My name is Nyomi. I'm in eighth grade, and for after-school activities, I like to go to the WAV [We Amplify Voices] organization across the street. They're very fun. It's an artistic community over there, and it's really fun to go to. I love it over there!
Mr. X: What’s been your favorite memory from this year?
Nyomi: Oh my goodness. My favorite memory… I think it was actually in your class! We were writing an essay about Atticus [from To Kill A Mockingbird] and whether he was a good dad. I loved doing that essay. It was so much fun to write about Atticus because it was like [miming writing], “Mhm, this is exactly why!”
Mr. X: Yeah, I really liked seeing you guys get to do that. That was a really fun essay [Nyomi: It was!] to see you guys do. Do you think you had a really big challenge writing that essay?
Nyomi, shaking her head: No!
Mr. X: You don't? It was perfect, yeah.
Nyomi: I was already thinking about it throughout the whole book. I like it when you tell us the questions beforehand because, even with CommonLit and everything, I look at the questions before I read, since I already know what I'm looking for and can see a different perspective on what it could be telling me. I really like that book!
The Huddle: Can you explain what CommonLit is for those reading this interview?
Mr. X: CommonLit is a resource we use. It gives students different articles and helps them with guiding questions and comprehension activities. It helps prep them for state tests and for future years. It's a really good source of data, but it's also very diverse. So, we get a lot more than just like, “This is what we're doing today.” It's, “This is what we're talking about next week. Here's some background knowledge.” We really activate that using the Science of Reading (SoR).
Nyomi: What's your favorite thing about this school?
Mr. X: I don't think a lot of people who go to any middle school come back. So, that kind of says a lot. I've always loved feeling like I'm part of something. And being here, I've always felt like part of a community, and have always felt really good. And also just felt like I was giving back to a place that loved me so much.
Nyomi: I mean, I feel the same. Watch, when I'm in high school, I'm coming back. Watch! I'm going to come visit. I'm telling you.
Mr. X: Are you worried about anything in high school?
Nyomi: I think the only things I'm worried about are social. Academically, I'm challenged, but not in a way that's too challenging. It's not too hard for me to figure out something. But, the one thing I am worried about is that I know I'm probably going to a different school, not one that people here go to. [Mr. X: Yeah.] It's gonna be new people, a new place, and a new experience. And it's scary. I'm not used to that. So, that's it, honestly.
Mr. X: What's your favorite thing about going to school here?
Nyomi: Oh my goodness, ELA! Ten toes down! I honestly like the questions you give us. I feel like in ELA, with the activities that we do, they're a little freer. I can be more creative. I can do more of what I want in a way, but still follow the course. It's really fun. I like doing that.
Nyomi: What's your favorite thing about your job, Mr. X?
Mr. X: I think working with you guys is so much fun. My first year was also your sixth-grade year, so I've gotten to watch you guys grow over the past three years and be part of your lives. Not just a teacher, but I've been your teacher. So, it was really exciting for me to get to step into this role and do that.
It's also just so cool to watch the things you guys get excited about. Like with A Raisin in the Sun, watching you guys get excited about Asagai.
Nyomi: Yesss!
Mr. X: Like, “Awesome! Cool.” Hearing you and, like, Maya talk about what you guys think about some of these scenes is really interesting, and I love learning new things from you guys every single day.
Nyomi: So, what's your favorite memory from this school year?
Mr. X: From this school year, I thought spirit week was really, really cool. It felt like we got to see a lot of your guys' personalities. But I would also agree with the To Kill a Mockingbird essay and deciding whether or not Atticus was a good or bad father. I really like doing that process with you guys and really going into depth of, like, “This is what a high school essay looks like.” And you guys did a great job.
Nyomi, smiling: That’s awesome.
Mr. X: So, you do have a book with you, and you are one of my student librarians. What book are you reading right now? And what book would be your favorite ever?
Nyomi: Oh my gosh! The book I'm reading right now is Sunrise on the Reaping. I love the Hunger Games series, and I like the dystopian, alternate reality type of books, but I think my favorite book of all time, one I connect to the most, is probably The Hate U Give. And not in the like, “Well, it’s happening to me,” but it's like, “Oh, I have had little incidents that I can see become these big things.” And it also shows how the world is now, through a book. And a movie adaptation that I can watch. I can read it from another girl's perspective, but it's the same thing I'm experiencing every day. So, I love that book so much.
Mr. X: I have a feeling you're going to really like Animal Farm. That's our next book. You're really going to be into it. It's a lot.
The Huddle to Nyomi: What do you do as a library assistant?
Nyomi: I will stand by the door, and I did have my book with me today, so I was reading, but normally I'm just greeting people who come in, saying, "Hope you have a good day." And I take their books and put them in the bin, or, if nobody's in here, I put them away on their designated shelves!
Mr. X: What has been your biggest goal this school year?
Nyomi:
I feel like my big, big thing is [Nyomi hits the table]: grades. Straight A's. Mhm! I want my 100% in every single subject.
Mr. X: And you've done a really, really good job at that.
Nyomi: I'm doing my CommonLits. I'm telling you, I'm doing my CommonLits!
Mr. X: No, I saw them. They're really good. I really like doing the CommonLits with you guys. I think they're very helpful. Has there been one that we did that you really liked?
Nyomi: I think it's the one I just finished. It was the W. E. B. Du Bois one. Loved that one so much because it was challenging. You did give us a 10th-grade reading level, but it felt so natural to me. It didn't feel like it was 10th grade. It felt like it's stuff that we're doing in class every single day.
Mr. X, laughing: Because you're doing the work every single day, right?
Nyomi, laughing: I love that one. I love learning about the civil rights and women's rights movements. I love learning about things that didn't happen that long ago, like, seriously. So, I love reading about something like that.
Mr. X: No, I love that.
Nyomi: What do you think is hard about your job?
Mr. X: I think sometimes it's very hard for my job not to be super personal. I care about you guys a lot, and sometimes it bleeds into my personal life, and I've had to kind of rein it in. That being said, that’s not a bad thing. It shows how much I care and how much work you guys do every single day.
What do you think is hard about being a student here?
Nyomi: Personally, I don't see any obstacles with being a student here because I feel like it's a very loving community, in that I get a lot of support and have a lot of friendships. There's nothing really difficult in the curriculum or the education. It's not stuff that’s difficult to learn. Honestly, I'm trying to think, and I'm like, “No, I don't. There's nothing that's really hard.”
Nyomi: How can I be the best student this year? And what advice do you have for me?
Mr. X: I think you're already super motivated and super ready for high school. I could not ask for a better class or better students to be with. Some advice I do have is just keep doing what you're doing.
Also, I often refer to Dana as home. Don't be afraid to come home if things get hard. Sometimes you just have to come back and be like, “Hey, I don't know what this means. Can you help me?”
Nyomi, laughing: You'll see me. You will see me next year. I'll be like, “Mr. X, look what they're doing to me! Look how they're making me work!”
Mr. X: Alright!
Mr. X: So, what's your dream college and career?
Nyomi: My dream career has been this since I was little-little, I'm telling you. It’s technically two dreams, but they kind of go with each other. My first one, I've always wanted to be a singer and an entertainer. Always, always. I'm talking about, I was listening to Beyonce, Michael Jackson, like that's the type of timing I wanted to be on. Another one, to tone it down a little bit, is entrepreneurship. I want to have a business. I want to do stuff like that. I have a business now [Mr X: Yeah!], so it’s cool I'm already doing it early, but it’s something I want to look into and be able to do when I'm older.
I feel like my dream college is one of the Ivy Leagues, honestly. I want to go to Brown University, and then another one was Yale. Really want to go to Yale. And then I think the other one was Michigan. I like OSU, but my mom went there, and I went to classes with her. So, I already know what the campus looks like. I've already been in all the buildings. So, it's kind of like I want somewhere new and refreshing to go learn, not somewhere I've been my whole life.
The Huddle: Can you tell us about your business?
Nyomi: Oh, I crochet! A lot of people will be like, "Oh, are you knitting?" I'm like, "No, it's crochet." So, I have a hook and yarn instead of two needles. I make hats, I like to make scarves, and I make plushies, but very rarely. Like, I don't like making them. But I made all my teachers little “dumpster fire” plushies.
Mr. X to The Huddle: They're very cute. It's at my desk if you want to see it.
Nyomi: They're so cute, and I made them for all my teachers. I'm working on my mom's, so I'm getting hers done as well. My main thing is hats, but I made my mom a set of a scarf and a hat in the same yarn. I make wearables, but for me. I don't make wearables for other people.
The Huddle: What kind of wearables?
Nyomi: I like to make shrugs or sleeves so I can wear them over shirts and everything. And then my big project right now is a dress because I want to wear it to an eighth-grade dance they’re thinking about. I have to ask [School Director] Ms. Cherkas and see!
Nyomi: I also like making blankets. For my friend Javia, I made this big stitch blanket. I did a little tapestry and then put it in blues, whites, grays, and everything. It was really pretty.
The Huddle: What is something you both really appreciate about one another?
Nyomi: Mr. X, you are very funny. Yes, seriously! Fourth period is when I get really tired, but when I come into ELA class, I might still be tired, but you’re like, “Good afternoon, class!” You bring a bunch of bright energy into the room when I need it, honestly, and you finish off my day in a good manner. Whatever happens in the other class, happens in the other class, but I get to finish off my day with a good environment and good vibes, and I love that. I really do.
Mr. X: I would say the same for you. You're very kind and very willing to help other students. There are times when I don't even need to answer a student’s question. You've already got it. You're already turned back, like, “Here is what this means. Let's talk about it together.” You are so eager to just know more things and be amongst your peers. It's great to see how much you've grown. It's very exciting to have you guys in class.
The Huddle: What would you say to the community supporting you and your school?
Nyomi: Honestly, I'm very appreciative of it because I love coming to this library. I love it so much because I love the wide variety of books. I'm not playing about our books! I love our books so much, and we have most of my favorite books. I’m always coming back here.
Mr. X: I'm just very grateful to get an opportunity to work in a community that I love so much with people who care so much about kids. Everything that we get, all the support we get, just pours back into the community around us. So, I hope nobody feels unthanked or unseen in all of this!
Nyomi is eager to share her newest products, and Mr. X could not look prouder as he shows off the crochet creation made just for him. As the two library leaders head back out into the hallway, genuine joy emanates from them as they enthusiastically take on their non-library roles as student and teacher. Thank you both for engaging with The Huddle and championing the love of learning, growth, and community that makes United Schools the kind of place you want to come back to.
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