Chantel Jiroch \u2014 a photographer based in Atlanta \u2014 decided to give her son\u2019s teachers a photoshoot session as a gift. When sharing the vibrant portraits, which showcased each teachers\u2019 personality to her childhood friend, Careshia Moore, they got inspired with an idea.<\/p>\n
Moore, a former educator, envisioned a visual project that would not only honor but also tell the meaningful and human stories of the people in charge of shaping the minds of young Americans.<\/p>\n
After a yearlong process of meeting with teachers all across the country, they authored a book Raising America: A Visual Celebration of Educators. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Courtesy or Chantel Jiroch<\/p>\n
Chantel Jiroch (left) and Careshia Moore (right) \u2014 from Miami \u2014 authored Raising America: A Visual Celebration of Educators.<\/p>\n
Through portraits, the book highlights the personal narratives of 80 teachers, 12 of whom are from Miami. <\/p>\n
Jiroch, Moore \u2014 who are originally from Miami \u2014 and some of the educators featured in the book will appear at the Miami Book Fair<\/a> in a panel about education on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aWe wanted to start a national conversation around education because it\u2019s often overlooked,\u201d Jiroch told WLRN. \u201c\u200aWe don’t really understand the weight that [teachers] carry to actually educate our kids every day.\u201d<\/p>\n At a time when public school educators are facing many challenges in the classroom such as new government policies, low salaries, as well as having to deal with the dominating influence of social media, Jiroch said their mission in celebrating the unsung heroes couldn\u2019t come at a better time.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the world that we live in now, with social media and the temperament of kids\u2026 they are not being raised in the house anymore, honestly. They’re raising themselves, and then they’re going to class and wanting the teacher to fix it,\u201d she told WLRN. \u201cThose are the conversations that need to really take place on a national level because we’re falling way behind when it comes to education in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Teacher vacancies in Florida schools drop<\/a><\/p>\n In the book, one chemistry teacher holds a periodic table of elements on his shoulder, another poses decked in a school-glue costume, and another is in a hip-hop dance pose. <\/p>\n The goal was to get the teachers out of their comfort zones and show their personalities outside the classroom instead of having yearbook-style portraits, Jiroch said.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people were singing Whitney Houston, and that’s how I captured some of their smiles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Cesare Turner, a music teacher in Miami, was pictured holding his violin. He is band and music director at the historic Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts in Miami. <\/p>\n Cesare Turner, a music teacher in Miami, was pictured holding his violin. He is band and music director at the historic Arthur and Polly Mays Conservatory of the Arts in Miami and previously spent 13 seasons with The South Florida Youth Symphony as teacher and conductor, the organization that once nurtured him as a young violinist.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThe kids have this perception of what they think music is and how it should sound. They don’t know all the stuff that goes into it,\u201d he told WLRN. \u201cFrom my perspective, [I show them] the preparation needed for performances, the preparation for learning how to play an instrument properly, learning how to play a specific piece of music and the discipline that goes along with it.\u201d<\/p>\n The book also includes some questions that Jiroch and Moore asked the educators and their respective answers. The questions range from \u201cwho was your most influential teacher?\u201d to \u201cwhat is your favorite karaoke song?”<\/p>\n \u201cBeing a part of the process has been really great\u2026some of the questions that were asked, seeing some of the stories from other teachers and about what they think about certain things and aspects of just life in general, not just education. I thought that was kind of cool,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s education landscape<\/p>\n When it comes to being an educator in today\u2019s world, Turner said one of the big challenges he is seeing are the funding cuts to art programs in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s a shame because these are skills that students learn that help them in other areas of life, in other subject areas as well,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen we take out the fun stuff like music, dance, theater art, it just makes the kids kind of shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n Jiroch agreed that this is a trend in other cities outside of Florida too. In Atlanta, where she lives with her kids, she said she doesn\u2019t see as many art programs as she remembers seeing growing up in Miami when she studied dance at the New World School of Performing Arts.<\/p>\n \u200a\u201dYou have to have the funding now to get music lessons and dance lessons. You have to be rich just to become somebody, even in the athletic space, they’re cutting funding in so many ways,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Another problem Jiroch hopes will be addressed with the book is teacher shortages. With the stories and photographs she said she hopes young students feel inspired to pursue a career in education.<\/p>\n \u200a\u201dI would hope younger kids would see the value in raising, teaching the next generation. And then it gives [education] a human perspective. So maybe they will relate to the stories the other people in this book are telling about when they were young and what they thought they were gonna do, but they ended up being in education and how it’s been a great experience for them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n IF YOU GO<\/p>\n
What: Miami Book Fair 2025, The Power of Educators panel
When: Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 4:30 p.m.
Where: 300 NE Second Ave., Miami, Fl 33132; Room 7128 (Building 7, 1st Floor)
More details: here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chantel Jiroch \u2014 a photographer based in Atlanta \u2014 decided to give her son\u2019s teachers a photoshoot session…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":{"0":"post-55946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hialeah","8":"tag-hialeah","9":"tag-hialeah-headlines","10":"tag-hialeah-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}