Dallas Cowboy Marcus Spears visits Northside Elementary School

by Daphne Brown of of DeSoto TODAY

Dallas Cowboy Marcus Spears, a 6-foot-4 defensive lineman, remembers being teased as a child.

“The other kids made fun of me because I made good grades,” Spears, a 2005 NFL draft pick, told Northside Elementary School students during an April 13 visit to the school “When is it going to be cool to make good grades?”

Spears' visit was part of the campus' final events in preparing its third- and fourth-grade students who took Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) reading and math tests this week. Northside was the first school in Texas Spears and representatives of the foundation that bears his name visited to provide motivation for students to do well.

“If - no when - you all do well next week, we will be back to provide a gift for each and every person on this campus,” Spears promised. “We know that you all will represent next week.”

Northside Elementary School principal Tawana Stallworth said the campus, not just the third- and fourth-grade students and teachers, is striving for exemplary status as “one team, with one goal, one mind, one mission.”

“You may not understand this now, but you shall reap the benefits of all your hard work if you don't give up and give it all you've got,” she told the students.

This semester Northside has incorporated Saturday School and early morning and after-school tutoring with its Dad's Club. School staff also has hosted a TAKS Family Night.

“We've organized book clubs and mentoring programs to promote reading,” Stallworth said. “Our main focus has been to gauge our students' individual strengths and weaknesses by using district data, benchmarks and other initiatives to best prepare them for the tests.”

Spears, No. 96 for the Cowboys, gave away two autographed footballs, a 1967 model Ford Mustang, two $96 gift certificates to Toys R Us and Lady Footlocker and a portable DVD player before answering students' questions.

When asked how he became a football player, Spears said, “I had a big dream ... and I put all my efforts into it. But I first put all of my efforts into believing in God and getting an education.”

Stressing faith, family and a fierce need to complete his education, Spears told students his other goals had included purchasing homes for his mother and sister, earning his college degree and starting a foundation with a mission to motivate children, “and all of those were accomplished.”

One student wanted to know who he considered the three most important people in his life.

God, his mother and his older sister, he said, holding up his fingers to indicate their numerical importance.

A native of Baton Rouge, La., Spears said he was a huge fan of the San Franciscos 49ers' Jerry Rice growing up, but that was difficult growing up in a family with a dad who was a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan and a grandmother who loved the Cowboys.

“On game days, I would have a Pittsburgh jersey and Cowboys bottoms on,” he said.

Moates Elementary School students received a visit from TAKS Man at the campus April 16 in preparation of the tests. An assistant principal at the campus dressed up as the character and took to the roof in an effort to motivate students. Other DeSoto elementary school campuses also have participated in Saturday School and organized small instruction groups to pinpoint students' problem areas.

San Bonita Jefferson, a lead teacher at Cockrell Hill Elementary, said the campus has stressed reading skills across the board.

“Teachers are doing a number of different things in their classrooms to reach children,” Jefferson, with the district for five years, said. “In all that we do, we've tried to stress the necessity of reading, because whether the students are taking the reading or math tests reading is essential.”

Darla Powell, an assistant principal at Woodridge Elementary School, said students were assembled for a pep rally April 16 in which students in kindergarten through the second grade made signs and cheered on their classmates. Also, students taking TAKS were escorted through a victory line on testing days.

Students in grades 3-11 and some seniors took some form of TAKS tests April 17-20.