Transcript
Kevin: Amid rising school violence, controversies, and burnout, teachers are leaving the profession in droves. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly half of public education employees leaving the profession are not retiring or being laid off. They are resigning. This trend is worsening the already significant teacher shortage across the country. What can teachers do to keep themselves and their students engaged? How can we attract new educators to the profession? And how can teachers combat burnout and maintain their passion for teaching? This is "What I Want to Know," and today I'm joined by National Teacher of the Year, Rebecca Peterson, to find out.
Rebecca: I don't know that there's any other profession like this one, right, where if I asked you to think of an educator who held significant impact in your life, I'm guessing you could think of someone like that, right? And it's not . . . We don't just think of them. We like hold them in our hearts, right, years, decades down the road.
Kevin: Amid rising school violence, controversies, and burnout, teachers are leaving the profession in droves. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly half of public education employees leaving the profession are not retiring or being laid off. They are resigning. This trend is worsening the already significant teacher shortage across the country. What can teachers do to keep themselves and their students engaged? How can we attract new educators to the profession? And how can teachers combat burnout and maintain their passion for teaching? This is "What I Want to Know," and today I'm joined by National Teacher of the Year, Rebecca Peterson, to find out.
Rebecca Peterson is a math teacher at Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was selected as the 2023 National Teacher of the Year. Rebecca is passionate about using storytelling to inspire her creativity in the classroom. She joins us today to share how she maintains her passion for teaching and how we can encourage other educators to join the profession. Rebecca, welcome to the show.
Rebecca Peterson, it's a pleasure to have you on. Welcome to "What I Want To Know."
Rebecca: Thank you so much for having me, Kevin.
Kevin: So I'm just so enthralled with your career, your approach to teaching. I want to go through some of the things that have been guideposts for you. But I always have to ask great teachers, did you always want to be a teacher?
Rebecca: Yeah, yeah. That's a wonderful question. I think, for the most part, yes. I am an immigrant to this country. I'm the daughter of medical missionaries as well. So by the time I was 16, I had lived in four different countries. And, you know, moving from continent to continent, I often struggled to know where home was.
You know, when you're asked, like, where are you from, and you don't quite know how to answer such a seemingly simple question, it leaves you feeling a little bit untethered. But I come back and I just think about the really powerful teachers I had growing up and how so many of them were so intentional about making sure there was a seat at the table for me. And seeing how they were able to build such confidence and to help me become, like, proud of my heritage and proud of my identity, it made me want to do the same.
And so now I get to teach at an incredibly diverse and culturally rich district. We have 62 languages represented at Union Public Schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And so I say, you know, what was kind of untethering as a child, now really tethers me to my students, many of whom are also immigrants or first-generation Americans.
Kevin: How did you end up in Tulsa?
Rebecca: Yeah. Well, that is where me and my parents immigrated to. My father had just finished medical school, and he's Iranian. My mom is Swedish. But my dad is sort of a double immigrant. He immigrated from Iran to Sweden and then finished medical school. They had me, and then the three of us moved to Tulsa for him to do his residency.
Kevin: You know what's fascinating, whenever I meet or talk with someone who's actually lived in other countries, their perspective is a little bit different. I think that, you know, particularly this age of rabid tribalism, for lack of any other expression, so to speak, it helps one's perspective to get a view of the world firsthand.
Rebecca: Absolutely. Yeah.
Kevin: And it sounds like that informed some of your experiences as well.
Rebecca: Very much so. It made me just so grateful to get to live in America. I became a citizen of the United States when I was 20 years old. And, you know, I still remember that day so, so vividly and getting, you know, to hold that little American flag and just how proud I was to become a citizen of this country. But then also getting to travel to other places and seeing, you know, other cultures and listening to other languages and seeing, you know, that, yeah, in a lot of ways, we're different, but in so many ways, we're so similar. You know?
Kevin: Yeah.
Rebecca: And I think that that's the beauty of education is that we get to celebrate our differences and also celebrate our connected humanity.
Kevin: Yeah, there's no doubt about it. But let's talk about your teaching experience. You're a math teacher. And, you know, for many students, their experience in the math classrooms has not been positive. You've heard this, I'm sure, you know, ad nauseam. But you make math fun. And how did you develop that approach to take on a subject where far too many students are conditioned to believe they can't do math even before they start the classroom, and yet you bring out excitement in the classroom while teaching math?
Rebecca: Yeah, I mean, I certainly try to. You know, I think that our culture is really interesting when it comes to mathematics because it's really normal to be like, "I'm a math person." Or, "I'm not a math person." It's not normal to be like, "I can't read." You know? And so there's this really interesting sort of juxtaposition for me that our culture is sort of okay in a way with, like, innumeracy, you know, or a lack of math affinity. And I . . .
Kevin: Why is that?
Rebecca: Yeah, it's a great question. I'm not really sure. I think part of it is how we teach mathematics in this country. Mathematics to me is so creative and it is so broad. And we tend to just kind of teach very, very small pieces of really the broader picture of math. So I think that's part of it, is how math is taught in this country is really black and white. And to me, I have both a bachelor's and a master's in math. So what I love about math is that it transports me, right? Like it transports me kind of like when we read a book, right, it transports us to another world. Math to me transports me into my own self. And there's this really like rhythmic meditative quality to math.
And moving so often, math was sort of one of my constants, right? And it's something that was really healing for me. And so that's what I really want my students to experience, is sort of this, again, this rhythmic, meditative aspect of math that sort of allows us to just kind of go deep, go deep inside ourselves. And then, also, the really collaborative and problem-solving aspect of mathematics.
But we can talk all about that. And then the thing is, though, is that I think we can't capture our kids' minds until we capture their hearts. And so, to me, it all comes back down to that, is knowing my students first and foremost as human beings and learning their stories before I learn about them as students. So one of the things I do is I invite all of my students to come share their story during non-instructional time, like before school, after school, during lunch, and just learn about them as human beings because, you know, kids spell love T-I-M-E, right? And so when I give them, like, a little bit of my time and I say that they are valued, first and foremost just for who they are as humans, and then they really trust me. Right?
And I can push them pretty hard in the mathematics because they know, "Mrs. P is on my side." Right? "She's not going to ask me to do something that she doesn't think I'm capable of." So first and foremost, to make math exciting, I first have to get to know who my students are, right? I mean, it's cliché, but it's true. Like, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Kevin: Yeah. I mean, look, that's powerful. In fact, I wish you were my math teacher when I was in the second grade. And my second-grade teacher said to me and I'll never forget this, "Well, Kevin, some of us aren't good at math."
Rebecca: I mean, what absolute crap.
Kevin: And, Rebecca, I grew up in a family where my father was a pharmacist. My sister was a biochemist. Well, another sister, accountant. My younger brother won the science fair. I was the outlier who was not . . . and I really do think, and my sister agrees with me, that it dates back to that second-grade teacher . . .
Rebecca: A hundred percent. A hundred percent.
Kevin: . . . who told me I wasn't good in math.
Rebecca: How we speak to our kids becomes their inner voice, right? It matters. And, you know, that's what I try to teach our parents as well. Like, how we talk about our own math identity really matters. So, like, maybe let's not say, "I'm not a math person," because then sometimes our kids think that as well. And everybody is a math person. Like, if you can do some math and you can breathe, like you are a math person.
Kevin: Yeah. Well, maybe I'll just audit one of your classes. I just . . .
Rebecca: Yeah, come on over to Tulsa.
Kevin: I need to audit a class. You know, I will say also that part of the challenge you talk about problems, but we're going to get into the opportunities in a minute because you're all about that is positive energy, which is terrific. But part of the challenge also is that similar to my second grade experience, many kids, the majority of kids in this country are introduced to math by teachers who are non-math teachers. And that is a big issue.
Rebecca: It is a big issue. In my state, the most recent data I've seen is from 2018. We produce 25 secondary math education majors in the whole state.
Kevin: Twenty-five?
Rebecca: Twenty-five. And, I mean, my district alone could almost hire all 25 in a year, right? And there's 544 districts in my state. So this is a really deep and important question. How do we get more math teachers, right, and not just math teachers, but math teachers that love math, that are excited about math, that approach mathematics with joy and passion, because that stuff is contagious? You know?
Kevin: Yeah, it is. It really is. And, you know, I was going to ask you how you get your students engaged, but you immediately answered that by, again, referencing how you get to know them and they get to share their story and their experience. And one of the things you do, you know, talk to me about One Good Thing.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Kevin: I just think that is such a beautiful concept. It's simple, but it's straightforward and it's positive. And it's an engagement tool in and of itself.
Rebecca: Yeah. So my first three years of teaching were at the college level as a graduate teaching assistant and then as an instructor at a community college. And then, I decided to make the switch from college teaching to high school teaching. And, this was in 2012. And naive Rebecca thought like, "How hard could it be?" Right? Like, I mean, I know how to teach college students. Like, they're almost the same age. Turns out it was really hard. And I truly, Kevin, I had one foot out the door. I really didn't think I had it in me.
Kevin: And why was that? Why did you come to that conclusion after your first start?
Rebecca: You know, I think when I was at the college level, I could just like come in, give a lesson, everybody took notes, and I felt like good about what I did, because I was coming from a classroom where students were paying to hear what I had to say, right, and would prefer not to have to pay to hear me say the same thing again next semester to a classroom where students were like, I mean, more or less forced to hear what I had to say. You know? And that was like a real shock to my system, particularly because I was like, I mean, it's very cute of me. Like, I thought that I was doing a good job. You know? And then I'm like, "Oh, wow, I really don't exactly know what I'm doing." Turns out teaching is more than just delivering instruction. Who knew?
Kevin: Yeah. You think.
Rebecca: So yeah, I really was ready to be done. I had the intention of going back to college teaching, but I still had a semester left of my contract and thought, man, I have got to do something for me really. I mean, this was really for me to, like, make it through the rest of this first year at Union High School. And I serendipitously stumbled upon this community blog called One Good Thing. And it was a new collective of only math teachers at the time that were committed to just writing good things that happened in their classrooms. And they live by this mantra that every day may not be good, but there is one good thing in every day. And something about that quote just hit me so viscerally, you know, because it didn't ignore the demands of my job. Every day may not be good, right? But it did insist on taking ownership of my day.
And, you know, truth be told, I really hadn't learned yet how to make a seat at the table for the kids who needed the most love. So I thought, you know, maybe, like this is my last hope kind of. Maybe changing something and doing something that required a bit of discipline in myself would help get me through to the end of the year.
So I joined the blog. One day I opened my laptop, wrote something good from the day and hit Publish. And the next day I did the same. And the third day I did that again. And I just kept going and going and going.
Until after a decade of writing good things, I had written 1,400 posts. And, you know, at first, I really didn't see the power that this intentional gratitude and reflection was having. At first, I was in a really reactive frame of mind, right? I'd kind of mentally go through my day until I could think of something sort of good and jot it down.
But then there was this turning point, and thank goodness this turning point happened within that second semester. My brain started noticing good things throughout the day. Like I'd notice myself saying, "Hey, you know, one good thing, like Jose just invited me to his soccer game." Or one good thing, like this beautiful parent letter I just got her. One good thing, like Maggie asked a question for the first time today.
Kevin: Wow.
Rebecca: And these were not, for the most part, nothing big. But these were small, beautiful everyday moments that I was missing because I wasn't making room for them to land. And then I think there was another turning point where I wanted to not just actively notice the good throughout my day. I wanted to be more proactive. I wanted to be the one good thing in the day. I wanted to make sure there was a seat at the table for each kid, right?
And so that's when I started inviting each student to come share their story because I wanted to make sure that every kid had a seat at the table. It takes about 10 weeks to learn all my learners' stories. But once those 10 weeks are over, there is just this, like, atmospheric shift, right? Like everyone is in, everyone belongs, everyone has a seat at the table, and that allows for learning to skyrocket.
Kevin: Yeah, you know, it's powerful. You know, you talk about intentionality, you talk about gratitude and learning, and it reminds me of my wife. She always talks about, you know, start the morning, "What are you grateful for today?" And you're right that this whole idea of at first you are reaching for things, but then, you know, you start to notice more positive, meaningful things you're grateful for. And I can see how transformative that must have been for you, even if you embraced the idea of engaging students that otherwise were unengaged.
Rebecca: Yeah, exactly. And, you know, the brain science really backs all this up.
Kevin: Yeah, absolutely.
Rebecca: What I was doing was initiating my reticular activating system, right, our brain's filtering system. So when I noticed the good, the part of my brain that filters the good expanded, and that allowed me to see even more good. And I say, like, it's true I did not know. I did not know how hard this job was going to be, but also I did not know good it was going to be.
Kevin: Well, look, think about it, Rebecca. Because you're in that last semester and you're about to give it up, you embrace One Good Thing. You're now the 2023 National Teacher of the Year.
Rebecca: I know, it's wild.
Kevin: Talk to me about what not just validation, that sort of title, if you will, has given you, but also the inspiration associated with that title.
Rebecca: Yeah. It's, you know, I still sort of have to pinch myself in it. I try to explain, you know, that I didn't win a competition. Like I was just selected for a job. And a year from now it will be somebody else's turn to do this job. But, you know, teaching is not a competition, right? It's a collaboration. And so part of me kind of feels really uncomfortable with this title, to be honest. I think because like no teacher goes into this for, like, the titles, right?
The other part of me understands that we are what we celebrate. And when we elevate a teacher's voice, we elevate the entire profession. And so it's a very humbling experience. It is incredibly inspiring to get to represent what I feel is such a powerful profession, right, that affords so much purpose and creativity and autonomy. And particularly, as I get to know the rest of my 2023 cohort, the state teachers of the year, well, first of all, every time I kind of scratch my head, and I think, "Why me," because there's, you know, 54 other just amazing state and territory teachers of the year.
But then the other part thinks, like, I have to live up to them. And I want to represent the best of them and the best of us. And so I carry . . . like, I think, you know, as I've been really intentional about learning my students' stories, what I've learned is, like, when we learn each other's stories, we carry a piece of each other with us. You know?
Kevin: That's right.
Rebecca: And so I carry my colleagues with me. I carry my own teachers with me. I carry the other 2023 state and territory teachers of the year with me. I just keep coming back to the analogy of a mirror, right? I hope that there's a part of me or my story or my classroom that really resonates with other teachers. But ultimately, like what science has taught us is that a mirror reflects light, right, ad that's what I hope I can do, is just reflect the light that is happening all across our country through students and teachers.
Kevin: And that light is really needed, Rebecca, particularly now when so many teachers and so many people in the education profession, particularly K through 12, are leaving the profession. We have teachers shortages. We have burnout. So a couple questions. How have you been able to avoid the burnout that engulfs even great teachers? And secondly, what should we be doing to encourage teachers, support teachers, you know, make sure that they will want to continue the work which is a gift to the country and the children we serve?
Rebecca: Yeah. That's the million-dollar question. I think certainly being intentional about gratitude and reflection has definitely saved my career, but also the teachers that I surround myself with. Like the teachers my math department, for example, that really buoy me and we support each other. You know? If we do this work alone, it's not sustainable. I mean, there is a design flaw if we try to do this work alone. It just cannot be done. But when we feel part of a team, then certainly it helps us to stay in, but we also know that that affects student achievement, right? Like, that collective teacher efficacy is we believe the number one indicator of student success.
So being part of a team and finding my support system really early on through my colleagues and through principles was life changing. But how do we now support teachers and encourage teachers to go into it? I think, you know, definitely, like, teachers are being poached by higher paying industries. As a high school teacher, I see that with my own students. I mean, they can Google salaries, right? And they say like, "This isn't sustainable for me to take on four years of debt and then make," you know, $39,000 is what we start out in Oklahoma.
So certainly funding education fully is . . . and we can't not have a conversation about that. But I think there's more to it than money. I think, because, like, we've got to restore the respect and the appreciation in this profession. I also think we really have to think about the future teachers. Part of the reason I'm a teacher is because someone tapped me on the shoulder, right, and said like, "I think you'd be really great at this." And I wonder, like, how many of us are we tapping shoulders and saying, "I think you'd be really great at this," because part of, like, the title as teachers of the year is like ambassador for teaching, right?
Kevin: Mm-hmm.
Rebecca: And it's a beautiful term, but it's like one person can't carry, can't be the only ambassador for an entire profession for the whole state, right? We all are ambassadors for teaching. And so, you know, I care very much about who my colleagues are in 5 to 10 years. I care very much about who my son's future teachers are.
And so we also, as teachers, I think need to take a lot of ownership in this narrative of, are we encouraging the next generation to consider this, and are we approaching our work in a way where the next generation would want to consider this? Right? Like are we approaching our work with joy and passion? Do we see the beauty in our own work? Because I truly believe, like, I don't know that there's any other profession like this one, right, where if I asked you to think of an educator who held significant impact in your life, I'm guessing you could think of someone like that, right?
Kevin: Yes.
Rebecca: We don't just think of them. We like hold them in our hearts, right, years, decades down the road.
Kevin: Yes, yes.
Rebecca: And what other profession is there like this? You know? And do we sit with, like, the owned power of our profession enough, and do we think about the beauty of our work? Because if we sit with it for a bit, I think it's going to make a difference, right?
Kevin: Yes.
Rebecca: Because how we as educators talk about teaching, it really, really matters.
Kevin: Yeah, it does matter. And I tell you, listening to you now, I can fully understand why you were selected as teacher of the year. Your passion for teaching and the humanity that you exude and that you want to find in others, it's a big part of why I'm sure your students appreciate you. And like all great teachers, we appreciate them.
So, Rebecca, one last question. This is what I really want to know. When we think about passion and teacher burnout, there are a lot of teachers out here who are going to listen to this show frankly, and they reach out to me from time to time. And you travel around and you speak, and you're an ambassador. But there are teachers out here who are going to hear this, who you may not meet. And if you could give them any advice for how they could maintain their passion, any suggestions, and I think your description of the gratitude and intentionality and One Good Thing is really important. But for many teachers out there who are struggling, they will listen to someone like you. How do they begin that process of sort of rekindling, you know, that passion? Because some, they feel various pressures wherever they are. And so talk to those teachers.
Rebecca: Yeah. Well, first of all, like I hear you and I was there. Like, I almost left, you know. And so whatever you're feeling is totally valid. And I would encourage you to not shy away from what you're feeling. Don't suppress it because if we don't take the time to notice what we're feeling in ourselves, how can we notice it in our students? You know? So take the time to, like, dig into what you're feeling and why you're feeling those ways. Take the time to reflect. And take the time to see, like, "Is there a part of my day that I really do not enjoy?"
And is there a way to change that part of your day because that is something that is really pretty unique about this profession, is that we get, for the most part, to create our own systems, right, and create how our classroom is run. So, for example, cell phones drive me bananas. You know? And so I create a system in my classroom where I don't have my cell phones out and my students don't have cell phones out.
For some of my colleagues, like students asking to go to the bathroom drives them up the wall, and so they create systems that they don't have to fight that battle, right? But you've got to really kind of think about and take the time to reflect. And I know that sounds like doing one more thing right now, but I fully believe if we take the time to reflect now and create systems and classrooms that work for us, we'll gain that time back and more in the long run.
And the other thing is a little bit of a math lesson here. You know, exponential growth, if we think about like increasing by just 1% every day, right, if you can picture it, it's sort of that graph, yet we can sort of see it going up, right? It's exponential. The thing is though, if we zoom in at the beginning and zoom in, the graph is very horizontal in the beginning. In other words, it feels like we're not moving at all, right? And I think that a lot of times, you know, as an immigrant, I'm like I'm willing to play the long game. And sometimes I wonder, I think that's maybe not quite as much a part of the American culture is, like, keep going, keep going. Like, we feel that sort of horizontalness, if you will, and we just, we drop out, right? We stop.
But if we would keep going, if we increase by just 1% every day and keep going and going and going, we'll get to experience that uptick, that exponential growth. But it's easy to, like, start something. It's also easy to stop that something, right? And so my encouragement is make space for the good things to land. It does not have to be writing something. It can be snapping a picture every day or taking a video or sending yourself a text note or a video or a voice note. But find a way to document the good that's happening in your classroom, because if we don't take the time to see it, we won't see it, right? We won't notice it.
But all of that to say, as teachers, like, you are enough exactly as you are. And it's so easy, especially in today's day and age, to compare ourselves. And I love what Roosevelt said, "Comparison is the thief of joy." Right? So know that you are enough. You are enough. You're exactly what our students need. And I think if we all just focus on being the teacher that we needed as children, then the country is going to be full of joyous, beautiful, innovative classrooms.
Kevin: Yeah. Well said. Oh, Rebecca, I tell you what, if I controlled time travel, you'd be my second-grade teacher and I would be like Einstein today.
Rebecca: Yes. You would be like Einstein. You'd know you're a math person.
Kevin: I would know I'm a math person. I certainly enjoyed chatting with you Rebecca Peterson.
Rebecca: Likewise.
Kevin: Thank you so much for joining us on "What I Want to Know."
Rebecca: Thanks for having me, Kevin.
Kevin: Thanks for listening to "What I Want to Know." Be sure to follow and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app so you can explore other episodes and dive into our discussions on the future of education. And write a review of the show. I also encourage you to join the conversation and let me know what you want to know using #WIWTK on social media. That's # WIWTK.
For more information on Stride and online education, visit stridelearning.com. I'm your host, Kevin P. Chavous. Thank you for joining "What I Want to Know."
Meet Rebecka
Rebecka Peterson is a math teacher at Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was selected as the 2023 National Teacher of the Year.
Rebecka is passionate about using storytelling to inspire her creativity in the classroom.
Join The Email List
Sign up and get notifications on new What I Want to Know podcast episodes.
Thanks for subscribing!
Check your email to confirm your subscription.
What I Want to Know
In this podcast, you will hear from leaders in education as we talk through learning solutions for homeschool, online school, education pathways, and topics tailored specifically to online students and parents.
