Teacher Stories

Life as a beginning teacher is hard, and many quit within a few years. Valerie Sujanani is not only a first year teacher with 30 second grade students, the closing of her school due to COVID-19 has forced her to teach and support her students online-a challenge she and most of her colleagues were not trained to do.

Listen to Valerie's story to find out how she's managing during this crisis and whether she will return for a second year.

Landi Tessman, a special ed teacher in the Minneapolis area, describes the profound impact the coronavirus is having on her students and the challenges she and her colleagues face educating students while their schools are closed. She also shares lessons of hope that are emerging from the crisis.

In a previous podcast Mr. Danz, shared a story about teaching Mindfulness to his 5th grade students. In this follow-up interview Mr. Danz, some of his students, and his principal respond to concerns raised by author, Alfie Kohn in another teacher story podcast, who worries that trendy concepts like mindfulness, like other trendy ideas,  grit, are often used simply to get students to be compliant -- to tolerate situations that shouldn't exist in the first place.

Dean Lesicko has spent much of his 30+ years as an educator supporting "marginalized" youth. That may not have happened were it not for Dean's 3rd grade teacher, Ken Meberg.

Alfie Kohn (alfiekohn.org) has written extensively about teaching, parenting, education, and schooling. In this thought-provoking podcast, Alfie says we must be clear about our shared, long-term goals for children before we can describe what good teachers do in the classroom. If we want thoughtful, life-long learners, then we would want teachers who encourage their students to be questioners and challengers and in control of their learning -- not passive receptacles of facts.

Tavis Danz is a fifth grade teacher and has incorporated "mindfulness" into his classroom to enhance academic, social, and emotional learning. But he has occasionally worried that the parents of his students might disapprove of this approach. When he received an email from a parent with the subject line, "Mindfulness, " he thought his worst fear was about to be confirmed.

Robert Nelsen was content to work on his ranch in Montana and to ride in the rodeo. As "punishment" for being a "smart ass," Nelsen's high school teacher made him apply for college. Now Dr. Nelsen is now president of one of California's largest public universities.

Until becoming a teenager, Karina Figueroa-Ramirez had never had a teacher who shared her cultural background or looked like her. That changed when she was assigned to a Latinx English teacher in 7th grade who supported Karina's interest in books, who listened to her, and who challenged her to imagine a different future. Nearly 20 years later, in a very different educational setting, Karina is paying forward the gift she received from a caring and inspiring educator. She also remains in touch with this teacher who has since retired.

Emili works with a teacher in South Central Los Angeles who helps a young, angry high school student deal with her emotions--through dance. This teacher story is about trust, the freedom to fail, and how the arts can transform lives.

During high school, a time in his life when he was desperately trying to blend in (and perhaps go unnoticed), Efrain Solis was encouraged to take center stage.

Now a professional opera singer, he shares how his special high school drama teacher, Jeannette McMahon, helped him discover his—baritone—voice.