You’re a former middle school teacher. Can you talk about what drew you to education?
High school was a challenge for me. If it weren't for the community college system, I wouldn't have made it to higher education. In college, I decided I wanted to be a high school English teacher, but the jobs that were available were all in middle school. I ended up loving middle schoolers. A colleague joked that if you like middle school, you're ethically obligated to stay in middle school. But by the early 2000s, there were some policy changes that made it difficult to be the kind of teacher I wanted to be. We were losing a lot of freedom in how we approached education. That’s when I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in education at the University of California Santa Cruz. After getting my doctorate, I taught at Lewis & Clark College before coming to Puget Sound. I love my work because as a teacher educator, I am still able to stay close to K-12 teaching.
Let’s talk about your book, Going the Distance: The Teaching Profession in a Post-COVID World. Obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic upended classrooms, but how were teachers specifically impacted?
What we found in writing the book and talking to teachers across the country was that the teaching profession was already under a lot of strain. For two-and-a-half decades, managerial reforms like No Child Left Behind really diminished teacher voice and eroded trust in the education system. So when COVID-19 hit and suddenly schools had to pivot to online or hybrid instruction, teachers in many places weren’t included in discussions of what pandemic schooling should look like. In one instance, teachers were being asked to teach some students in the classroom while simultaneously teaching students online. That model was extremely difficult for teachers and it clearly wasn’t working for students. When they raised those concerns, some districts listened, but many others didn’t. So, that made for a very challenging work environment on top of everything else they were being asked to do.
The book identifies some of the structural issues in K–12 education that contribute to high rates of teacher burnout. How can we address them?
Ultimately, this is a hopeful book. I love the title, Going the Distance, because we found that teachers who were able to make it through the pandemic with their commitment to teaching intact had a few things in common. First, they were a part of discussions and the decision-making process at their schools about how to respond. Second, they were able to collaborate and leverage their professional networks to learn from other teachers and adapt their instructional practice. In schools where teachers didn’t have a voice, weren’t empowered to collaborate with their peers, and where the administration wasn’t responsive to teacher concerns, those teachers were much less satisfied and more likely to leave the profession. Of course, these issues aren’t new, but the pandemic exacerbated them. If we want expert teachers with the adaptive capacity to meet the diverse needs of students, then we need to structure for that workforce, we need to organize for that workforce, and we need to fight for that workforce. It's worth fighting for because ultimately it means a better work life for teachers and better outcomes for students.
What do you hope students take away from your classes in the Master of Arts in Teaching program?
In the MAT program, we talk a lot about fostering reflective teaching practice. There's only so much you can do in a year to anticipate every possible thing that they are going to have to contend with as teachers. We provide candidates with a strong set of methodological and pedagogical tools, but the most important thing is supporting their capacity to be reflective. You have to be able to adapt to who your students are and what they need. We also help them understand when to use those tools, how to use those tools, and how to assess what's working so they can engage in culturally responsive, reflective teaching practice. That’s very unique to our program.
How do you spend your time outside the classroom?
I'm new to the Pacific Northwest and absolutely enchanted with Tacoma. So, I spend as much time as possible outside—even in the cold and rain—walking in Point Defiance and along Ruston Way. I’ve learned that you need to have a good raincoat if you live here.
You can order from Harvard Education Press. To learn more about the ’s Master of Arts in Teaching program, visit the School of Education webpage.
