Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres delves into the wisdom offered by Rebecka Peterson, an educator whose journey began much like Ana’s: as a young immigrant to the United States. Rebecka shares all that she has come to love and appreciate about the K–12 environment after a tough transition from teaching college-level courses. She also reveals her most important lesson learned: Teach humans over content. Rebecka talks about her “One Good Thing” blog, where she documented daily positives in her classroom that transformed her perspective on teaching. She shares personal experiences of feeling like an outsider and how those experiences drive her to create an environment of belonging for her students. Rebecca stresses the significance of building authentic relationships with students as well as the impact of mentors in education. Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Eric and Ana discuss strategies like “rebellious joy” that are essential to sustaining a long career in education.

Show notes:

• Connect with Rebecka Peterson:
  • Instagram: @RebeckaPeterson_
  • X: @RebeckaMozdeh
• “Dear Ana”: Tell us about a seasoned educator who impacted your life!
• Listen: Hear from Missy Testerman, 2024 National Teacher of the Year!
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years: https://amplify.com/beyond-my-years
• Follow us on Instagram: @amplify.education
• Connect with Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org/
• Connect with Ana Torres: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/

Quotes:
“That's how we build our joy, how we build our resiliency—when we do the work together.” —Rebecka Peterson

“I thought…I had to earn my seat at the table. I don't want any kid to ever think they have to earn their spot. I want them to know they are in, exactly as they are. There is no need to perform. They are loved on their good days, their hard days, whether they make the 'A' or not—they are in. And more than that, they are celebrated.” —Rebecka Peterson

“It takes a lot of courage to stand in the present. It is mindfulness. It is joy.” —Rebecka Peterson

“This was like training my brain to become a good noticer and to take delight in my students’ quirks, and their genius, and their goofiness, as well as their beauty.” —Rebecka Peterson

Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres learns from the best, sitting down with 2024’s National Teacher of the Year, Missy Testerman. Missy talks about always being open to new ideas and perspectives, offers tips on building relationships with families, and discusses the importance of slowing down. She also shares the story of being the “bossy” kid in the classroom, because she wanted to help her classmates learn.Today, she feels that being a dedicated teacher means advocating for her students, because she believes that showing up means creating a vital safe place. Missy does not shy away from tough topics, such as knowing when it’s time to step away from teaching, and managing the “who knows best” struggle between administrators and teachers, parents and teachers, etc. Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Ana and her Classroom Insider Eric Cross discuss understanding your community, being more flexible and present in your lessons, and seeking mentorship and continuous growth.

Show notes:

• Submit your story about a seasoned educator who affected your life, and be entered to win exclusive Beyond My Years swag!
• Connect with Missy Testerman:
  • Instagram: @missytesterman2024ntoy
  • LinkedIn: @missy-testerman
  • X: @missytesterman
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years https://amplify.com/beyond-my-years
• Follow us on Instagram @amplify.education
• Connect with Eric Cross https://www.ericcross.org/
• Connect with Ana Torres https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/

Quotes:
“The reality is that the journey toward wisdom in any career, especially in education, has to be slow and steady.” –Missy Testerman

“I want them to be proud of where they came from, always, because that's part of their story. It's always going to be an important part of their story.” –Missy Testerman

“I had a mentor who said, ‘Sometimes you have to slow down teaching to speed up learning.’ Slowing down, allowing those spontaneous moments to happen, allowing it to interrupt your plan, and then going there and diving into that, because you got the engagement. You have these natural phenomena. You have this natural curiosity. And that's true learning. And that's what's memorable.” –Missy Testerman

Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres takes you to the northernmost region of Alaska to sit down with Patti and Rod Lloyd. Patti and Rod are longtime educators in a rural school district where caribou outnumber people, the village is only accessible by plane, and the indigenous culture of the Iñupiat people goes back 10,000 years. They teach Ana about how they make the content matter by connecting it to student life outside of the classroom, the honor of teaching where children are the most valuable part of the community, the importance of listening more than you speak, and they offer advice for teaching responsibly as an outsider. They also share stories of how the first week of every school year is spent connecting to the land and having the village elders teach about their culture, emphasizing the joy to be found when you open yourself up to what your students have to teach you. Throughout the conversation, it is clear that despite teaching in a unique landscape, the lessons that Patti and Rod have learned are applicable to teaching any student anywhere. Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Eric and Ana discuss the benefits of building genuine community relationships, making learning culturally relevant, and the importance of focusing on effective teaching methods.

Show notes:

• Connect with Patti and Rod Lloyd: https://www.facebook.com/groups/194594181995804
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years https://amplify.com/beyond-my-years
• Follow us on Instagram @amplify.education
• Connect with Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org/
• Connect with Ana Torres: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/

Quotes:
“I wish I could go back and tell myself, ‘Don't be so concerned with what you're teaching but how you're teaching it.’ Really get into the community.” —Rod Lloyd

“We’ve just got to be quiet enough, long enough to hear what our students are saying—or not saying.” —Patti Llloyd

“I know teaching now is a very high-pressure situation. There is so much pressure on us and so much to do, but we can't forget to take that time and enjoy it because if you enjoy it, your kids will enjoy it.” —Rod Lloyd

Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres learns all she can learn from the life stories and lessons of Khamphet Pease. While other teenagers might have been sneaking around to go to late night scary movies, Khamphet was applying for scholarships and submitting college applications. As a refugee from Laos, Khamphet shares the difficulty she experienced navigating a home culture that did not encourage education or career ambitions for women. Despite that, she laughs over her stubbornness that she sees as an integral part of what has motivated her to chase her dreams, spend over 20 years as a STEM teacher, and what earned her the presidential award for excellence in mathematics and science teaching. Due to gendered norms and expectations, she almost lost out on the future she truly wanted. Since then, she has made it her mission to champion a learning environment where young girls feel they belong and can thrive in STEM fields. Khamphet takes Ana on a journey through all the lessons she learned along the way of managing work/life balance, creating a classroom culture of trust, and the importance of finding a mentor during the hardest teaching years of your life. Once back in the classroom, Eric Cross and Ana check in on Eric’s first two weeks of back-to-school and discuss practical ways to take care of yourself first so you can then take care of your students.

Show notes:

• Connect with Khamphet Pease on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/phet-pease
• Connect with Khamphet Pease on X @PhetPease
• Watch: California Teachers Association commercial (short version)
• Watch: Steve Hartman’s On the Road series
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years https://amplify.com/beyond-my-years
• Follow us on Instagram @amplify.education
• Connect with Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org/
• Connect with Ana Torres: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/

Quotes:
“This next school year, she told me I'm up at 60 percent girls in my intro to coding classe,. and that's huge! I want to make sure that girls have access and they feel wanted and included and they can see themselves in these fields.” —Khamphet Pease

“I remember one class that I had [with only] one female student, and she was just looking around and I could see in her eyes that she just felt like this is not a place for her. She dropped out of that class and after that I was like, no, this is unacceptable.” —Khamphet Pease

“We just need more women. More of their voices. They need more seats at the table because if we all hear [only] male voices, then 50 percent of the population isn't going to have their problem solved as easily or as efficiently.” —Khamphet Pease

Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres learns from Fawn Nguyen, a math educator with over 30 years of classroom experience! Fawn tells Ana the story of her near-death experience being lost at sea while escaping Vietnam, and explains how it shaped the sense of gratitude she leads with in the classroom. She also discusses what it means to be yourself in the classroom, the importance of sharing your mistakes with your students, and the merits of advocacy vs. authority with students. Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Ana and Classroom Insider Eric Cross then discuss connecting with students through shared struggles and challenges.

Show notes:

• Connect with Fawn Nguyen: https://www.fawnnguyen.com/
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years https://amplify.com/beyond-my-years
• Follow us on Instagram @amplify.education
• Connect with Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org/
• Connect with Ana Torres: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anayansi-ana-torres-m-ed-26a10654/

Quotes:
“We spend so much time [in the classroom] day in and day out. For some of us, it's actually more interaction than we have with our own family. And it is family. So be yourself. You're going to make mistakes, but what's nice about it if we think of it as family, is that we get to apologize and tomorrow is a new day.” —Fawn Nguyen

“It has to be an exchange. We can't be just receiving, asking kids to be [themselves], and yet we ourselves are not.” —Fawn Nguyen

“[Seasoned educators] are experienced and experience means good and bad. We want to learn from both. I certainly didn't want a mentor who never made a mistake, ‘cause I'm not gaining anything.” —Fawn Nguyen

“It's about separating the behavior from the person. And another thing, separate what they don't know at the time from what they're capable of.” —Fawn Nguyen

“I don't mind telling kids the mistakes I've made because I'm hoping that they're listening and that, then that’s okay. To move from it, to learn from it, and not repeat it is the whole idea and to admit when we're wrong.” —Fawn Nguyen

“In my next lifetime, I would still teach, I would go back to teaching. That's how much I love it.” —Fawn Nguyen

“The mistake that you make today, what would it look like if somebody else made that mistake, for example, when people share something they did that they're not so proud of, what would be my advice to them? And so I want to give myself that advice because we're hardest on ourselves.” —Fawn Nguyen

Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres becomes a student of Eric Jones, an educator who came out of retirement at 80 years of age to help with a national teacher shortage—thus becoming the oldest paid teacher in Britain. Eric talks with Ana about building a collaborative classroom and what it means to teach children, not content. He also shares how the trajectory of his life changed when one man recognized and encouraged his desire to be a teacher. He’ll also discuss how going to school in the ‘50s shaped his teaching style; retiring before the age of the smartphone only to return to teaching when every kid has one; how his work in anti-bullying contributed to a national law; and why his love for teaching has lasted a lifetime.

Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Eric Cross and Ana then discuss how they would apply the tenets of respect and collaboration in their own classrooms.

Show notes:

• Connect with Eric Jones: https://ericjones41.wixsite.com/website
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years: https://amplify.com/beyond-my-years
• Follow us on Instagram: @amplify.education
• Connect with Eric Cross: https://www.ericcross.org
• Connect with Ana Torres: LinkedIn

Quotes

“You've got to love teaching, you've got to love the kids, and you've really got to want to do it. Almost, dare I say, in your blood.” —Eric Jones

“I collaborate with my students about what the rules are, and that's their creation as well as mine.” —Eric Jones

“It's nothing to do with, ‘I'm a teacher, you're a student.’ It's, ‘We are human beings together.’” —Eric Jones

“I like teaching kids things they didn't know before and now they're excited about. I love the idea that they will then move on into realms of industry and economics success that I would never dream of.” —Eric Jones

Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres soaks up wisdom from Joyce Abbott, an educator so passionate about her students that she inspired one of them to go on and write the hit show “Abbott Elementary. Joyce tells Ana all about her experiences working in a Title 1 school and what it means to know the community of Philadelphia. They also discuss how Joyce's time serving in the military informed her work as an educator, how she transformed a challenging classroom during her first year teaching, how it has felt to witness the success of "Abbott Elementary," and the passion she sees as her driving force. Taking all those lessons back to the classroom, Eric and Ana then discuss teaching tips and strategies for connecting with students.

Show notes:

• Facebook: @therealmsabbott
• Instagram: @therealmsabbott
• X: @therealmsabbott
• Subscribe to Beyond My Years

Quotes:
“Sometimes your bad days are going to outweigh your good days, but when you see and remain focused and see what your goal is, and you look at those students and say, ‘This is my main focus,’ that can be the greatest motivator.” —Joyce Abbott

“A lot of times they are dependent upon you to teach them in every aspect of their life. When you understand the community, you can serve.” —Joyce Abbott

“Me and my military buddies definitely had respect for each other. And we operated as a team, regardless of our differences, because sometimes you may not agree with every teacher on your team, which many times I did not. But you have to keep your focus toward our mission, [which] is to move a certain child or do this for the student body.” —Joyce Abbott

“They know when you care. And they will have a whole different level of respect for you when they know you care. And you set the bar high for them. That shows that you care, because you know that they can do it and you believe in them.” —Joyce Abbott

“I think it's so important in the schools that they embrace the younger teachers, because you only get better through learning and through support.” —Joyce Abbott

“When you're passionate about a profession and committed to the goal of the whole school, you're going to do what you can to help these new teachers because they have to learn. So many leave because they're encountering so many problems and they don't feel that they're supported effectively.” —Joyce Abbott

Join host Ana Torres and her classroom insider, Eric Cross, to learn what the new Amplify podcast Beyond My Years is all about. Together, they dig into the essence of what it means to be an educator, the challenges that come with it, and how Beyond My Years will connect with it all. Plus, you’ll get a sneak peek into what's ahead, including conversations with legendary educators (like one who was an inspiration for a hit TV show).

Quotes:
“As lifelong learners, as educators, it's built into our profession and our DNA to want to be mentored, but there's a shrinking population of those people.” —Eric Cross

“The people who've been in the game for a long time, they can save new teachers a lot of years of trial and error.” —Eric Cross

“We're more than just the educator or the teacher. We're more than that. We're the nurturer. We're the nurse, we're mom, we're dad, we're aunt, we're all, we play different roles in their lives. And again, it is showing up.” —Ana Torres