national teacher of the year

A 25-year veteran of the classroom, Kurt Russell was first inspired to become a teacher in middle school, when he encountered his first Black male teacher. Now as 2022 National Teacher of the Year, he plans to advocate for classrooms to better reflect the students within them — from a curriculum that reflects their backgrounds and identities to a more diverse teaching profession. 

Kurt teaches history at Oberlin High School in Oberlin, Ohio, where he was born and raised; his classes include African American history, which he has taught since the late 1990s, and Race, Gender and Oppression, a class he developed. He also serves as faculty advisor for the student-led Black Student Union, whose work has led to positive impacts for students across racial groups.

In addition to his classroom and extracurricular duties, Kurt is the head coach for the school’s varsity basketball team. He sees basketball as an extension of the classroom, and a place where young people can learn about working together and how to handle both adversity and success.  

Kurt shares what led him to become an educator and why he has stayed in the classroom for so long. He discuss the importance of diverse curriculum and class offerings and how African-American history and culture is under attack. Finally, host Shayna Terrell and Mr. Russell discuss how teaching is a political act and the importance of recruiting and retaining Black educators. 

Hear from 2018 National Teacher of the Year Mandy Manning on what teachers can do in their classrooms to create a positive environment for students of all backgrounds to thrive, and what lessons she learned through her experiences living and teaching in other cultures.

Mandy Manning has been teaching for 21 years in countries and cities all across the globe. She currently works in the Spokane Public Schools Newcomer Program, teaching new immigrants and refugee children.

Mandy’s journey in education started in the Peace Corps, teaching English in Armenia. It was here, in this new culture and environment completely different from what she grew up within America, that she learned a powerful lesson—what we “know” is not necessarily what’s right. There is beauty in ALL ways of life, and every human has intrinsic value.

It is this insight that she carries forth in her style of teaching and the message she is spreading to all educators—that we must hold space for all cultures, values, traditions, and gifts in the classroom, and encourage students to be proud of who they are.

For full show notes: https://www.baktashahadi.com/podcast

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Produced by: Dana Drahos 

Edited by: Joseph Gangemi 

Digital Marketing by: Katherine An 

Theme music by: Qais Essar 

Artwork by: Masheed Ahadi 

Shanna Peeples, the 2015 National Teacher of the Year, took the road less travelled on the way to her classroom.

She worked as a disc jockey, medical assistant, and journalist before teaching, as she says, chose her.

Shanna taught middle and high school English in low-income schools in Amarillo, Texas for 14 years. Because Amarillo is a resettlement area for refugees, students as diverse as the Karen people of Myanmar to the Bantu people of Somalia, make up classes in her former assignment at Palo Duro High School.

Currently, Shanna is an Equity and Access Fellow in residency at the Council of Chief State School Officers to complete a doctorate in Education Leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education. At Harvard, she was a Teaching Fellow and is part of two teams: one, an education startup for STEM learning, the other, a leadership consultancy.

A former reporter for the Amarillo Globe-News, Shanna won awards for reporting on health issues, schools, and music criticism. Her writing has appeared in Education Leadership, Education Week, the Washington Post and the New York Observer; currently, she writes for multiple publications on Medium.

Her book, Think Like Socrates: Invite Wonder and Empathy Into the Classroom, was  chosen by the National Education Association Foundation and PDK International for their membership.

Rodney Robinson is the 2019 National Teacher of the Year and Virginia Teacher of the Year. He is a teaching veteran with nearly two decades of experience. In 2015, in an effort to better understand the school-to-prison pipeline, Rodney started teaching social studies at the Virgie Binford Education Center, a school inside the Richmond Juvenile Detention Center. Now, he uses the knowledge he has gained from his students to develop alternative programs to prevent students from entering the school-to-prison pipeline.

Rodney earned a Bachelor of arts in history from Virginia State University and a master’s in educational administration and supervision from Virginia Commonwealth University. He has been published three times by Yale University and has received numerous awards for his accomplishments in and out of the classroom. He has worked with Pulitzer Award winning author James Foreman Jr. on developing curriculum units on race, class, and punishment as a part of the Yale Teacher’s Institute.

The Teachers in America series profiles K–12 teachers across the country. Hear firsthand from the people who are shaping young lives in the classroom every day.

Today’s episode was recorded via phone.

Read more on Shaped, including a full transcript and research for this episode: https://www.hmhco.com/blog/hmh-learning-moments-teachers-in-america-rodney-robinson-ntoy-2019-richmond-va