Washington state’s new Teacher of the Year sees challenges, opportunities amid distance learning

Here in Washington state, we have around 60,000 teachers — but there's only one Teacher of the Year. This year, it's Brooke Brown. She teaches English Language Arts and Ethnic Studies at Washington High School in the Franklin Pierce School District, south of Tacoma.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

It's overwhelming [to receive this award]. It's a very humbling experience. Teachers by profession are just amazing innovators and creative geniuses who make magic happen in their classroom every day. We all could be Teachers of the Year, especially with what 2020 has brought. So, very humbling.

I went off to college not knowing what I wanted to do. My freshman year, I was in a science class. I had the opportunity to either make this complicated website or tutor at a local high school. I ended up spending some time at that school and really saw a need for teachers who looked like me, who could advocate for their students, and just be supportive. Ultimately, I just felt like I wanted to be the teacher that I needed when I was growing up.

I think teaching is an act of love. I think so much of what teachers are asked to do is to authentically bring 100% of themselves to their jobs, emotionally, intellectually, physically, all of those things we utilized in the classroom. For me, I really want my students to leave my class with this sense of self, this sense of self-love, and valuing who they are, and what they bring to every space that they inhabit.

I also want them to really develop a sense of community. One of the things that we're always developing in class is compassion and empathy. I often think teenagers get a bad rap for always being on technology, or maybe people say they think of themselves, or the stereotypes that people have about teenagers. But I'm so grateful that my job is to hang out with our future every day.

One of the things that I think is really important in developing empathy and compassion is the ability to learn about yourself. When we live in a world that's so full of technology, oftentimes we don't have that time to just quiet ourselves, and to really listen to ourselves, and to really develop that moral compass, and to really think about what we believe and why we believe it.

I just think it's really important to have that quiet time. We talk about mindfulness, and just how we can get to know ourselves. That way, we can develop empathy. We can put ourselves in other people's shoes, and then build compassion and empathy. They're like a muscle. So the more that we practice, the more that we have those conversations, I think the more we develop that.

I think engaging in conversations [about racial justice] with [teenagers] is so important. I think, oftentimes, we think maybe they're not ready to have those conversations, or maybe we think those conversations are difficult or hard, but they're having them with one another. I think when you have conversations with students about their own experiences, and things that are going on in the world, you validate what's happening.

I think we have those conversations. I think we have to lean into the fact that sometimes they're uncomfortable, and sometimes we don't have the answers, but that's the beauty of it. When we're in a community and we're learning together, we're going to come to the answers together. Oftentimes, we are one another's answers.

One of the things that I really found at the end of last year, when I was discussing these questions with some of my students, is they felt that the weight of the world seems to be on their shoulders. They feel like they have to change everything. I would just challenge us to think that if we just change the world for one person, we change the world for that person.

My challenge to my students when they're graduating and moving on to the next stage of their life is always to lean into how can you make the space around you better? How can you make your community? How can you add value to your family, to your job, to use your passions and your unique gifts to make the people around you better? And if we all do that, there's a ripple effect that will happen.

[Teaching virtually] is a challenge — it's a challenge. And I think it's hard for everyone. I think we have to really have grace for one another, for ourselves, and especially for our students. I think it's hard, because the best parts of our jobs as teachers is seeing our students. It's that interaction that we get, the excitement of learning, all of those pieces are really hard to get to fit into a computer screen. I just think it's really challenging.

[Connecting emotionally with students] is definitely challenging. In the springtime, when we were remote learning after closure, we had built relationships, and built classroom community. So, this is a unique challenge in that there are a lot of students who I have not had the opportunity yet, or the privilege to meet in person. We're developing relationships through chat, and through those kinds of functions across the computer.

I think it's causing teachers to be more innovative, and more creative. But you'll find teachers all over the place are rising to the challenge, and finding different ways to lean in and engage students. My colleagues are examples of just great innovators. They're constantly finding new ways to play games, to engage students, to set the tone that we're here to learn, but the relationships are the most important. The development and the individuals are the most important.

This is just hard. I think, acknowledging that this is hard. I'm a person who is a planner. I'm an organizer. This is just a season that we're not going to excel in, as far as having it all together. I think we have to be okay with that. And every day, we're going to keep showing up. We're going to keep trying, and that's enough in this season. That's enough in life. We don't have to be perfectionists, and we don't have to have everything together all the time.

I think the more vulnerable we are with our young people, the more that we model that, the more than our students and our children are going to come out of this season as resilient young people, as people that see the best in situations, and make the best out of situations, and see the best in themselves and one another. I just think the more that we can support them as people, as young people, it's going to minimize the struggle during this time, because this is hard. It's just hard.

I do have to say, there are two [of my own] teachers that really stick out to me. One is my sixth grade English teacher. Her name was Mrs. Keller. I just know that coming into middle school was a really big transitional time for me. She just really made me feel okay with who I was. She made me feel like I belonged.

My freshman English teacher was Mr. Chandler, at Stadium. He also, I just felt like I belonged in his class. He made me feel smart, and like it was okay to be smart. I just appreciated that for him. I didn't have to be anything except myself in both of those classes.

That is something that I strive to be into my classroom today, to make sure that I do my best every day, to make sure all of my students feel seen and heard, that they can bring 100% of themselves to their class every day, and that every day we're working on becoming better readers and writers, and better people. That's my goal every day.

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