'I didn't believe it': Harding High School's Michael Houston on winning teacher of the year

Michael Houston of Harding High School in St. Paul was named the Minnesota Teacher of the Year for 2023. He chairs the math department and has worked at the east side school for 19 years. He spoke with All Things Considered Host Tom Crann about the award and what it means not only for him, but Harding High School.

Hear the full interview using the audio player above, or read a transcript of it below. Both have been lightly edited for clarity and length. 

What went through your mind when you heard your name?

Well, I think many people that tuned in saw my incredulous look. I didn't believe it. I did look at the screen to make sure that my face was there when they called my name because it was certainly something that I didn't expect. All the candidates were really qualified, really strong and when they called my name, I just thought it was too good to be true.

People may recall the stabbing death of a student back in February, and a classmate was charged with murder for his death. So I have ask, how are students doing?

It's hard to say because a lot of students don't really like being vulnerable and sharing how they really feel. Some students are more open than others, but they are really all taking it day by day. We really lean on each other, the staff has really been leaning on each other. We have, I think, the best staff in the entire state. And the students have been leaning on us as well.

We've been waiting on our students through all this. But Harding is a really special community, I'm so proud to be a part of it, because it's such a resilient community and we get through all this together.

One of your interests is student mental health. Tell us how you work on that with your students.

Just by being open as a teacher of color. Growing up, it wasn't really celebrated or expected or encouraged to show your emotions. And so a lot of times, for Black and brown people, we kind of tend to hide our emotions and let it all be bottled up.

I know that given the pandemic, our students have dealt with a lot. And so I came in, and we returned to the classroom, wanting to be my authentic self and really expressing myself and showing them love and showing them that they're appreciated and loved.

What are you planning to advocate for, what issues interest you the most?

Ultimately, being an advocate for more mental health supports in our schools. I am hoping to get down to the Legislature and request more funding to add more mental health practitioners in our building and also recruiting retaining teachers of color.

And then I would like to use my platform to add more personal finance curriculum to our schools. I believe one out of five schools nationwide have a personal finance course, so I would like to increase that number.