Special Episode
Springing forward and looking back, with Ana and Eric
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres and Classroom Insider Eric Cross reconnect with three past guests鈥擣awn Nguyen, Rebecka Peterson, and Simone McQuaige鈥攖o explore key challenges from their early teaching days: classroom management, decentering oneself, and time management. Ana and Eric share their own experiences with these common hurdles, then offer a quick look at what鈥檚 ahead in Season 2.
Meet our guest, Fawn Nguyen.
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Fawn Nguyen is director of STEM Initiatives at 黄瓜视频. Before joining 黄瓜视频, she was a math coach in a K鈥�8 school district for three years and a middle school math teacher for 30 years. She has received many accolades, including being named the 2014 Ventura County Teacher of the Year, Raytheon鈥檚 2009 Math Teacher Hero, and the 2005 Sarah D. Barder Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. She has also been a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator at math conferences nationwide. In 2012, she co-founded the Math Teacher鈥檚 Circle in Thousand Oaks, California. From 2015鈥�2018, Fawn served as a member of NCTM鈥檚 Professional Development Services Committee.
Meet our guest, A. Simone McQuaige.
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A. Simone McQuaige has dedicated 34 years to education within the Prince George鈥檚 County Public School (PGCPS) system. A proud alumna of PGCPS, she began her career as an elementary school teacher. She has since had various leadership roles, including mentor, teacher, reading specialist, and reading/English language arts instructional specialist, as well as serving as an adjunct professor. Simone is the supervisor of reading/English language arts K鈥�5 and she leads the Elementary Literacy Support Team in the Office of Curriculum and Instruction.
Meet our guest, Rebecka Peterson.
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Recognized as the 2023 National Teacher of the Year, Rebecka Peterson is a math teacher who loves stories. Rebecka has been teaching for 16 years, the last 12 of which at Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She believes that when we learn each other鈥檚 stories, we carry a piece of each other with us, enabling us to authentically advocate for our students, teachers, and communities.
In the midst of a challenging first year of teaching, Rebecka joined other educators in a daily practice of noting “one good thing” in her classroom. Together they found inspiration by embracing the motto: 鈥淓very day may not be good, but there is one good thing in every day.鈥� This shift in perspective transformed her work. Rebecka now collaborates with fellow educators, emphasizing the importance of cultivating intentional joy as a means of sustaining oneself in the difficult but beautiful profession of teaching.
Meet our host, Ana Torres.
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Ana has been an educator for 30 years, working in both the K鈥�8 and higher education sectors. She served as an administrator and instructor at various public and private colleges and universities and as a bilingual and dual language teacher, dual language math and reading interventionist, dual language instructional coach, assistant principal, and principal in K鈥�8 schools. Ana is currently the bilingual and multilingual specialist on 黄瓜视频鈥檚 product specialist team, and delivers literacy and biliteracy presentations across the nation. Ana鈥檚 passion and advocacy for biliteracy and support for all students from all walks of life has led her to educate leaders, teachers, and parents about the positive impact of bilingualism and biliteracy in our world.
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Meet our Classroom Insider, Eric Cross.
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Eric Cross is a middle school science teacher who hopes to someday be a lifelong educator, like the guests on Beyond My Years! In each episode, Eric connects with host Ana Torres to discuss her guests鈥� best insights gleaned from their long and rewarding careers in the classroom. Then, Eric talks about bringing some of their wisdom into his current classroom and busy life.
Transcripts and additional resources
Quotes
- “鈥奙y biggest mistake early on was needing to have the last word.” 鈥擣awn Nguyen
- “鈥奡omething I really struggled with and actually took me several years to feel confident in [was] how to manage my classroom in a way that felt good and true to me.” 鈥擱ebecka Peterson
- “Looking back, I realized it would’ve been so helpful to have learned how to set boundaries for myself, prioritize tasks, and definitely build time for my own self-care.” 鈥擜. Simone McQuaige
