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Election 2022
MEA Continues Recommendations of Whitmer, Benson, Nessel
Following detailed interviews
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and a unanimous vote of MEA’s Statewide Screening & Recommending Committee—a diverse group of members from across Michigan—MEA will continue recommendations of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel for re-election in 2022.
The committee asked candidates about education and labor issues in screening interviews. Here are some answers.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on the state budget:
I’ve seen heroic efforts inside and outside our classrooms to help meet the needs of our students. From the state government standpoint, we’re focused on doing everything we can to ensure Michigan students have the best public education today and to include long-term priorities around public education in the budget so we can continue improving our education system.
I’m proud to have signed a $17 billion education budget that makes a historic investment in our schools, without raising taxes. It’s going to impact the education of our kids now and for generations to come, as well as support the incredible public servants who make sure our kids are getting the education they need.
Whitmer on MEA involvement:
This organization was the first to get behind me when I ran for state representative in 2000. Same was true when I ran for governor in 2018.
Watch the announcement video and read more from their
interviews by logging into mea.org/politicalaction.
There’s arguably no other organization that has been as supportive of me. MEA members make invaluable contributions to our state, and I will always ensure their voices are heard as we make decisions that impact them.
SOS Jocelyn Benson on ballot access and voter participation:
I believe the mark of a healthy democracy and healthy society is measured by elections where we see high turnout and high security—and indeed, that is exactly what we’ve seen in the elections administered under my tenure as Secretary of State.
Our November 2020 election was both the most secure in our state’s history and had the highest turnout in our state’s history. Of the 5.5 million people who voted, 3.3 million voted absentee. Not only was there very little to no fraud, but local election officials checked signatures and followed up with voters if there were questions. If there was any sort of irregularity, there were efforts to identify whether it was fraud or just a mismatched signature. The vast majority of citizens returned their ballots on time to drop boxes or with prepaid postage. Citizens knew how to request absentee ballots because we mailed them that information.
The security of our system, the current methods of identifying voters—whether they voted in person or absentee—works.
AG Dana Nessel on education challenges and solutions:
I’ve seen what happens to kids when they don’t have the right kind of education and we don’t have the right kind of practices in place because their districts have been starved of the money they need. That’s why I visited districts engaged in fighting the “school-to-prison pipeline.” We’re talking about first graders, second graders, third graders—knowing that they are provided with these resources, we’ll never need to see them in the criminal justice system later on.
In this job, I can file lawsuits, take positions on lawsuits, write letters. More than anything, I can use this soapbox to be an advocate for public education. If you’re anti-crime, you ought to be pro-public education because you bring down crime by educating people.
MEA Joins Pilot to Retain New Educators
Meet a few mentors and mentees testing high‑quality supports
MEA member Aric Foster is a National Board Certified Teacher who coaches wrestling and track, works with student teachers, serves as his district’s student-teacher liaison for Oakland University, has taught university courses for aspiring educators—and calls himself “proficient” instead of “master.”
At age 43—21 years into his job as English teacher in Armada—Foster quips that he’s still young and new. He continues to find magic with kids in a classroom and joy in being a “teacher teacher.”
“I love the experience of teaching teaching,” he said. “I’m to the point where I know pedagogy, and I know how to differentiate, scaffold, do formative assessment—all of it. In my role as mentor, I need to know people. It’s that person-to-person connection that really lights my fire and gets me going.”
This year Foster is mentoring a new teacher in the county next door. “I like that it’s union-led and non-evaluative. It’s consequencefree help and guidance—like in the classroom where formative assessment should have zero weight toward students’ final grades. It’s about practice, feedback and learning.”
Foster is one of two dozen skilled, experienced union educators who have stepped forward to serve as a Virtual Instructional Coach in a seven-state pilot program by Midwest education associations, including MEA, known as Educators Leading the Profession (ELP).
The program is piloting teacher-led supports for educators in the first three years of their careers. In Michigan, the 13 mentees are in Farmington Public Schools, and each one picked a coach by combing through written and video introductions. Each is also assigned an in-person building mentor.
MEA member Kathleen Ader
was selected as a coach by three new educators. A veteran math and science teacher in Novi, Ader has worked as a high school instructional coach for four years and took on the virtual coaching role because she believes MEA is uniquely positioned to do this work.
“I have been doing some other work with MEA’s Center for Leadership & Learning, and I think the MEA is on an incredible path in terms of all of the programming and professional development they’re offering and the outreach that is trying to make it equitable across the state,” Ader said.
ELP’s coaches were trained on research-based mentoring and expect to address many struggles with mentees, such as evaluation, classroom management, building culture, and work-life balance.
Because the union offers a safe space, mentees can turn for help without fear of bias or evaluation. “It’s probably hard to even measure the magnitude of the importance of that aspect,” Ader said.
MEA member Dan Slagter, a K-8 art teacher in Grand Rapids, said he became a coach because his own mentors were so important to his survival and development early on. “They were incredible, and I still keep in contact with them,” he said.
Being a one-person art department serving so many students is a tough challenge—especially when new. “The biggest advice I’ve had for [my mentee] so far is to find one little bit of joy, even in the most difficult day, and write it down,” Slagter said.
Educators nationwide are reporting extra challenges with student attention spans, behavior and social interactions this year as the pandemic stretches toward the two-year mark. Slagter said he’s adapted by continuing to blend in use of video tutorials, because students are accustomed to them.
Focusing on successes maintains positivity, he says, which is important because kids can see true feelings under emotional masks. “Kids sense honesty in that, ‘Yes, times are a little tough right now, but you know what? We’re here. We’re together. We can do it. We just have to help each other.’”
MENTEE
Nate Mora
Third-year English teacher North Farmington High School
Virtual Instructional Coach: Aric Foster
Why Nate became a teacher: “I thought I wanted to be a lawyer, but I realized pretty early in high school—maybe sophomore year—that wasn’t for me. I started looking at teaching and reflected on how the people who made the biggest difference in my life were all English teachers. They made me feel welcome in their class and they’re the first ones who believed in me. I could be a teacher in any subject—my mantra is I don’t teach English; I teach students—but I’m so glad I chose it because English teachers seem to be my people.”
MEA member Nate Mora knows many veteran educators worry about newcomers to the profession burning out, but he notes that his generation has come of age riding wave after wave of change created at least in part by technology.
“If you’re comparing teaching now to what it was 20 years ago, it probably looks worse,” Mora said. “But for me—three years into my career— I’ve seen that things are always changing, so I have that mindset: my willingness to evolve with change is crucial to avoiding burnout.”
One silver lining of the pandemic has been school districts’ nationwide nearly universal adoption of a Learning Management System (LMS) of one sort or another, Mora said. This year absences have been challenging for both students and teachers, but now everyone knows how to use an LMS.
“We use Canvas, and though it does take a little bit longer to put everything online, it’s nice when a student has to be out for a week—if they have COVID or whatnot—they know where to go online, and we can stay connected that way.”
Mora is familiar with instructional technology; his first two years of teaching were spent at a blended learning alternative high school in Lansing. His wife’s entry into medical school at Oakland University prompted his move, he added.
Even with his comfort in blended learning, Mora has been happy to return to in-person learning this year. His greatest skill is building relationships with students, he said. “In my experience, the more you are vulnerable with students, the more you open up about your own weaknesses and life experiences, the more students are engaged in your class.”
Now he’s excited to be part of a union after trying to organize a unit at the charter school where he previously worked. “I was gung-ho to be part of the union, and I hope to start joining meetings. I love the support, the community, the knowledge that we’re all stronger when we’re together.”
Being involved in the Educators Leading the Profession pilot program has been icing on the cake. Mora enjoys having a district-assigned mentor who works in Farmington and knows the students and curriculum, but he also appreciates getting an outsider’s perspective from his virtual coach.
He knows that he works in a district with exceptional resources for staff and students, but he appreciates extra help from MEA. “There’s definitely been some difficult days, but I’ve been able to keep up my energy where lots of other teachers I know are struggling, and I think that’s because of all of this support and the people around me.”
MENTEE
Morgan Gilliam
Second-year science teacher Farmington High School
Virtual Instructional Coach: Kathleen Ader
Why Morgan became a teacher: “I’m naturally a very curious and inquisitive person. I’m always asking questions, and I enjoy learning, so science interested me because it doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it’s about trying to make sense of the world around you. Part of my philosophy is that everybody does science every day, even if they don’t know it, so I was drawn to the subject because it answers questions I didn’t even know I had. Beyond content, I was interested in the science of teaching and how we learn. I’m fascinated by psychology and how to help students become life-long learners.”
MEA member Morgan Gilliam
calls herself a “sponge” who is happy to learn and network with more veteran educators, but in her second year of teaching she’s finding the relationship is more reciprocal than expected because of technological changes brought by the pandemic.
“Veteran teachers are having to go back and figure out a bunch of new things as though they are first-year teachers,” Gilliam said. “It’s interesting because they’re asking questions of those of us who are fresh out of college and fresh out of training—they want our input on some things, too.”
This year Gilliam returned to the district where she grew up, after finishing her first year in River Rouge. Working mostly remotely in her first year left her feeling isolated, although her school community tried to provide support, she said.
“I was trying to figure out a lot of things from scratch, which took a lot out of me; it was exhausting. I realized you shouldn’t be an island. There’s value in building your network and using it as a resource.”
The return of mostly in-person learning this year has helped her feel more connected, but it has brought new challenges—for example, frequent loss of prep time because of the dire substitute teacher shortage.
For her biology classes, a team of several teachers across buildings works together to plan curriculum and assessments and share resources. A smaller group does the same for chemistry, and she’s grateful, she said. “It’s putting more brainpower together into a professional learning community.”
Combined with a district-assigned mentor and departmental resources, being part of MEA’s Educators Leading the Profession pilot program offers an expert outsider perspective she can tap into for whatever she needs or can’t resolve—making her feel surrounded by support.
“I have quite a few people looking out for me,” she said. “And then because I went to Farmington Public Schools, I have teachers that I had as a student who are also holding my hand.”
Her biggest concern so far is in students’ attachment to cell phones, which she worries distracts people from their own curiosity and wonder about the world they inhabit. She’s leaning on her strength—connecting with students and showing she cares—to address it.
Longer term she thinks of structural and funding issues related to public education that she hears veteran colleagues worrying about— and hopes to be part of solutions. “A lot of industries are experiencing sea change, so maybe we can bring about some changes in the next five or 10 years.”
MENTEE
Danny Cicchelli
First-year art teacher Farmington STEAM Academy
Virtual Instructional Coach: Dan Slagter
Why Danny became a teacher: “I’ve had some really influential people in my life who helped me get on the path I’m on, and a good majority of them were teachers. I’ve had it in my mind for a long time that teaching is one of the few careers I can see myself being genuinely happy in, because I can spread the joy and the curiosity and the wonder of creating something from nothing. If I can get that across to a few students per class, then that makes it all worth it. It sounds like a cliché, but teachers had a big impact on me, and I wanted to be that person for somebody else.”
‘You have to adapt as you go’
MEA member Danny Cicchelli
is teaching his young students in Farmington to explore in the same way he approaches personal creative projects—from a place of intuition, discovery and expression.
In his first year teaching grades 2-8 at a school focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM), Cicchelli provides lessons and practice on art fundamentals and techniques—then he offers students materials and a prompt to create with a few examples as guide.
“STEAM has a student-led philosophy, and I’m on the same page with that,” he said. “I give students conceptual prompts and the freedom to approach projects how they wish to. It’s great to let kids explore materials that either they are familiar with and want to master or that are totally new to them.”
However, for a time Cicchelli was spending every weekend at school doing planning, materials preparation, and room set-up. By November, he had to step back—discovering an irony in the process.
“I’ve noticed that giving more time to myself positively affects my teaching. I’m not under-prepared, but I’m able to improvise more and have flexibility. It’s also nice to have time to do my own art, because that will make me a better teacher, too.”
Learning the ins and outs of classroom management has been his biggest struggle. Early on, he had to regroup and establish clearer expectations with class discussions and student input.
It helps to have multiple experienced teachers that he can turn to for advice—from a district-assigned mentor to the Virtual Instructional Coach through the Educators Leading the Profession program and others, although finding time to connect is difficult. A shift in perspective also helped.
“Our middle schoolers switch electives every quarter, so on the last day with two of my classes I thought about how I gave them a really good art class and they seemed sad to leave,” he said.
Cicchelli didn’t discover painting and sculpting until college. His first love was music, but doodling in his notebooks eventually led him to take art classes, where a professor encouraged his talent and prompted him toward a Fine Arts degree at Wayne State University.
He does commissioned work, but much of his own art involves starting with no set plan and seeing what emerges.
“What I love to do is that kind of free, intuitive, psychological type of art and music—and now, teaching is getting wrapped up in that, too,” he said. “You have to know it’s not going to go how you planned and have the flexibility to adapt as you go.”
