Edition

TEACHER’S TEACHER’S LAST YEAR: LAST YEAR :

MS.ROBISON MS.ROBISON

An interview retrospective interview with Ms.Robison on her experiences as a teacher and future as an educator

KRITI KAUSHAL

writer

Biography:

Ms. Robison has taught at Cupertino High School for the past thirteen years where she was honored as Teacher of the Year for the 2021-2022 school year. Ms. Robison will be pursuing a PhD at Howards University, studying educational leadership and policy this fall. She aspires to work with high schools to help develop educational policies and work with teachers, specifically teachers of color, helping them sustain themselves. Looking back at her years at Cupertino, Ms. Robison is grateful to Ms. Tomberlain for giving her the opportunity to teach challenging curriculum and to her Tino family and brunch table friends who have helped her grow and given her the love needed to take the next step in her education goals. ...,can forget to do those things for your life that you might’ve been really passionate about or that are really important to you simply because you’re trying to teach and be a teacher. COVID just gave me more time to pause and reflect on places to go. I applied to different schools and I got into USC, Vanderbilt and Howard and I knew I wanted to do something in education. [Last year] I had the opportunity to teach a class at Stanford in their graduate school of education and I thought, ‘Huh, I know I can help make education better and if I can help make education better, then maybe I can help one more person want to be a lifelong learner. [I could help] one more person want to make their space a better one to be in.’ So that’s how I decided and how I picked Howard. I wanted a big change, and I felt like that is where I would get the most growth.

What made you pursue teaching in the first place?

I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. In eighth grade, I had this really fantastic teacher named Ms. Jacobson, and every single day you came to her class, she held everyone accountable. [...] if you didn’t know the answer when she came to you, you got detention, but her version of detention was that you spent your day after school with her doing the learning that you didn’t get before. Therefore, there was never this culture of “you’re the smart kid” or “you’re not the smart kid”. It was rather “we all are smart kids” and we all have the ability to learn; it just might take you a little longer. She made everybody feel worthy of an education, and I hadn’t always had that experience [...]. Everybody deserves to feel wanted at school or to feel like it’s a place they’re deserving of being, and I knew I could do that [as a teacher]. I also love history so much, and I think just wanting to make sure I could share historical narrative[s] with people was something I’ve always been interested in.

What prompted you to pursue a PhD?

I’ve always wanted [a PhD] and during COVID, I really had some time to pause. As much as I love teaching, it is a lot of [classroom time] and there’s not a lot of “you” time. One of the things I’ve noticed over my 13 years, including student teaching, is [teaching] becomes your identity and once you’re so bound up in it...

Do you have any memory that stands out to you when you look back at your time in CHS?

I taught ELD in the ELD program for seven years before I started teaching AVID so I think seeing students who are not always seen find their thing or have that “light bulb moment”, is a memory that stands out to me. One of my students from my first year teaching here was Shing, and he was one of my ELD1 students who was just learning English… and he was just grappling with who he was. And recently he graduated from college, went to London to study acting and was just in a play on Broadway. Seeing kids find the willingness to be vulnerable because I was able to provide a space for them to feel safe enough to do so [is a gratifying feeling]. And I hope that’s something that others can be cognizant of and be willing and able to do as well.

What learning would you like to pass on to the student body?

There’s a Rebelution song called Courage to Grow, and the whole song was asking you at the end of the day, “I hope you find the courage to grow. If you want to make a change, you have to do it. You have to take action.” I just hope people here have the courage to go beyond the confines of what they think is their expected existence. I hope more people here find the “courage to grow”, be vulnerable and be willing and able to learn even when they’re uncomfortable