CHAPTER 19 WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A GREAT TEACHER of "Unbalanced: Memoir of an Immigrant Math Teacher"
(I am publishing chapters of a new book. It has just won the 2025 Maxy Awards for best memoir/biography. This is chapter 19, talking about my idea of a great idea going to the teaching field. To read the book from the start, see HERE. )
CHAPTER 19 WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A GREAT TEACHER
When Mr. Sato learned that I was looking for a teaching position in 2021, he referred me to a job fair for local independent schools. He said he would go there to explore other opportunities too, but I never saw him. He was too busy to take even one day off. I attended the fair and received an offer to teach high school math at a local private school.
After receiving the offer, I took a guided tour with the math department head, Darren. The school’s enclosed campus was small for its six hundred students and two hundred staff, although it was connected to a large park and a community garden nearby. All the thirteen math teachers shared one large office, which got busy and crowded at times.
Class sizes were typically between twelve and eighteen, although some were smaller. All math courses were co-taught by several teachers, with each responsible for their own classes. Teachers were closely involved in student activities and were required to chaperone for events such as the annual dance, homecoming party, and open house for prospective students. Many teachers coached sports teams or sponsored student clubs.
The offer I received as a high school teacher was $60,000 a year—hardly enough to afford a comfortable living in 2021—with the benefit of two master's degrees. Without the two advanced degrees, even with over twenty years of working experience in other industries, my salary would have been less than $50,000 a year, barely enough to cover the annual tuition at the school, which was $48,000 a year. The offer corresponded to multiple studies that found U.S. teachers earning significantly less than other professionals with comparable education levels. I wondered how Mr. Sata was getting by with similar salary to support his entire family of four, including one heading to UC Berkeley.
At the time, I accepted the offer with what I thought was a good understanding of the teaching career. In hindsight, I might not have done enough research.
In a 2023 Gallup poll, teachers reported the lowest job satisfaction among all the professions surveyed, with 33% reported being "very satisfied.” The National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) “2022 – Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study” indicates that 44% of new teachers leave the profession within five years. A 2023 ZipRecruiter survey confirms that education was the second most regretted major among U.S. college graduates, with 83% expressing regret.
Meanwhile, there is a growing shortage of teachers and teaching candidates. A 2023 NCES survey found that 86% of U.S. public schools reported difficulty hiring educators. Teacher education program enrollment dropped by about one-third from 2008 to 2019. This results in the low academic bar for admitting and certifying teacher candidates, especially for STEM fields.
Education majors, on average, score significantly lower on standardized college entrance exams compared to students in other fields. Data from the Educational Testing Service showed that students planning to major in education had an average SAT score of 980 (out of 1600), while STEM majors scored significantly higher (e.g., engineering: 1260). Despite lower entry test scores, education majors often graduate with higher GPAs than their peers in other fields. In 2018, NCES reported that the average GPA of education majors in U.S. colleges was 3.64, compared to business (3.32), social sciences (3.29), and STEM majors (3.19). It is as if education schools were all located in Lake Wobegon (a fictional place in the NPR show A Prairie Home Companion), "where all the children are above average."
Late-career teachers often join the profession out of strong desires to make a real impact on the learning of future generations. They come with work experience in other fields and diverse perspectives, often with a bit of financial cushions, like Ms. N and Mr. Sato. I was curious how teaching worked out for them, as I would be following their paths.
When I made the call to my father, he asked how my success as a teacher would be evaluated. Does it depend on my students' scores on uniform tests, the colleges they were admitted to, or something else? Fair or not, this was how a successful teacher was defined in his time and even today in many parts of the world. By that standard, he could claim to be a very successful teacher with indisputable qualitative and quantitative evidence. Teachers like him were accountable to a standard that was transparent and measurable.
This was not the case in the U.S. I couldn’t answer my father’s question and thought that perhaps it wasn’t such an important question—something I could set aside for a while. As it turned out, it would be a big issue that troubled me as a teacher. From those inspiring teachers, I saw three areas where a teacher must excel to be great. The first area was subject-area teaching, the craft of teaching a subject fluently and effectively. Second was communication with students, and the ability to understand, connect with, and motivate them. Third was dedication and genuine care about student learning and well-being.
Mr. Ase was distinguished by his ability to relate to the students, truly understand and respect them, and get through to them despite enormous challenges. His firmness on student and colleague accountability, realistic stance on social and racial issues, and masterful tactics made him an effective teacher and leader in today’s school environment.
Ms. N’s decision to make the drastic career change and stick with the most challenging school reflected an extraordinary fortitude and determination to serve. She combined worldly wisdom and accountability to build an impactful program for underprivileged students. When COVID disrupted her familiar ways of teaching, she was humble enough to pivot and learn from an apprentice teacher like me. When communication stalled with a black student, she was wise enough to reach him through a tattooed young African American teacher.
Mr. Felix came a long way to become a beacon for the disenfranchised students and faculty at ULW, overcoming huge hurdles through his fighting spirit. He was a great teacher’s teacher, an approachable, caring, and committed member of the community, who continued to be a champion for social justice with an open mind and respect for different opinions.
Mr. Sato impressed me with his humility and care, as well as the ability to connect with students as a new teacher. We were both Asian Americans, had both worked at Microsoft as engineers and managers, and both volunteered for years at local high schools. Our personalities were similar too: modest outside and passionate inside, used to getting work done to a high standard, and possessing enough humility and courage to start a new career with much less money and status. We both took delight in seeing students grow and thrive. I hoped to learn from his experience as a precursor to what might happen in my teaching career.
Ms. Mel brought out Matt’s academic potential and continued to inspire him as his favorite teacher. She made great connections with students, cared deeply about their learning, and taught science with the most advanced resources and methodologies. Dedication and sustained care for students demand perseverance that is often difficult to maintain. Mr. Ase thought about quitting several times. Ms. N and Mr. Felix had to change schools before finding the right fit. Ms. Mel’s burnout was a sad reflection of the toll the teaching career could take on a teacher who otherwise had all the required skills and dedication.
When wavering on my teaching career choice in the education school, I checked myself on the three criteria. I was very strong in math and had proven my ability to teach math successfully at different levels. I cared deeply about the students in ways similar to how I cared about my own children. I had been able to connect with students, and my parenting experience had improved my skills and given me the humility to learn. If I kept honing these skills diligently, I could succeed as a teacher.
There was another commonality in these great teachers: they all seemed dedicated to equity in education, and their successes were linked to achievements in this area. Mr. Felix was a social justice champion. Mr. Ase excelled at connecting with the minority students and holding himself, his peers, and the students to high standards on equity. Ms. N was the driving force behind a program that advanced a large population of disadvantaged students. Ms. Mel and Mr. Sato both aligned their work with the goal of equity.
Equity played a major role in the hiring of teachers, including myself. Throughout my job application process, the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) was my primary contact and a key decision-maker. My interview lasted three hours and included a demo lesson, followed by a question-and-answer session with the math teacher—though no math questions were asked. Instead, I was asked how I would create an equitable learning environment that values diversity, and what prior experience I had in integrating DEI issues into the curriculum, teaching practices, instructional materials, or assessments.
I had to improvise in response to those questions. After my ULW experience, I had some doubts about equity’s priority in education, but I supported its core intent. I thought that if I focused on caring, connecting, and teaching—and treated students with kindness—I could achieve the goals of equity naturally. I never imagined it would land me in trouble.