Season 1, Episode 4
Teaching with determination, starring Khamphet Pease
Today on Beyond My Years, host Ana Torres learns all she can learn from the life stories and lessons of Khamphet Pease. As a refugee from Laos, Khamphet shares the difficulty she experienced navigating a home culture that did not encourage education or career ambitions for women. Despite that, she laughs over her stubbornness that she sees as an integral part of what has motivated her to chase her dreams, spend over 20 years as a STEM teacher, and what earned her the presidential award for excellence in mathematics and science teaching. Due to gendered norms and expectations, she almost lost out on the future she truly wanted. Since then, she has made it her mission to champion a learning environment where young girls feel they belong and can thrive in STEM fields. Khamphet takes Ana on a journey through all the lessons she learned along the way of managing work/life balance, creating a classroom culture of trust, and the importance of finding a mentor during the hardest teaching years of your life. Once back in the classroom, Eric Cross and Ana check in on Eric鈥檚 first two weeks of back-to-school and discuss practical ways to take care of yourself first so you can then take care of your students.
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Meet our guest, Khamphet 鈥淧het鈥� Pease.
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Khamphet 鈥淧het鈥� Pease has been teaching for 20 years at Wilson Middle School in San Diego, CA, where she has taught students across multiple grades and subjects, with a primary focus on mathematics and science. A tireless advocate for broadening STEM education, she is committed to breaking barriers for underrepresented students, including females, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. She founded and coaches the Wilson Robotics Club, leading her students to excel in competitions such as Botball and First Lego League, and earning numerous awards at local and national levels. Recognized for her outstanding contributions, her accolades include the 2015 San Diego County Teacher of the Year, the 2022 State Awardee for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), the 2022 CSTA Computer Science Teaching Excellence Award, and the 2023 National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) National Educator Award.
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 Amplify鈥檚 Product Specialist team, and delivers literacy and biliteracy presentations across the nation. Ana鈥檚 passion and advocacy for biliteracy and multiculturalism 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.
Quotes
- 鈥淚f you’re just talking about somebody who has more teaching experience, then yes, I consider myself seasoned. But [in my] heart, I feel like because I’m a lifelong learner, I’m still learning new things every single year. I’m never relying on my old tricks. I’m always adding new tools to my tool belt.鈥� 鈥擪hamphet Pease
- 鈥淭he experiences I had growing up definitely affect the way that I teach and [they鈥檙e] actually a huge reason why I really advocate for girls and females in STEM, because I was almost prevented from finding my path just because of my gender.鈥� 鈥擪hamphet Pease
- 鈥淚 remember one class that I had [with only] one female student, and she was just looking around and I could see in her eyes that she just felt like this is not a place for her. She dropped out of that class and after that I was like, no, this is unacceptable.鈥� 鈥擪hamphet Pease
- 鈥淭his next school year, she told me I’m up at 60 percent girls in my intro to coding classe,. and that’s huge! I want to make sure that girls have access and they feel wanted and included and they can see themselves in these fields.鈥� 鈥擪hamphet Pease
- 鈥淪ometimes [parents say], 鈥極h, no, this is not for girls. You shouldn’t learn engineering.鈥� And I invite them in, I say, 鈥榩lease come to my class, please come to my club.鈥� And when they come, they’re always so impressed.鈥� 鈥擪hamphet Pease
- 鈥淲e just need more women. More of their voices. They need more seats at the table because if we all hear [only] male voices, then 50 percent of the population isn’t going to have their problem solved as easily or as efficiently.鈥� 鈥擪hamphet Pease
- 鈥淚 know a lot of teachers [say], 鈥極h no, I don’t have time for that. I鈥檝e got to cover the standards and I have to have all this done by the end of the year. So I don’t have time to spend two weeks doing this in my classroom.鈥� But let me tell you, it is so worth it because once you have that relationship and connection with your students when you do dive into the content, it is smooth sailing because they trust you now.鈥� 鈥擪hamphet Pease
