Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year: 'Make students feel like they matter'
Updated: 2:53 p.m.
Over the span of his teaching career, Michael Houston has worked to build a sense of community with his students in the classroom. It’s been his teaching philosophy for nearly two decades.
Houston chairs the math department at Harding High School in St. Paul and has also spent a great deal of his career coaching the school’s football team.
Houston’s guidance and mentorship have struck a chord within the Harding community, so much so that he was a finalist for Minnesota Teacher of the Year in 2017. Although he didn’t win that year, he continued his passion for education and connecting with his students.
Fast forward six years and Houston was once again a finalist for the prestigious award, but this time he won. Houston is now Minnesota Teacher of the Year for 2023, an award handed out by Education Minnesota, an organization made up of 472 unions representing educators in the state.
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Houston is the 59th educator and second African American male to receive the award. He hopes to use this moment to improve education across the state.
MPR News host Angela Davis talked with Houston about his impact, inside and outside the classroom and how he plans to use his platform to positively shape students and fellow teachers in Minnesota.
“I try to make sure I connect with every student, even those quiet students that you don't hear from. I’ve tried to make sure that I check in with them, see how they’re doing,” Houston said after a colleague and former student called into the show to praise him.
All students, he added, need to feel they are heard, seen and loved.
“That’s something that I wanted and needed as a student myself in school. So my goal is not to do it for the recognition. My goal is just to make students feel like they matter,” Houston said.
In Tuesday’s conversation, he emphasized how important it is for young people to see themselves represented among their teachers, a reality still too rare for many students in Minnesota.
A 2022 study found only about 5 percent of the state’s teaching corps are people of color. Nationally, Black men make up only 2 percent of teachers in U.S. public schools.
“Growing up, I just saw Black athletes or Black entertainers or performers, I didn’t see a lot of Black CEOs, a lot of Black educators, a lot of Black officers. So I think it’s important that our kids see leadership or people that look like them in leadership roles, Houston said. “Research shows that for those kids that have a teacher of color, their academics increased by 30 percent and their social emotional needs increase as well.”
Houston said he had two Black teachers throughout his educational experience and one of them made him feel that he belonged in the classroom.
“He did a good job just making sure that we all had a voice, he would ask questions, getting to know me, making me feel heard, making me feel like I had something to offer to the class,” Houston said. “That’s something that I try to bring into my classroom as well.”
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