POWER

By Rebecka Peterson, 2023 National Teacher of the Year

The other day my husband’s Fortune magazine came in the mail. The cover read, “The Fifty Most Powerful Women.”

I cringed a little on the inside for a couple reasons. First, I don’t particularly like it when women are seen as a special interest group. I want to read articles about women because they are smart, competent, and powerful in their field in their own right. Alongside men. Second, I cringed because, well, you’re never going to see a teacher on that list. As a child, I dreamed of being one of those women. A game-changer.

And then I realized that I just wanted to be an educator.

Do you see the trouble with that sentence?

Just an educator.

I am only a public high school math teacher.

I am so, so far removed from those fifty women.

But, what I’m realizing is—I have power.

I have the power to lift a kid up.

I have the power to help a teenager love mathematics again.

I have the power to speak life into a child.

I have the power to turn a bad day into a good one.

I have the power to show people that they have something to contribute—always.

I have the power to turn enemies into friends.

I have the power to model peace, acceptance, and unconditional love.

I have the power to help students envision their dreams and make them a reality.

I have the power to tell a kid that the world is a better place because of her.

I have the power to tell her that the world needs her.

I have the power to make a child feel safe, welcome, and secure.

I have the power to raise a student’s confidence.

I have the power to evoke a smile.

I even have the power to be who the next generation looks up to...and wants to become.

We as educators may “only” run a classroom or school or district— not a corporation—but we have so much power nonetheless. I urge you to view your position as such, because we hold in our hands both a tremendous gift and responsibility.

We may not be making the cover of Fortune any time soon (ever), but I want to tell you, educators: you matter, you are making a difference, and you are powerful. ■

Rebecka Peterson is the 2022 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year. She shared her story at the Fifth Women in School Leadership Conference on April 6, 2023. A 10th—12th grade mathematics teacher at Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Peterson was recently named one of six statelevel finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching and was named the 2023 National Teacher of the Year.