WA teacher of the year is from Parkland. She’s not afraid to tackle issues like racism
There’s a quote by Black writer and activist Alice Walker on the wall of Brooke Brown’s 12th grade classroom at Washington High School in Parkland,
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
Brown, a teacher in the Franklin Pierce School District for 14 years, said it’s a quote she refers to a lot.
“I think that’s what we have to teach our kids, is that they have power and they have agency,” she said in an interview with The News Tribune on Wednesday.
Brown, 37, was awarded the 2021 Washington State Teacher of the Year, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) announced Monday. A teacher is chosen from across the state every year. For the 2021 cohort, 185 teachers were nominated.
“(Brown) uses her classroom to create a brave, inclusive environment that allows students to show up authentically, centering their experiences and cultivating their understanding of their identity to develop empathy and compassion for others,” OSPI stated.
Brown, who identifies as a biracial Black woman, doesn’t shy away from important conversations about race, ethnicity and what’s happening in the world. She included a Black Lives Matter lesson in her ethnic studies class to discuss racial disparities, privilege and other inequalities.
“It’s really important that we first as teachers do the work to understand the issues, and then provide a safe space where students can have conversations about hard topics,” she said.
Growing up in Tacoma, Brown said, she wanted to be a lawyer and “change the world.” As a freshman at the University of Washington in Seattle, Brown became interested in teaching when she tutored at a local school.
“I just saw a real need for students that looked like me to have advocates that looked like them,” she said.
Brown graduated from UW in 2005 with two bachelor’s degrees, one in history and American Ethnic Studies and one in sociology. She took nine days off and then enrolled at Pacific Lutheran University, where she graduated in 2006 with an arts in education master’s degree.
Brown has spent her 14-year career at Washington High School, where 28 percent of the school’s 978 students identify as Hispanic or Latino, 13 percent as Black or African American and 14 percent identify as two or more races, according to OSPI data. Roughly 27 percent identify as white.
“I think it’s so important for our students to feel safe and like they belong in school. And I think especially for students of color, to have teachers of color that can connect with them,” Brown said.
Brown is also on OSPI’s Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee, helping to develop a framework for ethnic studies across Washington state.
Brown said she was surprised to learn she had been chosen as Teacher of the Year.
“Teachers struggle with imposter syndrome a lot and really thinking like, ‘Oh my gosh, that teacher is so much better than me.’ And I’m just doing, you know, what I need to do,” Brown said. “So it’s very humbling. I think everyone in my department deserves to be Teacher of the Year.”
Brown is currently teaching remotely and said she misses her students but is staying positive. She said the COVID-19 pandemic presents new challenges and opportunities to find new and innovative ways to connect with students.
“In my classroom, I use a lot of community learning, and so I’m not the type of teacher that just stands at the front and lectures,” she said.
Brown hopes her students leave her classes with the skills to build community and respect one another.
“I think that’s the biggest thing that I want my students to take away — I want them to see the value in each other,” she said.
Brown is a mother of four and lives in Tacoma. She graduated from Stadium High School in 2001.
Brown will move on to compete for the National Teacher of the Year award, which will be announced in Spring 2021.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
