There were almost 300,000 public school teachers in California last year.
One teacher from Manhattan Beach, Maggie Mabery, was chosen by the state’s top public education official, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, to represent the state as the Teacher of the Year.
Mabery, 39, has been teaching science in the same classroom at Manhattan Beach Middle School for the past 15 years. A lot has changed since she began teaching at the school.
“When I started, I didn’t know what Google was,” she said one February morning from her classroom, which features a green poster that reads, “Keep Calm and Science On.” She discovered the search engine after seeing a colleague use it.
Now, every student and teacher in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District is given an iPad.
Mabery has an Instagram where she posts class-related photos for her students.
“I got the idea from a friend posting photos from dissections,” she said. “I had to turn off the notifications because the posts were getting so many ‘likes.’ If they’re looking at science on a Saturday, I’ve done my job.”
That morning, after her seventh grade students checked in with how they were feeling on her iPad, they went off to film the public service announcements they were working on.
“I’m a huge advocate of using technology in the classroom,” she said. “I just don’t think it’s something that can be left at the door anymore.”
In 2014, Mabery was chosen by her fellow teachers and administrators to be considered for the school district’s nominee for the 2015 Teacher of the Year. The county of Los Angeles reviewed her application and recommended her to the state. After she traveled to Sacramento for an interview in October 2014, Superintendent Torlarkson named Mabery the state’s entry for the National Teacher of the Year award, in part because of how she has incorporated technology into her classes. Though she wasn’t chosen as the National Teacher–a high school English teacher from Texas, whose students include recent immigrants, won that award–the honor led to a year of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, such as meeting President Barack Obama at the White House in April last year, being introduced at a Dodgers game in June, saying the Pledge of Allegiance at Congressman Ted Lieu’s swearing-in at UCLA in March, visiting classes in Japan in June and July, and building rockets at Space Camp in Alabama in July.
“It’s been quite a whirlwind for a teacher,” said Mabery.
At the Oval Office, while meeting the president along with all of the other teachers representing their states, she asked him for a hug.
“I said, ‘I’m from Chicago, like you,’” she recalled. “’I’m a White Sox fan, like you.’ He looked at me and said, ‘California, give me a hug.’”
Mabery said she also thanked Obama for his support of STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, Math) education, especially for girls.
According to a report from the U.S. Department of Commerce, women, who make up almost half of the country’s labor force, only made up 26 percent of the country’s STEM workers in 2011.
Manhattan Beach Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said that he thought Mabery’s specialization in this field was important to her.
“I think the thing that Maggie is most proud of is being a female teacher teaching STEM,” he said.
Executive Director of Human Resources Carolyn Seaton, who began her career at the school district as a teacher at Manhattan Beach Middle School, said that Mabery was helping to bring her female students into the field.
“Middle school is such a critical age when kids are forming their identities,” said Seaton. “Maggie tries to get girls to think of themselves as scientists and to enjoy science. We’ve all had teachers who help us think about things differently. I think Maggie is very much that for many students, especially girls.”
Matthews points out how the STEM subjects play into the scientific part of the new teaching standards set by the government, the Common Core.
“In the past, it was all about the teacher talking, and going to the lab was a rarity,” said Matthews. “The next generation of science standards wants students to get out there, form their own ideas, try them out and then talk to the teacher—to make science not just something esoteric, in a book.”
During her eighth grade class, Mabery’s students were visiting stations where other students had set up experiments related to friction. Their job was to follow the instructions laid out by their classmates and then grade them. She didn’t lecture at any point during either of the seventh or eighth grade classes.
“I’ve never been that kind of teacher,” said Mabery, who taught in the Beverly Hills Unified School District for a year before coming to Manhattan Beach. “I want to get in as many labs as possible in a day. I want it to be a subject where they can get out of their seats. The subject lends itself naturally to that. They can look up what friction is online. Now they’ll really know what it is.”
Mabery said she planned on implementing the Next Generation of Science Standards next year.
Matthews said that whenever he visited Mabery’s class, they were in the middle of an experiment.
“It’s the exception that I don’t see it,” he said. “That’s what I love about her.”
As passionate as Mabery is about teaching students to appreciate science, she believes her responsibility as a teacher goes beyond that.
While reflecting on how much the world has changed since she began working at the middle school as a 24-year-old teacher, Mabery recalled how her second week on the job, September 11 happened.
“I was trying to make it a normal day for them,” she said. “I’ll never forget: During my first period, a little boy came up to me in tears and said, ‘My grandma lives in Queens. Do you think she’s ok?’”
At that point, Mabery said she thought, “Who cares about science?”
She got onto Mapquest and looked up where the boy’s grandmother lived. She told the boy, “‘Yeah, I feel comfortable telling you she’s ok.’”
Now Mabery has two little girls of her own.
“Kids have so much to worry about besides teaching,” she said. “He can’t survive the day without knowing the answer. I realized the role I’d taken on was greater than teaching science — so much greater.” ER
