Meant to Do This with Miya Hourani    

Please note, this transcript is generated by AI and may include some errors. 

Spencer Payne: All right, here we are with another fun episode of Front of the Class Real Stories from Real Educators today with Mia Hurani. And Mia, could you just introduce yourself? Where do you currently teach? What subject for how long? And maybe even a little teaser, what country are you currently in? So can you help us with a little introduction yourself?

Miya Hourani: All right, first of all, thank you for having me. Yeah, so I teach language arts. I teach eighth grade language arts. I currently teach in Kuwait. It's a tiny, tiny dot of a country in the GCC. I've been here for four years. You know, I was raised here for six years of my life as a teenager. And I've come back to the school that I attended for two years, which is pretty awesome.

Spencer Payne: Incredible. And what got you into the teaching profession in the first place? Like, how did you end up here?

Miya Hourani: boy. The last thing I wanted to be was a teacher. I want to start off with that. Shocker. Yes, it's the truth. The last thing that I ever wanted to do was get into education and I thought that I could never stand to be in the same room with a child, let alone a teenager. So I basically graduated university with a journalism degree.

Spencer Payne: Promising start, okay, perfect, promising start.

Miya Hourani: And I went in it, started my BA, finished my master's, and then just sort of waited. I had small gigs here and there, but, you know, kept telling my friends, I want to work. Spent six years of my life in university. What's going on? Nothing's happening. So my friend called me one day. It was the end of June and she goes, Hey, listen, I'm so tired of hearing you nag.

I've sent your CV across to a school in a village of ours. I'm from Lebanon and I'm from the north of Lebanon and the north of Lebanon is filled with tiny little villages. She goes, you have a demo lesson on Monday. Enjoy. They need an English teacher. And I'm like, I beg your finest pardon. She's like, I'm done. I can't hear you. That's it. Figure it out. So I'm sitting there. I'm like, you know what? So be it. That's fine.

Now, at this point, the kids were out for summer, so there weren't any kids for my demo lesson. I get there and I'm all in the journalist moods, know, blazer, high heels, know, suit pants, not really like the teacher vibe. I've never been in a school. I can barely remember what my teachers looked like. So I get there and I do this demo lesson for a room full of exhausted teachers ready to go out for summer, walk in there, super confident. I'm like, let's just see how this plays out.

I remember I finished my demo lesson and the head of the department at the time for middle school says, would you go with me to the principal's office? Sure. All right. All good. Yeah.

Spencer Payne: That's never a good thing. Is it a good thing in this instance somehow? Okay.

Miya Hourani: Never, never, never, never a good thing. I'm like, she's either going to say, you were absolutely appalling. What the hell is wrong with you? What were you thinking? Or she's going to say, you know, thank you for your time, but we're looking for something different. I'm like, Mia, just brace yourself. It is what it is. I walk in there and she goes to the principal. Mind you, my principal up until this day, we're very close, but she's so intimidating because she's one of those poker faced Canadian Lebanese women wasn't budging and my head HOD says, this is Mia. I'd like her to have her on board. And I go, did she just say I'm hired? And she goes, okay. She looked at me, she's like, great, nice to meet you. Mia said, yeah, you start in September. I'm like, okay, sure. Start September, start September. Woo, woo, woo, I got a job.

So later on, when I sort of got acquainted with my HOD, we hit it off. I asked her, because I wanted to know. I'm like, you do realize that the demo lesson that I did was utter crap, right? She goes, I know. And she goes, just so you know, everyone in that room, including the coordinator, the head of English, the head of high school, all the English teachers were in there. They all said no.

And I go, so why'd I get the job? She goes, because there was something about your smile that caught my attention. I don't know what it was. I took a leap of faith. I took a chance on you. And here you are. Like, huh, okay. Mind you, I spent the entire summer going through lesson plans, had no idea what they were. Had the curriculum with me, no idea what was going on, googled my way in YouTube my way and I sat there for hours taking notes. I'm like a graduated university not to take notes again, but I figured it out and that's when my journey started basically.

Spencer Payne: And a quick question, HOD, just for those who maybe haven't heard that acronym before.

Miya Hourani: It's the head of department. So at the school that I was in, at the school that I was in, we had a head of departments rather than principals of the different sections.

Spencer Payne: Perfect.

Yeah, perfect. And did you ever go back and ask this friend who signed you up for this for this interview? Why teaching? Why now? Like, it worked out. But why did she sign you up for teaching? What was she doing there? Did you go back and thank her? Like, how did that come about?

Miya Hourani: did go back and thank her and I said, I just want to know what went on through your head. She goes, let me listen. You've been born and raised in the GCC your entire life. You've come to Lebanon, you graduated high school, you still speak English I barely understand and they needed an English teacher and I'm sick and tired of you sulking. So I'm like, you know what, if you get a job, you get a job. If not, then you suck at speaking English and teaching it. And I'm like, really, really.

That's where you're going to go with all of this. that's exactly, that's literally what she said, believe it or not. Yeah.

Spencer Payne: Incredible. and, and just to give us a little bit a timeline, how many years ago was this, walking in with your high heels journalism pedigree to a teaching interview? How long ago was that?

Miya Hourani: That was seven years ago. So this is my eighth year. Mind you, after my first year teaching, I contemplated whether or not it was what I wanted to do. And I went to Dubai for the summer because my parents were living in Dubai at the time. And I found a job. Well, I found an opening at a university in Dubai and it was the head of the provost.

Again, at the time, no idea what provost meant, had to Google that and research a little bit about that. But it was an office job and I'm like, okay, this is still an education, but it's higher education. Why not? Also went to that interview. The provost was a three doctorate, 17 masters, 50 year old man who just sat there and spoke and spoke and spoke. And I said, that's great. Listen. I know what you're saying to me, have no clue what you're on about, but if you give me the chance and you're patient enough, I'm quick to learn and I promise I may embarrass you and let you down a couple of times, but I can do this. And for some reason as well, he was intrigued. He offered me the job and I took it.

Spencer Payne: Hmm, okay.

Miya Hourani: And that year was, I think, the most horrific and difficult year for me because being in that office for, I want to say nine months, all I could think about was the classroom. And then that was my calling. I'm like, I can't do an office job. This is not who I am. I need to be in a school. I need to be around kids.

Spencer Payne: So real quick, just to summarize what I'm hearing so far, you go from, never wanted to be a teacher, never was even on my radar, right? Journalism degree, master's, all of this, to kind of a friend forces you, forces you, I'll use that word, into this interview. You end up in a classroom for a year. Then you end up in an office job at a university for a year, and all you can think about is getting back into the classroom and now you're about to start your eighth year teaching. So your journey has gone from not only never thought about teaching, but actively didn't want to do it, to then did it once, got out, tested something else, and now you're all in. Like what has kept you in that classroom? What kept you thinking about it that whole year in the office? What's kept you coming back for another seven years after this was something that you weren't even thinking about? Like what keeps you coming back?

Miya Hourani: When I was there, when I was in Dubai and in that office, the kids that I taught that first year were eighth graders and they kept reaching out. It wasn't about me checking in on the kids. It was about the kids checking in on me. And that meant something to me. Hey, Ms. Mia, how are you doing? When are you gonna come visit? We miss you. That stuck to me. And I'm like, my entire being and the reason why I wanted to get into journalism was I believe that the power of the pen was one of the most life-changing weapons, I'd like to call it. And you listening to the radio or you reading an article or you reading anything would touch you somehow. And now I found a different meaning of having people touch my life and touch me and impact me. And it just, it's stuck.

And I couldn't help but think that throughout that first year, I not only grew as an, at the time I didn't consider myself as an educator, at the time I realized that I grew as a person and I had impacted the youth's life as much as they had impacted mine. And that did something for me. Because I, as a person, I'm very, very closed off-ish, socially awkward.

I don't like putting myself out there, but in the classroom, I could be myself with kids and they would understand and accept me. And that did something for me as a person.

Spencer Payne: And do you continue to get that feedback after seven, eight years in of the students appreciating your just authentic self? I mean, you're smiling. Like it's rare to see people smile thinking about their work. So I'm assuming the answer is yes. But can you tell us more about like that first year these students are reaching out, we miss you. When are you coming back? Like, what are they saying now? What are the students doing today to keep you coming back every single day, every single year?

Miya Hourani: Ugh. Here's the thing about the school I started off at.

We, for our seniors, our graduates, they do a gradposal. And the concept of a gradposal is that the students ask teachers to walk them down the aisle to get on the podium to graduate. So just like you were supposedly doing a promposal, they would do the same thing for teachers. Now that first year, there's always students that stick to you and students that impact your life. That first year, it was a sixth grader at the time. She had lost her dad and she is an only child super attached to her father. I had heard the news. I didn't know her. Obviously she was part of middle school at the time, but this one day she just walks into my classroom during recess, no facial expressions and she goes, can I just sit here? Touch her?

We can sit. And she had kinder, the chocolate, sat next to me, gave me a kinder stick, took one, we ate it, just sat there in peace. I didn't say anything, I didn't look at her, we just sat there. And she had left. When I went to Dubai, she was in seventh grade. When I came back to my school, she was in eighth grade at the time and was one of my students.

And we just connected. We connected to music. We connected to writing, to poetry, to life. And she had a hard time communicating, so she would write me notes and I would respond with notes. I taught her again in 10th grade. And during the time that she was in 10th grade, COVID had hit, so we were online.

After the year of COVID, I had moved to Kuwait, and I'll get into that a little bit later, but when she was a senior, she had asked for me to visit Lebanon during my spring break when they were still in school, and I did. And this child, I call her sweet child of mine, did a whole scavenger hunt of moments throughout the school that her and I shared for four years of her life that ended with her creating a Kinder 3D box and she had written, would you quack with me down the aisle.

Spencer Payne: How did you feel in that moment?

Miya Hourani: Shh. I felt surreal and she, this is besides the other than the fact that when I had left to Kuwait, she had written a letter to me and said, Ms. Mia, it's because of you that I'm still breathing and it's because of you that I'm still here. And that hit me hard. And when she had done the gradposal and graduation came and I have a picture of her and myself in my house right now. It's here. I look at every every day her letter is in my wallet. It stays with me and when I need a you know a self-check just to remind myself that you know you have bad days sometimes you feel like you fail sometimes you feel like you're not good enough or you're not getting through to the kids I read her letter and it just gives me that willpower to say I found my way to her heart in the most difficult time of her life. I made an impact on her life to stay alive and be here. She's now gone to scholarship in the states. She's in Philadelphia. We talk every couple of weeks.

And it meant something to me because again, I'm able as an educator to impact people's lives. Children that will carry you through until after graduation, when they become adults, in their day-to-day experiences, and that hit me hard. It felt like I had a purpose.

And that's why I come back. That's why I come back. That's why I get into a classroom every day. I don't know what to expect in the classroom. These kids are moody. They have mood swings, their hormones, the stress, you know, life. And I love that. That's something that drives me to wake up in the morning, put my clothes on, get in the classroom and see what I'm getting out of them for the day and see what I can work with. And It takes time and it takes patience. And as a human being, I am so impatient I cannot even explain to you. I can barely tolerate human beings and adults. I can't. With children, with kids, it's totally different. Kids are kids anywhere. And I think as educators, we have to remind ourselves that from time to time because it's super important.

Spencer Payne: that was an incredibly powerful story. Thank you for sharing that. That sounds like a, that sounds like a proudest moment of your career type of a, type of a story. I guess what I'd, what I'd ask next maybe is when, when, when did it feel like, yep, this is it. This is my calling. Like, would you remember, was there a moment in that office job, maybe on a Tuesday at three o'clock after you have to answer another email, you're like,

Miya Hourani: sure.

Spencer Payne: This isn't it. missed the clap. do you, do you recall like sometimes these flashes hit us of like, I'm not where I belong. I need to be over there. Was that a gradual buildup? Did that hit you all at once? Like, do you recall how this, this draw pulled you back into the classroom?

Miya Hourani: haha

It was two things. I was, was, my shift ended at five. It was 3 p.m., provosts coming in and out. He wanted me to set up meetings with deans of faculty and I'm like, okay, the dean of business needs a heads up. And then I receive a video on my phone. And the video was of my eighth graders who were at the time ninth graders in the hallway, a bunch of them. Miss Mia, we miss you.

I can't forget when you used to say, think deeper when it came to analysis, come back. And they've grown up and their voices has changed. And I'm like, okay, wow. Because you would think as a teacher, kids will just move on, especially when they transition in that age group. Moving from middle school to high school, it's a different world. You're more mature. You know, you're on your own. You let go of that childhood phase.

It was that moment. I'm like, my God, my heart. The second moment was my principal. Poker face, wooden budge. She calls me and she says, hey, I'm coming for a visit to Dubai and I'd love to meet up with you. And in my head, I'm like, why is she coming? Does she never comes to Dubai unless she has a visit, like an accreditation? What's going on? Okay, sure.

I met with her. She sits me down. I kid you not. All she said was, what the hell are you doing? And I said, excuse me? She goes, what the hell are you doing? And I go, having coffee with you? What is... what's going on here? She goes, you're not supposed to be here.

And I say, what do you mean? And this is all at the same time. I go, what are you talking about? She goes, this is not you. You're supposed to be in a classroom. There's no shine in your eyes. There's no spark in your eyes. You were meant to be in a classroom teaching students. And I go, why, why are you, are you short staffed? And I'm trying to like poke fun at this point. Again, she scares the hell out of me. It's not like she's in, I love her. I love her.

And a lot of where I am right now goes to her and what she used to say to me. And she said to me, in my eyes, when you walked into the door, and I remember that first day I met you and I told Diana, who was my HOD at the time, that she was absolutely crazy for hiring you. And if anything were to happen and go sideways, it would be her fault.

You were meant to do this. And I kept watching you grow and flourish on your own. You didn't ask for help. You didn't ask how to connect to the kids. This is what you're supposed to be doing. So I'd like you to come back. And I'm going to give you, I'm not going to give you a day. I'm going to give you a week to think about who you are. And when you discover who you are Mia, you call me.

And that was it. That was all it took. I had bought a... Oh, absolutely not. It took me an hour. And I waited. And I started to look at the clock. Okay, 58, 59. And here we go. And I texted her. I sat my parents down. And my parents were thrilled at the time that I had come to Dubai and we're living as a family. And I took a loan on a car and I was doing my own thing. I sat them down like, hi.

Spencer Payne: Did you take the whole week? Or did you only...

Miya Hourani: Okay, here's what's happening. I'm going back home. And they go, why don't you look for schools in Dubai? And I said, no, no, I'm not there yet. I want to go back to school. And at this point, my parents thought I was going through some sort of crisis. I had not reached my midlife crisis yet, but some sort of, you know, identity crisis, you know, trying to find my meaning. Michael, what do you mean go back to school? You just did. I said, no.

I want to get my teaching license. So I'm going to go back because this is a school that's willing to invest and watch me grow. And the same time I'm going to go around and find a university that's willing to take me on and I'm going to do my teaching license. And that is exactly what I did. But, okay, here's, need to, I think I'm going to write a book very soon. When I went back to Lebanon, there was a financial crisis that struck Lebanon right before COVID. And everything stopped. Everything. People had money stuck in banks and there was a fluctuation in the currency and all hell broke loose. Now I'm coming in, I'm all singing in August and I went to a bank and I had asked for a student loan to do my teaching diploma.

I will never forget.

The manager of the bank walks out and at this point banks were closed and it was just me because he had called me personally and said, you need to come into the bank. And he goes, listen to me. I don't know what kind of voodoo magic or if you've gone to all the churches and temples and mosques in the country. I don't know what it is you've done, but they have dropped every account and you are the only account out of 150 that have asked for a loan, that they have granted you your student loan. So congratulations, I swear to God. And I'm sitting there and I'm like, what? And he goes, don't what me, because I don't know what to say to you. All I want you to do right now is take these papers, go to university and register and good luck to you and you better not fail or else we're not paying for your degree.

Spencer Payne: Unbelievable.

Miya Hourani: And that is exactly what happened. That is exactly what happened. I swear to God. He goes, we've dropped every other account. They have only approved yours. Why? I don't know. How? I don't know. Go and shine and do this because apparently you were meant to do this.

Spencer Payne: I've got to point out a couple of things here that go back to people believing in you and telling you that they appreciate you. And I would encourage any listeners to go through. And if there's anybody who's impacting your life, you believe in, you really like, go tell them. Cause you never know how just telling them might change their entire trajectory. Like I'm just going to rattle off a couple of things I heard, right?

In that very initial interview, the only reason you were there in the first place is because a friend made you go, right? So that's like kind of miracle number one. And then number two, we've got a whole room full of teachers. No one, no one backs you except this one person sees something in you. And later that principal who is the poker faced principal even admits if it didn't work out, it was going to be that teacher who stood up for you is fault. So like she had to have kind of the, the, the moral courage to say, I see something in here. I'm willing to put my own neck on the line because I want her on my team. And then your eighth grader is going to ninth grade, send you videos of how much they miss you when you're a year away. Like these are all things that just like, and none of those things ever happened. Like I don't know if we'd be having this conversation. I don't know if we'd be talking about how.

You found your life's calling, but these people all genuinely appreciated what you did and they showed it. And that obviously came back and you realized, wow, I'm good at this. People really like what I'm doing. People respect me. I'm helping people. Like I have, I have meaning and you might not have gotten that if these people didn't stand up for you. And so my point with all that is when you see people doing good work, go tell them, go tell them, go tell them.

And if you see someone who you maybe, maybe is unconventional, the journalism background with the high heels who's never taught, but you see something have the backbone to go like to go take a risk and go give someone a chance. Who's maybe coming from a little bit of a non-traditional background, but maybe has the energy or the spirit or the smile that just is critical in that particular role. So sorry to get on the soapbox a little bit, but I just, I want to, I want to call that out and like help people. Like if there's someone you, you around you doing some good work, like go show that appreciation, because it might just change that person's entire trajectory of their life.

Miya Hourani: It takes one person, it takes, again, the power of words. It takes one person believing that you can be someone and see, you said it, see something in you that you don't see in yourself. Again, the last thing I ever thought I would do is be in a room filled with kids, teenagers, me, really? And I'm like, am I really doing this? And now...

Spencer Payne: Yes.

Yeah.

Miya Hourani: can't see myself doing anything else. It's unreal and it just, it gets better. I'm gonna say that to you because then it was a whole year of finishing school at three and running to my class to get there on time. And at that time, again, we were between going online, it wasn't COVID yet, but going online and going to classes and it was a...

Spencer Payne: Yeah, it's amazing.

Miya Hourani: wonderful experience for me because I'm sitting in a room at this time I was 30 years old. I'm sitting in a room with fresh graduates who've just finished their education BA and they're doing their TC and here's the 30 year old running from school and the professors, the instructors in the classroom loved hearing what I had to say because I have real life experience at work.

And when you bring that into the classroom and you share that with people in your class, especially as an educator, it does something. So I headed off with my instructors more than I did with the students because there was that age gap, obviously. But I absolutely loved that year. And I thought in my head, I'm like, that's it. I've done check. I've done my teaching certificate. I'm good to go. All good.

Spencer Payne: Yeah.

Miya Hourani: And then COVID hit.

for, for us, and when I say us for the Lebanese people at the time, being online, was it new because we had done it for a period of six months and we're just getting back into it. And when it was COVID, I was teaching eighth grade and 10th grade and my 10th graders at the time were my second batch of eighth graders. So I had already taught them and that was, that was incredible. And I know that online learning sucked.

But I loved it. The kids loved it. I made them go experience real life events and bring it to the classroom. And they still tell me, well, like, we're never, ever going to forget the fact that you made us do research papers. And we had to go to university classes. my doctor's, my dad's clinic and my doctor's clinic and the guy that has a supermarket downstairs and ask all these questions and come to the classroom and said, yeah, you know.

We're here. Let's bring it to life. And that's exactly what happened. But then one day I'm sitting there and class would finish at 2 30. I'd stay with my kids online until 3 30 and we'd just talk. And again, these are 10th graders.

Spencer Payne: What were some of the things that you talked about? What are you talking about with 10th graders for an hour after school that they're so interested that they want to continue? What are some of those topics like?

Miya Hourani: afraid of life at the time. Is this how we're going to, is this what life's going to be? Are we never going to go back to school? Are we never going to see you? Is this, are we going end the year this way? Is 10th grade down the drain? Are we not going to make memories or? And it was a a whole secret. My mom, again, my mom had moved back to Lebanon at the time and I'd be online with these kids every day. My mom would say, as soon as I closed my Zoom sessions,

Why do you do this to yourself? And why do you, I swear she goes, I, if I search the entire world, you are the only idiot that stays after an entire day of teaching online to just talk to your kids. And I go, mom, they need it. They, they need to feel like they matter at such a time because they are scared. I don't have answers for them.

I'm their teacher and they expect and they're used to teachers having the answers. I don't. And being real about it makes it 10 times more impactful to them. And she just, she'd stand there and smirk. She goes, you love this. I said, I love them. It's different. I love them. And one day I'm sitting there.

Class is done, school is done, and an ad pops out. Kuwait. my God, Kuwait. I wonder what my old school looks like. Put the website in there. Wow, they moved locations. my God, it's so big now, so different. Vacancies, should I? What the hell? Went in. vacancies. Okay, should send a CV and I left it. I left it. This was in May.

Months passed, summer came, enjoying having the time of my life, and I get an email at the end of August. So this was, I'll never forget, I believe it was August the 30th. Hi, I'm contacting you from UAS. We'd love to have a Zoom session with you. Please let us know if you're available. like, yeah, you know what, sure. In Lebanon, you had to sign your letter of intent by the end of June. So you have the first week of June to say if you come back or not. I'd signed my letter of intent. I was coming back. All good. But I'm like, you know what, Mia? You're going to do the Zoom interview because I want to see if I had the potential as an international teacher to get out of my comfort zone and to get out of Lebanon. I just wanted to see if I was worthy enough to make it other than Lebanon, other than the school that I had been at for four years, even though I knew that at the school that I was at, there was potential to grow.

I get on this interview, mind you, I'm at the beach, hair is wet with salt water and oil, stole a blouse from my friend, it's an utter mess. And like, you all need to be silent, I have an interview right now, I don't wanna hear you just disappear. Get into a room, fix myself, sat there and this wonderful Texan man comes on, hey, we started off talking about Lebanon and he said, we have a lot of Lebanese teachers here, you guys have a spunk about you and.

And he asked me some questions about the classroom. And I said, he goes, how would you, you know, how would you like your kids to interact in the classroom? And I'll never forget. said, if my kids aren't hanging from the walls, then it's not a classroom. And he goes, I'm sorry. He said, yeah, because they need to get up and move about and explore and experience and investigate. And if that means that they need to hang my classroom walls, so be it.


And he liked it. And he goes, listen, you know, kicked it off, went so well. He goes, I love this. You know, it seems like, you know, what we're about. And obviously I did my research. The school is NIASC accredited. My school back in Lebanon was NIASC accredited. So it's the same sort of beliefs, same mission. And he goes, we'd love to have you. And I go, about that. Here's the deal. I've already signed my letter of intent and I am joining my school for one more year. And he like looked at me and I go, hold on. I did apply in May and I know that it's COVID and I know that the international teachers probably went back home. And I know that the fact that you may have seen the fact that I hold an air passport, you assumed that I wasn't a native speaker, understandable, but I wish you'd given me a chance earlier." And he goes, wow, you're bold. I'm like, no, I have verbal diarrhea. It's different. I'll explain that to you later. But it's the truth. I said, I wanted to see if I had the chance to impress you because that would tell me as an educator that maybe, just maybe I had the chance to impress other people around the world.

And he goes, you know what, if you're still interested to join our school, and I appreciate and I respect the fact that you're loyal to your school and you have your ethics and you hold true to them. But if you're still interested, please email me in January. And if there are vacancies for the next academic year, we'll keep in touch. I all right. Okay, cool. All good. I was counting the days in my head for January.

So September, October, December came. I'm like, all right, there's 10 more days. Nia, it's checked off the list. You've got this. You're gonna wait. You're not gonna message him on New Year's. You're not gonna do that. You're not gonna email him. I waited until January the third. I did. I waited until January the third. I typed the email, saved it in my draft. It was ready to go. And I waited. I'm like, no, not 7 a.m. You're gonna wait until probably nine, okay, sent. And I sent it. In a matter of...

Spencer Payne: Ha!

Miya Hourani: I'm going to say two to three weeks. He didn't even respond. I get an email from HR saying we'd love to have a zoom interview with you. Would you be interested? I'm like, my God, this is happening. This COVID. We're still going through COVID.

I get on the call, the head of HR is there and then the superintendent was there. Now the funny part is that the superintendent's daughter was in my class during eighth grade and we were very close friends. Just to show you how small the world is and how weird my entire story is, I'm telling you if I made this up it wouldn't be the way that it is. And she's sitting there talking and I go, I'm sorry. Is your daughter called Sarah? And she goes, yeah, I'm like, we used to be in the same class and she sort of zoomed in and she goes, it's you. thought because my name is Miriam. Mia, it's you. My goodness. How are you? had a wonderful conversation, fruitful, all good. Said that it would be, you know, the position was for a language arts teacher in middle school and they get back to me.

The next day I got the offer. When I got the offer, was in tears. my God, I'm going to leave. is this? How am I going to leave? Why is this? Why did I do this? What is wrong? Completely shattered. And everyone around me is like, what is wrong with you? You went in there, you went ahead and apply. What is wrong with you? This is a good thing. I can't leave my kids. I can't leave my kids. I that's that's everything. My kids that can't see them graduate. I total legit a mess. I was an utter mess. But I the

Spencer Payne: So how did you, out of all that, why did you say yes? Especially because to put in context for other folks, it's not exactly like Lebanon and Kuwait are right next to each other. This is not a 30 minute car ride. Like this is a significant move. So why say yes?

Miya Hourani: Because knowing myself, knowing me as a person, I like the challenge. And I wanted, and I thought to myself at that moment in time, do I want to be teaching the same class, the same age group until I'm 45 or 50? And that's not who I am. Could I have stayed and write a five word of message, poker face principle and say, Hey, Can I come back? She'd say yes in a heartbeat. But it's not who I am and I wanted to take on the challenge. Would I fail? Would I succeed? Would I be able to connect with kids that are not part of my culture, that come from different areas in the world and that are part of an American school and international school? I was hungry for that. I was hungry for more. And I said, you know what?

You've been used to your comfort zone. You've adapted. Yes, you've learned a lot, but it's still your comfort zone. And I said, it's time to grow. I needed the challenge. I needed the change. And that's why I said yes.

Spencer Payne: And you hit on a couple of things there that I'd love to explore a little bit. For those who might be listening in the US or another country that isn't Lebanon or Kuwait, can you give some sense of what is the student population like in those two countries and the schools in which you taught? Are there any big differences in curriculum? Are there any big differences in maybe the, I don't know what the right word is.

the respect or appreciation for teachers in one versus another. Is it possible to just do a compare and contrast of middle school kind of language arts education in these two countries and just like, what's different, what's similar? Just paint a story for people who've maybe never been to one but not the other or never been to either one of just like, what's it like? What are the differences? What are the similarities? What can you share?

Miya Hourani: Sure. So in Lebanon, obviously, the main language and the dialect, the mother tongue is Arabic. Now, usually Lebanese people's second language is French. So schools in Lebanon are mainly more leaning towards French as the first language, or they go into public schools, which is purely Arabic. The school that I was at is an international school.

And the majority in the population of kids there would be Lebanese expats. So these are the kids that have probably been born and raised in the States, in Australia, in Canada, and eventually moved back to Lebanon. And they want to eventually graduate school and head on out to where they were born from or get a scholarship, just like my beautiful child who went to the States and was able to get that scholarship.

The standards are Common Core standards. It is NIASC accredited. It's an IB school and we're super proud of it because it is the only IB school in the north of Lebanon. Again, the north of Lebanon is not populated. It's more small villages stuck together. The population is so much smaller than Beirut, for example, and the maximum number of kids that we had in our school did not exceed 650 kids. So it's a pretty...

Spencer Payne: And how many per class? How many were in a typical class for you?

Miya Hourani: You're you're given Between I'm gonna say 21 to 25 kids and we would not the cap was 25 and And with that we'd still have kids on the waiting list who'd want to come In Kuwait there are There are a lot of schools here a lot of international schools whether they vary from the American system or the British system

Spencer Payne: Okay. Yeah.

Miya Hourani: We are one of the few schools here that are also NIASC accredited. We're up for accreditation in September, hopefully. The population in the school that I'm at right now, the majority of the kids are Kuwaiti. But the Kuwaiti population that we have in our school come from the middle-class Kuwaiti culture. And these are the kids as well that want to pursue higher education abroad.

I want to say we have various nationalities, but the biggest nationality here is the Kuwaiti nationality. But these kids invest in schools like mine right now in Kuwait because of the program, because the program is one that prepares them for university and they want to receive education from places like the States, from England, from Australia, and they go for it.

So that's the difference I want to say in the population of students or what kind of students we have in terms of the culture and the respect that they have for teachers. It's all about the connection in both places. When you are able to connect to an educator and I hold this messages is engraved in my brain. As a teacher, You are the variable in every situation. You are the variable. Whether you choose to be in business mode, that's what I tell my kids. Today I'm in business mode, guys. this music business mode, there's no joking around. Or whether you choose to be in mama mode, it's up to you. But you've got to connect. You've got to make, again, kids are kids everywhere.

Kids will respect you as a teacher when you show them respect and you show that you deserve their respect too, especially with today's generation. It's gotten harder. The kids that I teach today are not the same kids that I taught three or four years ago. They don't think the same way. They don't communicate the same way. And I was this, it's so funny. I'm talking about this with you right now because I was having this conversation with a group of my kids the other day.

And they said, you know what, Ms. Mia, you know what it is about you said the first day of school you had three rules. Said that's right. Don't lie.

Be yourself and I promise you if I don't show you respect that I don't deserve yours and don't give it to me.

And it's stuck. We have not spoken about this all year. Now when we near the end of the school year, they're getting ready to transition into high school. They're getting ready to graduate. They become sentimental and emotional and they start to remember these things. And I go, I don't remember saying that. And they go, yeah, you said that. And it meant something because you didn't fake it. You didn't make us feel like we had no say or we had no feelings on, you know,

Spencer Payne: Yeah.

Miya Hourani: how you want to run your class. You worked with us to make it work. And I think wherever you go, that's the kind of culture that an educator would want with the students. It's so important. It's such an important factor.

Spencer Payne: And that goes, yeah, and that goes a long way in building trust with students, children, whatever it may be, as opposed to another approach that some might take is, well, I'm the adult or I'm the teacher and you're the child. So I'm right, you're wrong. Or because you do what I say. That's completely different than the approach that you had, which was.

I don't remember the exact wording that you use, but it was, you know, it was more along the lines of, Hey, I, yeah, maybe I'm the teacher, but I still need to earn your trust and I need to earn your respect. Um, and I'm going to, I'm going to try hard to do that. Um, but if I don't like, you know, you have every right to tell me I haven't earned that I haven't earned that yet. And that's, that's my job is to go earn that not, not that it's just given just because I'm the adult or I'm the teacher. I need to go earn it.

It's a very refreshing approach. So thank you for sharing that.

Miya Hourani: Sure, sure.

Spencer Payne: And it, I'm sure buys a ton of trust and respect and credit credibility with the students, because I'm guessing a lot of kids international, maybe there's a pressure for college. There's probably a lot of do this, do this, do this. I'm telling you what to do. Right. And maybe that approach you have is refreshingly authentic and different of, know, like, I gotta, I gotta earn your respect and your trust and I'll, I'll, I'll do it. I'm confident. I'm good at what I do. I'm confident I'll learn it, but I gotta earn it first.

Miya Hourani: Great. Great.

Right, right. And you're right, sometimes we forget. I think, you know, especially these days, I think teachers post-COVID have forgotten what it means. And I hate to say this, but I'm realizing this more and more. They've forgotten what it means to be a teacher. And they've forgotten what it means to be a kid as well. And you have to, you got to show them some love.

When you show them some love, they will give. It is that simple. Are they all angels? No. Are we angels all the time? No. We mess up. We make mistakes. We have our off days. So do they. You got to be patient enough to say, hey, even if there's misbehavior happening. Yes, I have kids that misbehave. I have kids that act up. But there's a reason for that.

And once you understand the reason and find a way to really reflect on how you can make it work with that kid, it changes. It changes. And that for me is so rewarding. It's a big deal.

Spencer Payne: Thank you again for sharing all this. This is fantastic. If I may, I'm going to go to some more rapid fire questions, more maybe advice for younger teachers or those maybe thinking about joining the profession, but they're not sure. Or maybe those like you who have no interest, but for some reason they heard this and they're like, maybe, all right, maybe I can follow her footsteps. So what, if anything, might be the number one piece of advice you'd give to a prospective teacher or a teacher maybe in their first year? What would be the number one piece of advice you'd go give to someone in that position? Or if knowing what you know now, what might you go back and tell yourself kind of before or during your first year as a teacher?

Miya Hourani: You need to accept the fact that you're going to fail and you're going to make mistakes and that sometimes things are out of the element of your control and that's okay. Because when you do things, especially as a first year teacher, you're hungry and you have different ideas going on and you want to try different things and see what works and that's fine.

but you're going to fail through the process. But that failure, you need to accept that failure. And you should not go about that and say, my God, I'm a horrible, I'm a horrible teacher. No, you're not. And the reminder of you not being horrible and you doing a good job and deserve a pat on the back from time to time is being in that room with those kids who smile at you every day and are ready to hear what you have to say to them. Whether it's the crappiest lesson you've ever created or whether it's one that you just winged, I cannot tell you how many times my first year I would walk into class having prepared this lesson that I was so confident with and I'd start the first five minutes and I'd find my kids have gone utterly blank.

You see and you know, and I'd stop. just, put it on the side. They're like, you know what? Let's try it a different way. And it's okay to be inspired by kids who say, Hey, could we maybe do that instead? Why not? Why not? If they're, if they're reaching the same objective that you have for that lesson, because that takes you somewhere and your energy bounces off.

Be present in the moment and willing to accept the fact that you don't have your ducks in the row that first year. And when you find that things don't work and don't go the way you expected them to, that's okay. Be accepting to that because you learn from that. You learn to do it differently the second time. I have never used the same resources

For the past eight years, I refuse. I refuse. Nothing. That's double work on me. That's me sitting down and saying, my God, I have to start from scratch. I'd rather do that. Because if I go back to a file of mine last, I'm going to say February and look at my plan, at this moment in time, like, did I really do that in the classroom? What was I thinking? But that comes with experience that comes with me realizing that there are days where I thought I had this beautiful plan ready and packed and that the kids would get it. It wasn't great. The kids didn't get it. And that's fine. That's fine. So be accepting to the fact that even when you're in the teacher role, you're going to learn more than you teach. That's what I'm trying to say.

Spencer Payne: Perfect. And I think you've kind of alluded to this earlier, but I'll just ask this question bluntly. What is the single number one best thing about this profession? What do you love about it?

Miya Hourani: Oh, I'm gonna reiterate it, but I'm gonna reiterate it differently. It's the fact that I get to wake up every morning, walk into my classroom, having something prepared in my hand and not knowing what to expect. Because you have, I'm gonna say 25 beating hearts in there with different personalities and different souls and different ways of thinking, and you gotta stand there and make something of the time that you have with them and make them learn and become better people. For me, teaching the most rewarding thing about being an educator is impacting the younger generation to be better people in society and in the community. And they will remember you because it's not just about the books, you are teaching them about life.

You are teaching them skills that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. If I were to ask...

Spencer Payne: How do you do that? What's something maybe that you do that is different from what their teachers before them have done or that the typical lesson plan goes through? How do you do that? How do you infuse some life lessons in some things that sometimes are A, B, or C? What's the right answer? Check the box. How do you do that?

Miya Hourani: It's a series of things. So it's giving kids the choice and voice to what they're learning. It's understanding the fact that they learn differently and allowing that to happen in your classroom. It's embracing the way they think and the way they show you their thought process, their product what they think they've come up with and using that to make them grow and showing them that you genuinely care for them. When you have those factors, your class works.

Because when you have a child that is having a hard time making it, passing English, understanding English, and you know, you know that he's having a hard time coming to him and saying, Hey, you're struggling. You better get your act together or else you're not, you know, you're not going to make it here. You're not going to stay. Yeah. You're going to have to have that, that hard conversation with them, but you don't do that from the get go. You say, Hey, this is where you're at Let's work together. Let's grow together. Does that take time? Absolutely. Does that take effort? Absolutely, because you are catering to needs of different learners that function differently at our different levels and have different interests. But welcome to education. That's the beauty of it and it's evolving. And unless as an educator, you are not willing to take the risk to change and to learn, it's too bad. You should, you should, you should.

Spencer Payne: Mm. Mm.

I mean, if only we all had a culture of nonstop learning, willing to take a risk, because sometimes they don't work out. on the whole, even if two things out of 10 don't work out or four things out of 10 don't work out, that means six things did or eight things did. And you're still slightly continuing to get better and better. On the other end of that spectrum, what is the single worst or hardest thing about this profession? Or if you had a magic wand.

Miya Hourani: Right? Right.

Spencer Payne: and could point that at one thing and change it overnight, where would you point that magic wand?

Miya Hourani: Cool. Okay.

And especially after these couple of years, I've come to realize, again, I'm going to say this for the, I think the 15th time, you are the variable. Kids will work with you and work with what you're offering them based on what you have to give them. And the hardest thing for me is being in a space and being in, I want to say, major. I think education is as important as being a doctor. And I think that an educator being a teacher has the same level of importance as a doctor performing surgery on the daily. That's how important our role is. And what's hard for me to see is is having educators get into this field and say, you know, it's a seven to three job.

I'm getting paid, I'm coming back home. Okay, yes, but it's more than that. And if you're not willing to work a little bit, it's that unspoken rule for me. I come home after three and I work a good four five hours with whatever it is that I'm doing for the week or planning or grading or figuring out what I wanted to do differently the next day. If you're not willing to invest in the changes of education, the changes of the generation, then maybe you're not in the right field. And it hurts me. It's like you're bringing a knife and stabbing me in the heart when I have to be surrounded by educators who've been in the field for years. Say, you know what, this is what I have. It's the kids. I finish at three. I'm done at three.

What if a kid really, really, really needs you. What if a kid you've gone to class and you've said you better get this assignment handed in by 6 p.m. and he's stressing out trying to email you trying to ask questions and in your head you have the concept of I'm done by three. We can't forget the reason why we became educators and I feel like that's drifting away.

I don't know why, but we need a constant reminder of why we became educators, not teachers, educators. And if that mentality and that mindset is there, it's dangerous. It's dangerous. That I think is the worst thing about this field in general.

And it's like you're attacking me when I have to be part of a conversation like that, when you feel like people are not willing to see the bigger picture. Because it's not just about you. You are facilitating. You are helping people evolve into better human beings. that, yes, it takes a lot. Not everyone can be a teacher.

It's not for everybody.

Spencer Payne: Thank you for being the example of who it sounds like the educator you maybe you had one or two when you were younger who you are aspiring to be like. Maybe you didn't and you're becoming the person you always wish you had. But thank you for being that example. Because it sure seems like you're living by all those things that you're preaching from what I'm hearing.

Miya Hourani: It took one teacher. It did. It took one teacher and believe it or not, after being away from Kuwait for 15 years, we reconnected because he's still part of the school here and he's actually the accrediting consultant. So he flies in from Canada every couple of months. And imagine me seeing him after 15 years and he remembers the exact moment that we connected because I had a meltdown.

in eighth grade. had a meltdown. I was failing everything. I had come from a British system, had no idea what was going on. And it was in his class. He'd asked us to take notes. What on earth is note taking? I don't know what they're doing. And I had a full on meltdown. And after class, it was recess. He asked to sit with me on the steps. And he remembers it down to the T. He looks me in the eye and he says, I know you're having a hard time, but I've got you. That's all it took. I've got you. And because I felt like it was genuinely coming from the inside of his soul, that's all I needed. And I started to like coming to school and I started to succeed because I felt like I had his support. And he followed through with his word. He didn't let me down.

And after 15 years, I'm an adult and an educator and he's still in education. He says, I will never forget that day and I will never forget how your eyes changed because all I said were those couple of words to you and it affected you as a kid.

Spencer Payne: That right there is the power of an educator and You felt you that now we're yeah You felt it when you were in school and now you're trying to pass that along to as many of these kids that you're teaching So thank you very much for doing that Do you have any final words of wisdom for us anything that's that we haven't shared yet that you feel like it's it's it We got to talk about this because we haven't yet or is there anything maybe we've already talked about but it's just so important that you just want to go Re-highlight double underline

Miya Hourani: Yes.

Spencer Payne: Any last words of advice maybe for folks out there in the profession thinking about getting in the profession? Anything that you'd like to end with.

Miya Hourani: Don't ever underestimate yourself if you are hungry for change. I never thought that I would, after my teaching certificate, go back into school and get my master's degree from Moreland. And I think that experience for me that year was the most difficult year of my life, not because of the program. The program was the most rewarding thing of my life, but because I had to balance everything going on in life.

but don't ever underestimate yourself to thinking that you can't change a child's life when you are hungry for it, because you can. It takes will, it takes sweat, blood, and tears, yes, but it is worth it. It is so worth it because when you have the heart for it, You have other hearts connected to yours. It's toxic and it's an energy and I don't want people to forget that. If you are an educator, know that you are impacting someone's life every day. And that for me is a blessing and a gift. Use it, carry it through and don't ever underestimate yourself. That's the last thing I want to say.

Spencer Payne: Well, thanks so much, Mia. Thank you for sitting down and taking the time with us. And if I may feel free to make sure that that friend of yours who signed you up for that interview all those years ago gets a thanks from me because it sure seems like she helped you find your passion and your joy in life.

And that one thing that she did for you has led to, I'm sure, hundreds of students saying, man, thank goodness Nia was my teacher. I had such a great experience this year. So thank you to that person for making sure that friend of yours, for pushing you onto this path that you didn't even know you wanted to go down.

Miya Hourani: I'll pass that message along for sure.

Spencer Payne: Please do, please do. Well, Amita, thank you so much for joining us. This was an amazing conversation. And thank you for all that you do and for lighting up your classrooms and your students the way it seems like you're doing.

Miya Hourani: Thank you so much for having me. This was awesome, for real. Thank you so much for your time and having me on here. This was great.