With 5+ years of teaching experience, I am fortunate to have worked in some exceptional schools in my young career. I began at Gateway MST Middle School on Saint Louis’ northside where I taught Physical Education and Health. Wanting to pursue my passion in the humanities, I transferred within Saint Louis Public Schools after one year to teach at Metro Academic and Classical High School (ranked in the top 100 schools nationally) in the city’s Central West End neighborhood.
While at Metro, I taught American Literature with a novel study structure that explored authors such as Kate Chopin, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, August Wilson, Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Using supporting texts to contextually root the collective’s understanding, we engaged in rigorous discussion about literature throughout those school years. Through that journey, students developed valuable skills in reading comprehension, analytical writing, and critical thinking.
I moved back to Seattle in 2023 for family, and I now teach U.S. History at another nationally ranked high school. Being able to embed the local histories of Seattle into the broader context of U.S. History is something I value deeply. Through student choice projects, case studies, and class discussions, students have a very active experience examining history with their peers in my classes.
In my own personal studies, I have spent the first half of the 2020s studying educational leadership as a candidate in Saint Louis University’s doctoral program. Our group has focused our research on teacher retention given the concern of teacher attrition and declining teacher preparation program enrollment.
While much must change to make teaching a profession that retains its talent, our group focused on the specific strategies that principals can implement to better retain teachers. Put simply, utilizing culturally responsive leadership practices, implementing shared leadership teams, developing meaningful relationships with teachers, and adopting a data-driven process for assessing teacher retention can all serve to better retain top talent in schools.
So here, I write about the importance of a thriving free and universal public education system and what that may look like in my practice.
Tony Chiado 