Meet the Teacher of the Year who makes math matter to his St. Paul students

In early May, St. Paul Harding Senior High School math teacher Michael Houston was named Minnesota Teacher of the Year. Getting there, he admits, was a winding road.

Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Houston came to Minnesota to play football as a walk-on for the Gophers. He later transferred to Concordia University in St. Paul, where a math professor inspired him to become a math teacher. Now, it's Houston doing the inspiring.

Eye On St. Paul recently met with Houston to talk about how he's worked to make connections with kids over a 19-year career at the East Side school, which saw a tragedy this year when a student was stabbed to death in February. This interview was edited for length.

Q: What brought you to Minnesota?

A: I needed to get away. A couple of my best friends, they received full-ride scholarships to play football. One to Michigan and one to Iowa. As friends, we competed all the time in sports and football, particularly. So they got their full-ride scholarships, and they were going to leave, and I was left behind. And so I decided to go to Minnesota.

Q: Were you a math major there?

A: I was a computer engineering major, and I took my first programming class and that ended real quick. [laughs]

Q: Who was the coach when you walked on?

A: Glen Mason. I was able to make the team. For me, that was a win. I was able to make it at a Division 1 school.

Q: You spent just that one season on the team? At what point did you decide that you wanted to teach?

A: Well, because [I was] trying to balance work and football and academics, my grades suffered. I actually got kicked out of the U of M. So then I decided to transfer to Concordia, for two reasons. One, the campus was small, with a population less than 3,000 students. And they gave a free laptop. It was like, OK, I just moved up here with the clothes on my back. I need a computer to help me along.

Q: What year did you graduate?

A: 2004.

Q: And your degree was in?

A: Mathematics.

Q: Is that when you decided you wanted to be a teacher?

A: I did. It was my professor, Dr. [Robert] Krueger, who always came to class with so much positivity. So much enthusiasm. He just really loved math. And I was pretty good at math. He made me love it even more.

Q: How did he do that?

A: Because he came in with so much energy. My skills were a little low. I barely graduated high school. He just made you believe that you could learn mathematics.

Q: Was Professor Krueger someone you modeled yourself after?

A: Yes. He was my mentor. He taught me everything I know, not only the mathematics, but being that passionate educator. That excitement to teach. I try to bring that to my classroom every day.

Q: You coached football at Harding until 2017. Are there similarities between teaching math and coaching football?

A: Just having the understanding and grace and the patience of being able to explain things in multiple ways has helped me a lot in coaching. But also coaching helps me in the classroom because I'm trying to be their biggest cheerleader. And show that excitement.

Q: Why is it important for the teacher to have enthusiasm?

A: Because if a student can tell that you're not passionate about what you're doing, they're not going to be engaged in what you're trying to teach them.

Q: Is it hard to make the connection with students that what they're learning has application in life?

A: It is tough. [During the pandemic] I did a lot of reflection about my teaching practices and what I can do, especially when we come back to the classroom, about trying to engage students and mathematics. Especially when they try to apply it outside the classroom.

And so I developed my Algebra II curriculum to include a lot of personal finance. The first couple of weeks of school, we learned taxes, because they should know how to complete their own taxes. Another unit that we did was retirement, so how to learn about 401ks, pensions, Social Security.

Q: What do you see as the strength of your students and how do you make connections with them?

A: The generation now is really heavy on the use of technology. So I try to include investigations in which they can use their device. We were learning about exponential functions, and we were learning about investing, and there's a nice little app, a little game that students were able to engage with and learn how to pick stock and invest and see the growth of that over time.

That is a way that I try to engage them. And just try to show the passion, and also a lot of humor, just to try to break down those barriers.

Q: What has been your proudest moment as a teacher?

A: Just getting a note from a student that says, "Thank you. You made math enjoyable."

Q: What has winning Teacher of the Year meant to you?

A: It's meant a lot. It's meant a lot for our students, staff and our community. Over the past couple of years, we've been dealing with a lot of negative press. But winning this award, it's brought some major positives that I hope to continue to share. A majority of our students, they see the positives that go on in our building.

Q: Is it hard with some of what's happened to stay positive?

A: It can be. But when I'm in my classroom and I shut my door and those kids are within my four walls, that's all I'm concerned about.