Episode 2: S04 EO2 Building Your Teaching Community with Michelle Lo

TODOS Podcast

Welcome to Episode 2 of the new season of the TODOS podcast. This episode features high school teacher, Michelle Lo, who is also the head of member services at TODOS. In this episode, hosts Theodore Chao and Shari Kaku talk to Michelle about her journey as a math teacher and her experiences as a second-generation Taiwanese American. Michelle shares about how her early life, identity, and education shaped her passion for teaching math today. And, she reflects on how her childhood experiences, such as learning mathematics with her mother at home and navigating the pressures of academic success as an Asian American, connect with her challenges in navigating the the model minority myth.
Michelle also discusses her teaching philosophy, which focuses on deconstructing stereotypes and oppressive systems in the classroom, fostering student-centered learning, and encouraging students to embrace mistakes as part of the learning process. Throughout the episode, Michelle emphasizes the importance of finding community and solidarity among educators, especially those from marginalized backgrounds.
This conversation highlights Michelle's commitment to resisting traditional pedagogical norms and building cross-racial and cross-socioeconomic solidarity through her teaching. Michelle shares about the impact of several communities to her growth as a mathematics teacher: The TODOS: Mathematics for ALL community, the miseducAsian twitter collective, and other organizing spaces for Asian American educators. The conversation concludes with a call to fellow educators to "be loud" and find their community to support their work toward equity and justice in education.