In this episode, we discuss Hiea’s 20+-year teaching career in both K-12 education and in higher education training new teachers, the ways her doctorate in education from Johns Hopkins University empowered her to reach new goals, and her insights on pedagogy and tools for managing work/life balance.
Hosted by Michael Wilkinson
To connect with Hiea and to learn more about her story, visit her page on the PHutures #100AlumniVoices Project website.
In this episode, we discuss Hiea’s 20+-year teaching career in both K-12 education and in higher education training new teachers, the ways her doctorate in education from Johns Hopkins University empowered her to reach new goals, and her insights on pedagogy and tools for managing work/life balance.
Hosted by Michael Wilkinson
To connect with Hiea and to learn more about her story, visit her page on the PHutures #100AlumniVoices Project website.
Michael Wilkinson
Hello everyone I'm Co-host Michael Wilkinson and this is the 100 Alumni Voices Podcast, stories that inspire where we explore the personal and professional journeys of a diverse group of 100 doctoral alumni from Johns Hopkins University. Today we're joined by Hiea Mizyed. She received her Doctor of Education in Mind, Brain, and Teaching from Johns Hopkins in 2022 and is currently a university lecturer at the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. Hiea welcome to the podcast. Great to have you here.
Hiea Mizyed
Thank you hi, I'm happy to be here.
Michael Wilkinson
Wonderful, so to kind of start this off, you know you started—so I was looking through your LinkedIn and everything like that—you started teaching elementary school 2001 I believe, 22 years ago. So, you've been teaching in one form or another for a pretty long time. Was that something you always knew you wanted to do, or was that something you kind of fell into at a later point in life?
Hiea Mizyed
OK, so I've always known I wanted to be a teacher. I absolutely love children and I love talking to whoever will listen to me. And so growing up I used to practice at home with my siblings, and I was always inspired by my teachers, and I loved what they made education look like for me and the potential they made me reach. And so, when I began in 2001 as a teacher, I definitely knew that was the road I wanted to take. But little did I know that that road would actually change, so standing in, you know in the classroom and watching one of my teachers, I remember Doctor Knight at Saint Xavier University and I was looking at her going wow, she's amazing. Little did I know 20 years later I'd be standing in her position at that same school as a professor, and I joined Saint Xavier two years ago. I worked with them for a semester and now I do the same thing and I tell the story to my students all the time. My pre-service teachers the first day of class I always say I was in that exact seat 20 years ago so.
Michael Wilkinson
So, you mentioned you know part of what inspired you to be a teacher was the qualities that the teachers that you had in the past had, and like what were some of those qualities that were like man, this is like what makes a really good teacher and what makes me excited to be a teacher?
Hiea Mizyed
Yeah, I think #1, which is what aligns to the brain targets, the brain target teaching model by Hardiman, is the emotional connection. I felt that emotional connection with my teachers. They always took time to get to know me even though I was the, you know, probably the first Arab American they had in the classroom. And I'd be fasting for Ramadan and they would highlight that and they would tell me to do a little, you know presentation the next day about what it is, and a few of my friends actually decided to get on board and fast with me in high school. So, it was always that the feeling of being in a community, belonging I think, and also just the knowledge and the way that that the way they were so passionate about the subject that they taught.
Michael Wilkinson
Yeah, I think I think that's what inspires many, many folks to be teachers and also just to love their teachers. It's just that like involvement that you have with your teacher and when it feels like they're very much like bringing you in. So, that's wonderful to hear that that's kind of what kicked you off that track or kick you on that track. So, something that I find interesting—so, you've now gone from teaching elementary for a pretty long time—so, now you're teaching university, which from an academic rigor kind of standpoint are two very different sides of the spectrum as far as what the kids are actually learning. What are some of the, you know, fun things between those two ends and what are also just for my own curiosity, what are some of the similarities you see between those two ends, and what are some of like the major differences you see between those?
Hiea Mizyed
Well, I mean there's a lot of similarities. I mean when you teach, you teach. I actually was a teacher for a long time and what transition transitioned me into teaching teachers is I was actually called out of the classroom to lead to be the head of faculty when I was teaching kindergarten students, and at first, I rejected the offer. I was like no way. I'm a teacher, I'm this is what I want to do, but it came to a point where they said, you need to offer what you know and you need to come teach teachers. You need to lead teachers and so that's when it was kind of like a little bit of a change for me so that I began working with teachers and started seeing that I impact not only my classroom, I could actually impact the entire school by giving the tools and offering the tools that I know and I have to these teachers. And that's where I started actually looking at teaching teachers is when I began with the in-service teachers and I was looking at their efficacy and that's when I began my doctorates. Looking at how it can shift their efficacy into from traditional teaching to, you know, student-centered teaching. That's when I became inspired to kind of go to the higher education and work with the teachers from there so that you know, in order to change a lot of reflection needs to take place, and so that's where I felt I can make a difference. If I can ground my work in reflection, then teachers can actually make that shift and hopefully go out into the schools with the pedagogy at the direction that I wanted for children. When it comes to the similarities, I and I teach exactly the same. There's just different content, so my degree is, my bachelors was in the methods of teaching, so it wasn't about the content. I remember when I was a Grade 9 teacher, I walked into the principal's office and I said you gave me honors geography. I'm not teaching honors geography, and I had never studied it. I had no idea why the mountains are so high in Russia. Why are you giving me this? And she said your degree is in the methods of teaching, so you know how to teach that content. So go study and teach it the next day. And sure, that's what I did and it was, you know it was an AP geography class.
Michael Wilkinson
Oh wow. OK.
Hiea Mizyed
And I enjoyed it so much, but I remember that feedback and so. And that's the case. It's really about the method. It's really about using cooperative learning, using reflection, giving them success criteria, sharing the objective at the beginning of the lesson, you know just what comes with a pedagogy, you know, and establishing that emotional connection again, whether they're three-year olds or they’re 20-year-olds, you have to be able to do that in order to gain that trust so that they can take risks and they can ultimately learn.
Michael Wilkinson
So, in your in your estimation, what are some of the similarities between the three-year olds and the 20-year-olds that you that you teach?
Hiea Mizyed
I guess you see the same thing in regards to the intrinsic motivation. You see the same thing in regards to efficacy. You know a fixed mindset compared to a growth mindset. It's pretty much you're going to get one or two of those students in the classroom regardless of the age that you teach, you're going to get the students that you need to motivate a little bit more. You're going to have the high achievers in the classroom, so I, you know, learning is the same for everybody, and people like to learn in different ways, whether they're five years old or they're 25 years old. So, it's tapping into those different learners and helping them to achieve their potential, right?
Michael Wilkinson
That makes a lot of sense. You can—earlier you started off this a little bit with saying like giving the example of the AP history lessons that you had to very quickly learn, and I find that very impressive. As someone who's you know, been a teacher’s assistant, has taught like courses on my own, and it's very difficult to learn a new subject matter that quickly. And not just learn it; learn proficiently enough that you can then teach it and have people asking questions about it. So, like what are your strategies for learning subject matter that quickly that you can teach it in a way that you feel confident when students come back with questions about it, even if it's something you just learned the day before?
Hiea Mizyed
Yeah, yeah, that's a great question. You know, as a as a teacher, the role that I take is kind of the facilitator or the guide on the side. I don't act like I know everything and I and I ensure that my students know I don't have the answers to everything, so I'm not shy to say, you know what? I'm not really sure, but I know how to get that answer for you. I know someone who could do that for us. I will e-mail someone and I will get that answer back. Or let's look at the problem together. Let's research it together. So, it's really having that mindset of nothing is impossible and we can figure out the answers together, and what I do a lot of times is I'm not the one to try to, you know, encode and just offer a lot of material and cram students. I don't believe in that kind of learning. You know, I believe in the opposite and retrieving and asking questions and asking them what they think and asking them to go research and bring me the information. So, a lot of the weight wasn't on me, although I knew the content enough to teach it and the book was with me, so I had the resource. But the students also knew the resources are out there and I would put the questions on them and then we'd find the answers together so it was if you can say learning together sometimes. And really, getting them to feel inspired and excited to go get the material and come back and impress me with what with what they know. And so, again, I'm not that traditional teacher that says I know it all. But I'm more of the facilitator to help them to learn, and you know you can do that through cooperative learning. Putting students in groups. Vigodsky talks about the MKO, the more knowledgeable other and making sure that that zone of proximal development is there. So, I'll always ensure that I'll always ensure that if there is a question, I'll spend my time to research and find the answer, or go to an expert that does know the answer and making sure that I do know a little bit more than the students, but also putting them together. So that a little bit more of what's known in that group is also offered and they're learning from each other, and so they're modeling for each other. And then that learning is happening because they're looking at that person right in front of them. As somebody who they look at as a model and somebody they can learn from probably a lot quicker than they learn from me, right?
Michael Wilkinson
Yeah, that's very interesting because I think the bulk majority, of course, especially at a PhD level that I'm taking already like people who are somewhat experts in the subject that they're teaching. And how this understanding of like of course, the teacher knows. And if they don't know, they'll pick, but they'll get it pretty quickly so t's interesting to kind of see this opposite way of doing it, which is really almost putting out the onus on the students a little bit to learn for themselves and learn together and like you're all learning together. It's very interesting. Does that methodology change at all based on the subject material like math versus history, where maybe some of these things are a little bit harder to self-teach or are you able to apply the same structural principles regardless of the subject? I imagine it's more so the latter. But I'm just curious.
Hiea Mizyed
Yeah, it's definitely the latter, but I think I got lucky with that course. You know it being just read the chapter and if you read it really well you pretty much can figure out what to do, you know? I definitely think that that explicit teaching and the teachers need to have of course the content and especially at a PhD level, I mean that there's no question there, but I think that we need to have a balance between content and pedagogy as well, because if we don't have pedagogy at all you know you have what we call the knowledge curse in education where you know it so well but you just can't teach. Yeah, so we want to, we want to keep that balance between the explicit teaching and the implicit teaching, but we know we want our teachers to understand that it's the way you know a lot of people know the what and with technology and the resources and everything we do nowadays, it's really about the how. No from because students you know it doesn't matter how much you know about you know Jane Austen. If students don't want to listen to you, what are you going to do as a teacher? All that knowledge that you have, where is it going to go versus having a little bit of that knowledge and also having that pedagogy and they feel very excited to come the next day and then present on Jane Austen and you learn about it together.
Michael Wilkinson
Yeah, I know you know someone as who's in engineering, but the problem of communicability in science and being able to teach science to any audience, it's definitely a struggle, not just for me, but for a lot of people, and I think that's part of a lot of the issues you get into everywhere is the inability that a lot of people have to properly communicate their work and properly teach their work because pedagogy isn't something that's usually taught on a fundamental level. It's usually something you kind of have to pick up for yourself, but it's interesting to hear you know you're kind of insights on pedagogy and how important it is. I think a lot of people how important it is that people be basically proficient in at teaching their own subject Matters that they are expert in.
Hiea Mizyed
Yeah, and especially at the at the you know, at the early years you know my—the position I have currently. Right now, the teachers are preparing to be in service teachers. So, K-3 three and with K-3 we really need to ensure that the pedagogy is a student-centered pedagogy where the teacher understands that she's the guide on the side. So that students have that opportunity to investigate, to explore, and to kind of have that autonomy and to learn. And they're the drivers, and then that's what we want teachers to see and to understand, especially at the younger age.
Michael Wilkinson
So, you know you've actually years in 2001 I believe, and then you went back in 2015 to your masters, which then transitioned into your doctorate at Hopkins. So, after all those years with just bachelors, what made you decide to go back and kind of pursue graduate life? Is it just to be more qualified to teach teachers or was there more to it than just the qualifications per se?
Hiea Mizyed
I think there's a little bit of everything. I had been teaching for quite a while, and during that 2001 to 2015 is when I had my three children, so I really wanted that job and that balance between raising my children and just having a job that I could go and do and enjoy. And when 2015 came along, you know my children had grown up and I looked around me and I said, you know what I think I'm ready. I think I'm ready to go back and pursue. I always had a thirst for knowledge and I enjoy learning and at that time I think I felt like it was the right time. You know, everybody's on their own journey and again, I had never thought that I would become a Doctor of Education. Teacher was really what was what was what I wanted to do, but again, it you know my journey took me this way and I have absolutely no regrets. And I'm so happy it did. But sometimes we don't plan things and they just happen so.
Michael Wilkinson
And since one Hopkins grad asking another Hopkins grad, how do you feel your degree prepared you for your current role teaching at a university level teaching teachers at a university level. How do you feel Hopkins kind of prepared you and your ability to do that?
Hiea Mizyed
Hopkins was a change you know game changer for me. When I started at Hopkins, I honestly couldn't believe they accepted me and I remember telling my advisor, I think you guys made a mistake. You need to go back and check and so three years later she said, I guess we didn't, right. I was one of the you know the students actually got out the fastest. That’s how they prepared me, I think was really understanding quality. And having that backbone of rigor and knowing what it meant to graduate from Johns Hopkins University. Really leaving Johns Hopkins University, I felt like I was ready for the world. I felt like there isn't anything out there that I cannot conquer that I cannot overcome and the reason I felt that is because what I felt Hopkins did was give me the tools. It wasn't necessarily all of the knowledge that it was how to get that knowledge and that's what I felt is what I took away. I took away that yeah, definitely the grit and understanding the importance of doing things with quality, but it was also that your tools are out there if you want to become resilient, you need that support system. So, you need to find that support yourself and navigate and be able to problem solve. So, I think that that's really what I took with me and that confidence. I think too that I graduated from an R1 university, that I am the Johns Hopkins graduate, so I make sure I think probably if not twice a day that my kids know that no Johns Hopkins graduate and no one else, no one else. I don't mind everyone else; no one has to know what my children have to know and they have to call me Doctor Mommy. No one else has to call me Doctor so-so but that's alright. So, I was really, really definitely at giving me that confidence, like I said to go out there and feel like I can do and I can.
Michael Wilkinson
It's so interesting because you know you started you started that with saying, I can't believe they accepted me. Which funny enough, just about everyone I've talked to, including my peers, including myself has the exact same sentiment, like I can't believe like there's very few people I know that just have the unabashed confidence like, Oh yeah, for sure. I knew they were gonna accept me. So, it's interesting to see that now that you're on the other side of it, you have a lot more confidence, not only just a lot more confidence in what you added, but you kind of own like the yeah like they accepted me. I am a Hopkins grad like I've done very well with, you know, the knowledge I've gained there, so it's interesting to kind of see the other side of that confidence spectrum once you're out of it.
Hiea Mizyed
Yeah, absolutely.
Michael Wilkinson
So, one of the things I wanted to ask so you, you know you've been it seems like over the past years you've been bouncing back and forth between the Chicago area and the United Arab Emirates. What's that been like and how did you kind of find yourself in this position? You've been like kind of bouncing back and forth a little bit between the two.
Hiea Mizyed
Yeah, well, I work in the United Arab Emirates and I've been here since 2005 and I always went back to the US. It's home for me. That's where I was raised. I'm Palestinian American, but that is where I was raised, and that's where I studied. And that's where I was educated. So, I think always going back when I felt like I needed, you know, to further my education. It's definitely home. Like I said and so for family reasons too at so points, but for the last opportunity that I had, it was my university where I was a two-time alum that gave me that opportunity to get that first experience in higher education and so for family circumstances, I knew at one point I'd be back in the United Arab Emirates, but I definitely wanted to be in the US for that experience. You know? Comparing that to where I am now, this country continues to build itself and to develop as a country, but it is very young. It's only 50 years old, so they continue to seek knowledge from other countries and I'm one of those change agents that's happy to go out to the US and bring that experience back to share with them, and so that's kind of how I do it.
Michael Wilkinson
How, how was it when you were away from—I know there's a lot of international Students especially that kind of sympathize with like being away from family for a while while you're you know, studying abroad. So how was that experience for you when you were going through your education, especially going back after you've you know already had kids or you know, like you are pretty well established in your career because you've been in your career for quite some time before you went back to your masters. So, what was that like?
Hiea Mizyed
You know it, it is hard. It definitely is difficult, but I think nowadays with the technology and how well adapted it is, it's and traveling and going back and forth. I think it took me a few years right at the beginning, but I think once I realized that you know a home is what you make it right and you decide where you're going to be comfortable. And if you can be comfortable with yourself, it really doesn't matter where you're going to be in the world, you will find comfort, and I think that that was something that I had to take time to develop. It wasn't something that I quickly was able to overcome. It definitely took some time, but I think working on oneself and that self-development, you can definitely start seeing the benefits of being in both places, right?
Michael Wilkinson
Absolutely, so it seems like you really enjoy what you do. So, I'm curious, you know what some of the most like fun aspects of your job? And are there any kind of interesting things you've been working on specifically as of late?
Hiea Mizyed
Yeah, yeah, so the fun aspects of my job so you know how people talk about that work-life balance, right? I have something that I call the work-work balance. So, it's work I love to do, and then work that I dread. So, the work that I absolutely dread, I'll start with that first, because it only takes longer. It's the paperwork, it's really just and grind and grind of the paperwork and you know, filling out all these ecaps and then and all of this information and evaluations and paperwork. I don't like paperwork, but we do it. But the part that I love the most, which of course ss what we do more, is the teaching and then watching my teachers teach. So, my teachers—it's a, you know, it's an applied program and so students spend the first few weeks in class with me and then they actually go out to TP, which is teacher placement and I get to go and drive to those little schools that I used to work at as a teacher at some point and I get to go watch them in action and I get to see the children. And so, then I kind of get that feeling that OK, I'm kind of still in the same place, but I'm making a bigger impact. So and the teacher at this point when they're pre-service they’re all ears and they want positive feedback and they really wanna, you know, feel that they're in the right career choice and right program for that matter. So, when I go in there and I see them in the classrooms and I see the work they do with the children and I see the smiles, that for me it it's just I can't even measure it. You know they say that if you love your job so much, you'd be willing to do it for free. Would definitely do that part for free. I definitely, if I wasn't getting paid, I will go to those schools and I will watch those teachers teach the children and see those light bulbs go on in their minds and seeing teachers put 3-year-olds in in groups and doing talk pair share. Turn to your partner and tell them one thing you love you know about and then they then you tell them your favorite animal and talk about it and share. You see students look at each other and talk, it just it just it's amazing. It's amazing the feeling you got that we're in the right direction.
Michael Wilkinson
That's very beautiful. In a way in a way there are there are very few people I know that would do their job for free or parts of the I mean, some parts of their job for free. So, it's wonderful to see how much you really love what you do and it makes sense why you love what you do. It sounds like a very beautiful thing to kind of experience that full circle. You started with joking about like work-life balance and work-work balance. But I will kind of go into the work-life balance a little bit. How you know how is your work life balance and what tools and like strategies have you found to maintain whatever work life balance that you can make?
Hiea Mizyed
I'm probably the worst person you can ask about this because I don't think I'm good at it, right? Because I love my children so much and I never think I give them enough time, but some of the strategies I do. For example, I love to be the one to make dinner every day, so I try to make an effort to be the one to make the dinner even if we don't all sit together, but I'm the one that cooked that day. Right so I try to bring this all to the table as much as I can. And talk about you know what they've done that day and where they are. But it's really kind of making conscious decisions that when you get home after 6:00 PM, you're not going to answer any you know, work, emails or respond to any students you know. I always told my students we don't work in in an environment that's an emergency, like we don't need to. I'm not in healthcare, so I'm nothing is really an emergency when it comes to education at 6:00 PM. So, if I don't answer you, forgive me. I'm with family. I'm doing, you know my own thing, so it's making that conscious effort to know that you're not going to pick up the phone or return an e-mail at that moment and then it's, you know making sure that you are you have a routine of things that you do. So I love following the calm app by Tamara Love. It was something actually that was introduced to me at Johns Hopkins and I absolutely love it and I don't let go of it. I give myself, you know those 10 minutes and it makes such a difference. And journaling is another strategy that I have. So, when you're really writing down your thoughts and you're really going through and being vulnerable even with that, you know, I find that you're definitely going to feel better and go back to work the next day more rejuvenated, you know you're ready to give back. You don't feel that burnout that a lot of people do feel because they're not drawing that red line between work and home, and so sometimes giving less is more if I can say it like that.
Michael Wilkinson
Yeah, absolutely. As a TA I fully sympathize with that. I would have students e-mail me at like 2:00 AM. And it's like, OK. This is like sometimes I wasn't as good at boundaries as you are, but I'm like some lines have to be drawn. Like maybe not after like 10 PM, I'm not gonna your e-mail. But 6:00 PM's much more reasonable.
Hiea Mizyed
And I'm not going to say I'm good, I'm good at what I'm even saying that that's what you know I aspire to. But I do give in sometimes I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not going to lie, I do give in sometimes. And you know, but I really try to remember. And so, because you know, at the end of the day you, you know we all know that if you do spend less time at certain things and more time at others, you're going to be healthier and happier. You need to give yourself self-care and if you don’t, you're going to see the impact that it's going to have on your life later on.
Michael Wilkinson
Yeah, yeah these are very important lessons that you're telling us. What do you think kind of along that line of thought, what do you think is like the most important lesson that you've learned over your career at this point? Besides, you know just some of these like mental health and like work-life balance things that we've been talking about.
Hiea Mizyed
I, I think it would have to be and that's—a very good question. I think it would have to be to love what you do, to be passionate about what you do. I think that's what drives people. I remember even when we were in a residency at Hopkins and some of the students were my colleagues were talking about their research and I remember saying the same thing. You need a topic that's going to drive you, and that's going to get you through and so you have to be passionate about it. And I think the same for your job. You have to do something you're so adept at that you go to work and it's fun. And you enjoy it, because that's what takes you back and you're going to have challenges and you know going to have those ups and downs and life is not perfect, you know, and you know just being alive means in some way or form to suffer. So there there's going to be challenges thrown at you, but if you do what you love, I think you can get through those challenges.
Michael Wilkinson
So, they are very wonderful pieces of life advice that I know a lot of us can aspire to follow. So, we're running a little bit close on time, so I'll wrap it up with this last question here. So, what inspires you right now and just what you do in life and everything? But one of them what inspires you?
Hiea Mizyed
For me, I would have to say it's not, it's not a person. I think it's the what that inspires me. So, it's seeing people overcome or succeed at the face of adversity. I think that's what inspires me. When I hear a great story about somebody who had gone through something in their life but still achieved, that really is so even though someone's action at one point that was the case, and they inspired me, I don't use their name as the person who inspired me. It's really the situation that occurred and how they came over that situation and how they succeeded that inspires me, so it's kind of like resilience. You know, you can't say someone is resilient, but they were resilient at a certain time in a certain situation, and so kind of like that, so I get inspired by a certain action that someone took at a certain time in their life and that inspires me that they were able to overcome that. If you know able to succeed even at the face of that adversity.
Michael Wilkinson
Wonderful, I think that's a beautiful way to wrap this up. Thank you so much for your time. It was an absolute pleasure talking to you. Thank you for joining us here.
Hiea Mizyed
Pleasure is all mine. Thank you so much Michael. It's wonderful to meet you and then to do this podcast with you and thank you for JHU for inviting me to something like this. It's my absolute pleasure.