<<Announcer>> This program was made possible with the support rom Midland Education Foundation, Community National Bank, Diamondback Energy, ConocoPhillips, and Lissa Noel Wagner.

<<John>> Educators can make [music] a lasting impression on young minds.

It is someone they look up to.

Educators spend their career pouring into the next generation, hoping to connect and make a difference.

Public educators provide access to education for every child, regardless of ability, race, or socioeconomic status, which helps reduce educational disparities and foster social mobility.

They prepare the future workforce with critical skills and knowledge and training for careers in various fields, including Stem and trades.

A well-educated population leads to higher productivity and lower dependance on social services.

They also teach soft skills such as communication, resilience, teamwork, and critical thinking that are vital for navigating modern life and technological changes.

Teachers provide mentorship and guidance, helping students manage mental health challenges and develop social emotional competencies.

[intro music] - As our education system grows, so does the challenge of reaching students with learning disabilities.

Not all students learn through traditional methods.

Learning disabilities have a long history of scientific investigation starting in the early 1800s, but the formal field originated in the 1960s.

While early research focused on brain injury and dyslexia in the late 19th century, the term learning disabilities was officially coined by Doctor Samuel Kirk in 1963 to describe children with specific learning struggles.

The 1975 education for All Handicapped Children Act mandated free, appropriate public education for students with these disabilities.

Since the 1980s, research has shifted and focuses on using technology, early intervention and inclusion, with the term learning disabilities covering a wide range of developmental disorders.

<<Ashley>> My parents and I talked and I decided that I was going to do the alternative cert program and when that uh route, uh became certified and through that time, I was in, you know, I was subbing at schools and I always wanted to go into the special education classrooms.

Always.

And I think it was just they had a strength about them and a beauty.

And you would see these kids, and it's like, regardless of the challenges that life, you know, put in front of them, they were determined, you know, to put one step in front of the other and thrive.

<<Yvonne>> Um, it's been a blessing, I mean, our kids have learned skills.

Employment skills.

We don't teach that in the classroom.

It's academics that we teach in the classroom, and they don't necessarily learn how to communicate effectively.

Uh, customer service.

They don't learn those skills in a classroom in a book.

So this has been firsthand, you know, world, you know, real life practice.

So and that's what they need because that's where they're going.

Most of our students are going to go straight into the to the workforce.

So we need to train them to be prepared.

- We have an amazing partnership with Midland ISD and uh have amazing collaboration with our transition coordinator for the district, Yvonne Salazar.

Um we met we met with teachers, and we got a couple of carts.

Uh you know, developed a partnership with Black Rifle at that point in time.

Now we have uh, Fuel Bar as well, and we work to get coffee to headquarters and, um get it, you know, get our students there and learn how to work as a team and execute.

And they have done a phenomenal job.

- Seeing a student be successful, because that's the role of an educator.

Um, yes, you train them to whatever subject you're teaching.

You want them to want them to understand that subject, but it's that after that, um [smacks lips] I'll take I'll give you an example.

I have a student that I just saw yesterday because I was at our project search work site, and he was one of our first graduates from that program.

And he was sitting down on break, and I was walking through, and he always comes up and gives me a hug.

And he was just so excited to tell me that he was, in his words, banking, because he has this job that he's been employed for over a year at Midland Memorial with, you know, a competitive salary, a, um, retirement account and benefits.

And he said he was saving up to buy a car, which really was just a dream for him two years ago.

But now that dream is a reality.

[piano music] - The 2025 2026 school year, Midland ISD has grown to over 29,000 students, spread out over 40 campuses with over 3300 full time staff members.

By 2032, Midland ISD is expected to have close to 32,000 students.

Midland ISD navigates the students education through testing and intervention, offering accommodations that ensure the success of all students.

<<Dr.

Howard>> So, you know, we we always try to maintain the basics.

You know, there's there's been this tendency over the years for education to, to try to get away from the basics.

You know, we're going to go here versus there.

You know, so one of the things coming back in three years ago that we really had to do as a district is get back to the basics.

Uh, because you have to do that right before you can innovate.

And so, um you know, we're we're building that those foundations, we've gone back to structured literacy and phonics based instruction.

We now have consistent curriculum K through algebra one and math, um, and so we didn't have that three years ago.

And so I feel like we have a we're starting to have a solid foundation for the work, uh, we've been able to do some innovation even alongside that, because you kind of you can't just stop and do all the basics and put everything else aside.

Um, for example, we've launched robotics in all of our schools.

And so whether it doesn't matter where you go to school in Midland ISD, you have the opportunity to be exposed to robotics at our elementaries, um, our junior high is even competitive robotics.

Uh, we also launched um, A Plus Academics at our elementaries, and our junior highs.

So that's the UIL The University Interscholastic League academic component that we've had in the high schools for years, but never really had those opportunities for our students to come to compete in the younger years.

Um, so, you know, we brought those types of things in.

And then, of course, you know, when we go to our our secondary schools and we look at our CTE course offerings.

So much of that innovation just comes natural because it's part of the career clusters, part of the work that they do all the way through from that first class they take until they, you know, have that culminating class, their senior year.

Um, but as far as, you know, the, the A.I.

and and what's next out there, you know, that's one of the real challenges is trying to think so far ahead.

You know, we're preparing students and we've known this for years for a world we really don't know what looks like yet.

And so trying to have that that mixture of the basics and that mixture of that solid foundation, um, and then with the realization that if we teach students to be flexible and adaptable, and we teach students to be problem solvers, and we teach them to not be afraid of challenges and, and new opportunities, then, you know, that's going to be one of the best ways we can prepare them for the future.

Because, you know, if you'd have told us 15 years ago that AI, you know would be hitting students who graduated a couple of years ago, we might not have believed that.

And um we believe it now.

And we know it's here now and we're doing work around that.

Um, but it's just one that's just always evolving.

<<Wes>> I feel like I'm pretty decent with technology.

You know, my two directors, Amanda Lopez and Alfred Acosta So they they're they're a little younger than I am, and they're a lot better than I am.

And I'm getting to the point in the office where, you know, I'm all right.

I need you to take care of this because you're much better, and you're going to be a lot more efficient at doing this and at home same thing with my with my children.

Like, if it's has someone do my phone, I don't know what to do.

I just give it to my daughter.

Hey, will you do this for me?

And she'll fix whatever setting needs to be fixed.

And here we are.

And I don't even think.

I think sometimes, like, when I'm set myself up for failure later because she's not always going to be at home.

[soft music] <<Yessica>> I started teaching the year 1213 at Legacy High School.

<<Jazmin>> I was, uh teacher assistant I think 12 14.

I was there for two years.

I left for 4 to ECISD.

Then I came back Covid year.

The best year ever.

It was it was okay, um because I've always been very techie.

So whenever I came to the technology Google classroom, like, I, I had it down.

It was, uh the teaching, the coworkers that was, uh.

- Can you turn on the TV?

Can you see me?

Can you, I'm like, oh my gosh, no.

- I know my my kids during Covid um, they they were so excited because they didn't get to come back from spring break and they were like, hey, for another week.

And I was like, you all are excited.

I'm excited.

I get another week, like, because it's Sunday.

I'm like, I have a prep ready to I'm not ready to go back.

Um, and so then they gave us another week and then it was another week.

And the kids were like, I'm done.

Like, my mom wants me to clean.

My mom wants me to.

I need to see the real people.

And so um, I teach AP calculus.

And so we were getting ready for our, our test, and I said, I put up a poll, and I said, hey, do you want to meet or do you just want me to make videos?

And then you can watch them on their own?

And they said, no miss, we want to me.

And I'm like, okay, so we're going to meet at 10 a.m.

I don't remember what time it was, but I said, 10 a.m.

anybody that can make it, make it.

We're we're here, we're going to do calculus and we're going to thrive.

Um.

And so I just made the class to be 50 minutes like we had, um, and then after they're like, miss, don't go, don't go, miss.

And can we just stay here?

We're like, we'll work on the homework.

And so some of my Covid videos, um, that I still like, put out for my kids and say, hey, if you need help, like the first, just watch the first 50 minutes if you need help.

Ignore the next hour and a half because it's just everybody else.

Hey, what are you doing?

Are you playing?

Lalala.

And I'm like, I got to do stuff, guys.

And they're not miss.

No, because back in the day, we were the only ones that could open the chat room or whatever, and they closed it and I'm like, yo, somebody please tell me I have a meeting.

I can get off of this because the kids just needed that interaction.

And so now the kids see the videos and they're like, miss, what were you doing there for two hours?

And I was like, what?

My kids wanted it to be, and they just needed the like the school.

Even though that they say they hate school, they say they're never coming back to high school.

They do they do miss it and they do like it.

And it's just it's nice whenever they do want to have that safe space and take up all this stuff, and I'm like, I can do math for so long, but can we just out, cut it.

<<Courtney>> I when I think about what school was like for me, and then I have a 26 year old and what school was like for him.

And then when I walk the halls at Midland ISD and see what school is like now, it's so very different.

I mean, I almost would like to go back and do it over again.

I feel like these students are so much smarter.

They are learning so very differently than we learned all of the technology that they have at their fingertips to be able to do any of the Stem activities and experiments like they can do now.

We didn't do those types of things.

Um, it's it's exciting.

Um, it's a little scary, but I think that the way public education is now and how it's moved with the times and incorporated all of the technology that these students are so familiar with.

I mean, they they use it every single day, and they're not scared of it.

Um, at this will date me back at my college computer class was on MS-DOS.

We didn't even have windows.

Um, we didn't have a cell phone when I was in college, much less high school or middle school.

So I think there's there's some advantages, of course.

And then, you know, the disadvantages of having so much at your fingertips and then especially with the invention of ChatGPT and things like that.

But I do think there's so much of a creative outlet for students, so many different ways for students to learn.

Especially, I felt like we all learned the same way when I was growing up, and even when my child was in public education, everybody sat down.

You had papers, you had a pencil, and now students can learn the way they learn.

It's so much more adaptable.

And I think that just gives students opportunities that may not have been there in the past.

Students that maybe have dyslexia or sensory processing disorder, ADHD, there's so many different things that the public education system does such a good job at ensuring that those students have the same opportunities and learning opportunities that we didn't have when I was growing up.

So I think that's a great way that education has changed.

<<Wes>> Yeah, you know, teaching has changed somewhat in that what's being delivered and how it's delivered is different.

And so that's a challenge.

You know, we've fortunately we've got two educated parents in our home.

Not every home is like that.

And I think that's important that our, you know, our educators remember that.

You know, that they're not kids aren't always going home to folks that can help with homework.

And quite frankly, there's things that, you know, I've got I've I have a bonus, baby.

We have a bonus baby.

It's a third grader.

And so we're starting all over.

Um, but it's even from when my kids were at Carver the first time to now, my ten years later, my son's at Carver now, and the second go around, it's different.

Um, but I think that, um parents have to do what they can and to, to try to stay up with that because that's, that's the that's the way it goes and that's the way education's moving.

And it's not like you said earlier, it's not going to come.

It's not going to move backwards.

Um, I think that our school, this does a great job of trying to inform and offer opportunities for, um our Midland ISD parents to become, quote unquote educated in how to help.

How can you help your student at home and and so as a parent, that's we try to stay engaged and try to make sure we're doing our best to to assist.

[soft piano music] Trying trying to instill in our kids that education is not a punishment, that it is um, trying to help them, like learning, maybe even love learning.

You've got a you've got a piqued your interest.

<<Janet>> Well, I decided I better have a degree.

I was married and, I didn't go to college, and so I thought I better go, but I expect them to go.

So I did, and I thought I would get a certified in education, but I probably would go back in the sales because I didn't really think I would like it.

And I love it.

And I like to see the success of the kids who maybe they don't like reading when they come into the classroom.

By the end of the year, they show an interest in it.

They like it.

I like to read Hatchet Freak the Mighty.

I think in some ways they can relate, especially the boys.

If there's a boy character, then they can really relate.

We just did Summer of Mary Poses in, um kind of setting is on the border between Mexico and Texas, and that was a big hit here.

And I have to respect them and they have to respect me.

It's I think it's just all about building a relationship with them.

Relationship before content.

I think.

<<Luke>> Yes, elementary has always helped.

It set me up with the basic knowledge to help me learn how to do stuff in the future.

I really like math in third grade.

I've also was like science.

One of my favorite science teachers was Mr.

Monty in fourth grade and then Miss Seidel in sixth grade.

My current teacher for neuroscience, Miss Whitefield, is one of my favorite teachers at the school.

I like neuroscience so much.

It's like an advanced science.

It's, we're studying brains and how different brains across different species work.

And especially in humans, too.

There are different classes that you take each year, and it's like a pathway.

But science is one of those things we have.

When you look at science, natural science especially, it's intriguing.

You know, why does this happen?

Why does this happen?

It's stuff that happens around us all the time that you can use to help pique their interest.

Well, and so once they get a little bit older, if they've if they've kind of developed this intrigue for natural science, it plays well into mathematics.

Because a lot of what happens in science, you can kind of prove with mathematics.

- One of the great things about introduce a girl to Engineering Day is that females get to come and do hands on activities, and they get to have maybe their first interest in Stem.

And the great thing about that is they're interested in it, and then they're choosing their pathway for high school so they can say, that's what I want to do.

I want to be able to make a difference, and they can have a fantastic career here at home.

They never have to move if they don't want to.

Um.

This West Texas is home for me, so I don't want to move any place either.

This is home so students can get a degree in science, technology, engineering and math.

Stay here and have a fantastic career and know that not only are they making a difference in their community, but they're helping bring energy globally to the entire world.

And to tell a sixth, seventh, or eighth grade girl, hey, you know, if you did this, we had so much fun today.

Think about what you could do in the future.

And it's it's mind blowing when you see the light bulb go off and they're like, oh, I can do that.

You know, like you can do that.

And we helped make that happen.

[soft music] <<Conrad>> Neighborhood schools are great for any community because I think it revitalizes the community.

It allows, uh, kids to to just mingle.

And it gives you a pride of, gives you an idea of a mini Midland.

This is Midland Emerson.

This is Midland so and so and I think a lot of times the the neighbors kind of adopt the schools and become active in those schools.

So neighborhood schools are great.

Yeah, um I have so I'm one of those that tries to make sporting events.

Right.

And it's it's like one of those videos you watch where it says showing up matters.

You know, the little kid looking for his parents in the crowd, like, like Ill cheer on a socce game is basketball, volleyball.

And and you run into a lot of the same people, people that have graduated that don't even have kids at school anymore, um.

There's something about the sports and and the band and the dance team.

They all come together, um, it brings teachers together.

It brings parents together.

I've built relationships with parents that to this day, I still get emails updating me on the success of their kiddo.

You know that he's still in engineering school, and, and um it brings a lot of people together.

It really does.

<<Mary Ann>> Family support is, sort of um a 2 edged street.

Right?

So if I had it was a family in MISD right now, I would want to make sure I'm signed up for the newsletters.

Am I enrolled in the PTA?

Because the only way that you can garner the support of the organization, MISD is if you're allowing them to support you.

Right?

So I think as a first step, as a, as a citizen, even if you don't have a kid in that school, sign up for the PTA of your neighborhood school, figure out what they need, become a volunteer in your neighborhood school.

Um, and I promise you will start to see amazing things that you just need to show that you are open to that avenue of information.

<<Ashlee>> So I do a lot with Diamondback.

I really believe in their mission.

Um, their three steps of, you know, you're going to struggle and then you're going to succeed.

But then once you succeed, you've got to give back.

And I um, so actually, just today, we um, three days since we were doing it's called Career Connections, and we're doing a mentorship with kids, and we have a motley crew.

We've got the top of the class and then I have kids that don't even know if they want to go to college or not in there.

And, um they're getting the opportunities to meet with professionals.

And the professionals are taking their lunch hour to mentor the kids, which is beautiful.

And you know, that they've they've only met 1 or 2 times, but they just hit it off because once again, it's Midland and they they're good humans.

In fact, one of the kids, it makes you one of that, one of the kids.

Let me rephrase that.

One of the volunteers was one of my kids.

And yes, he made his I think he's 30 something now, but he's still my kid.

And so he walks in, he's like, huh I know this place.

[laughs] That's like, yeah, so but it's so fun and so cool to get to be able to experience those things over.

- You know, I I think we have such a supportive community and you don't realize that until you leave.

Um, it's not everywhere that you have the, um the business community, the philanthropy, um that's out there, the nonprofits that just really get behind and support, uh, the big thing is, you know, that that pressure and support, you know, we we know the expectations are high.

There's no one that's going to have higher expectations for our work than I do.

Um but knowing that with that pressure, we have to have the support to do the work, we have to have the support to, to make the changes that are necessary.

Because, you know, what we were doing in many cases wasn't working.

And so when we make those changes, when we begin those improvements, um, not everybody loves that.

And uh we have to know that there's going to be some hard decisions to be made.

And, and sometimes we have to make decisions that aren't popular for everyone, but it is what's right for kids.

<<Todd>> One thing my grandfather had told my dad, and then it's been passed on to me.

He goes, show me a community with a strong public school system and I will show you a thriving community.

He knows as a businessman in this town, you need to support your local school system.

So any bonds or anything like that that you ever see come up that is supporting public schools, you need to get behind.

And that was something my grandfather told my dad, and my dad passed on to me.

And it's and, we take it very seriously because, you know, we have over 250 employees, and I'm not exaggerating when I say probably 90% of those employees are graduates of MISD.

- The top focus area ranked is education.

Below that is health care, quality of place.

And then um, human services.

The moniker of the Scharbauer Foundation is to make Midland a better place to live and have a business.

So when you think about what you need in order to make Midland a better place to live and have a business, education is naturally the top of it because you need an educated citizenry in order to make it a thriving place to live, but also to run a business.

You need well-educated people.

And so it's sort of a natural progression that education would be the top focus area.

- Every adult that goes into education needs is a mindset of being open to collaboration.

- Obviously you have bad days and you just remember, well, we this student was on a second grade level and today he accomplished and moved up to a third grade level.

Even though we're in the sixth grade you know, it's their accomplishments and it makes you feel proud and it makes you feel like you know you.

That's why you're there.

- Because we have such individual humans as teachers, and none of them fit a certain mold, um that it allows for them to find students that need a place.

<<Barbara>> It's been exciting because I came from a different area where you had to be able to encourage that kid and trick him into thinking that this is the best place in the world to be.

- We have one teacher.

He brings his guitar.

He didn't get paid extra for this.

He brings his guitar and he has a group of kids that come in and play guitar with him at lunch.

Like there, there's so many good humans that do good things, that love kids that just don't, people don't get to see.

- That's why school is important You find out what you can and what you cannot do, and what you really do need to focus on to help you.

- Educators are the backbone to any school district they tirelessly pour into the next generation, put in long hours, and go above and beyond the classroom.

They get to know their students and treat them like their own.

Teachers enhance the classroom experience by supplying items for the students out of their own pocket.

They learn names and personalities quickly and connect with students to understand the different learning styles.

The teachers and staff at the Midland ISD are unsung heroes who show up every day ready to put in the work so that the next generation is set up for success.

They don't do this for themselves.

Working in education is a calling that only a few can accomplish, and we have some of the best.

Join us next time as we continue Teaching for Tomorrow.

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