back to
school
The head
of her class
Costco member
selected as National
Teacher of the Year
By J. Rentilly
IT’S THE LAST FRIDAY of the school year, and
Rebecca Mieliwocki has spent almost an hour after
school consoling a tear-drenched seventh-grade stu-
dent who learned during lunchtime that her dog had
died. “She needed a place to cry,” says Mieliwocki, an
English teacher at Luther Burbank Middle School in
Burbank, California. “We all do sometimes.”
This type of individual care may sound unusual
in today’s results-oriented academic arena, where
data collected from rigorous statewide standardized
tests is the primary gauge for classroom success or
failure for many of the country’s 3. 9 million teach-
ers. But Mieliwocki, a rebel with a cause, sees things
a little differently.
“As a teacher, you’re not just responsible for
teaching a student math or science or English; you’re
responsible for safety, manners, values, attitude,
“I was totally geeking out,
having this totally
friendly, normal, parent-
to-parent conversation
with the leader of the
free world …”—Rebecca Mieliwocki
work habits, sportsmanship and compassion,” says
the 43-year-old Mieliwocki, who is married, with an
11-year-old son, and is the youngest daughter of two
public school educators. “If you expect kids to go on
the journey of paragraphing or figurative language
with you, then you have to see them as a whole per-
son. If they know you really see and respect them for
who they are, they’ll meet you halfway on the class-
room work, sometimes more.”
This devotion not only to academics, but to cre-
ating a nurturing environment for her 150 students
each year, explains in some small part why
Mieliwocki was named 2012 National Teacher of the
Year by the Council of Chief State School Officers,
an honor that included an April 24 visit to the White
House and an upcoming 12-month national tour,
guest-teaching in classrooms around the country.
JASON REED / REUTERS
In Mieliwocki’s 14 years of teaching, 10 of them
at Luther Burbank, she has collected a mantel full of
local and regional awards for her classroom accomplishments, before being nominated last fall by students, teachers, principals and school district
administrators for statewide recognition. From
there, she was considered with teachers from the 49
other states by a panel of educators, representing 15
national education organizations.
Now she’s rubbing elbows with President Barack
Obama—“I was totally geeking out, having this
totally friendly, normal, parent-to-parent conversation with the leader of the free world,” she laughs—
and visiting The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where the
jovial talk show host asked her to do a celebratory
boogie. “I hope they cut that out, because I have
zero moves on the dance floor,” Mieliwocki admits.
While it sounds as if Mieliwocki’s path to teaching was predestined, the truth is she resisted the call
for many years, working instead as a celebrity floral
arranger and textbook publisher. “I don’t know why
CONTINUED ON PAGE 45
AUGUST 2012 The Costco Connection 41
President Barack Obama
honors Rebecca Mieliwocki, a
seventh-grade English teacher
from Burbank, California, as
the 2012 Teacher of the Year
during a ceremony in the East
Room of the White House.
