With season three of Abbott Elementary back into full gear, I have been thinking a lot about the character growth of our fave, Janine Teagues. As an audience, we met Janine as the wide-eyed, eager new teacher with lots of ideas and little experience. She wanted to change lives in the same school system she grew up in. It was a noble undertaking, but not without lots of hard, necessary lessons along the way. Nonetheless, Janine’s character reflects the experiences of Black women teachers across the country.

Niecy Tates, who is in her third year of teaching 11th and 12th grade Math in Baltimore City schools, has also found herself in the same school system she is a product of. Tates comes from a long line of educators, but teaching was not on her immediate agenda. In college, she majored in computer science. It wasn’t until serving as a summer camp teacher as part of a program with the National Society of Black Engineers that she realized, like many in her family, she’d been bit by the teaching bug, too.

“I was able to go to DC and work in a school and mentor at an all-girls camp in engineering and science curriculums. And I had a great time. I loved it. And that is what really made me realize, well, maybe I do like teaching.”

As a Black Math teacher, Tates has to contend with the complicated disconnect between Black students and Mathematics. Some of that disconnect might be by design, particularly as it pertains to achievement gaps in reading and math that disproportionately impact Black students. Tates, however, is working to change the narrative.

“I instill in my students that, ‘hey, this is not something that you can’t do, it’s just something that you’ve been told that you can’t do.’ And if we start to see math as not this thing that we need to learn, but as a tool, maybe we can break down those barriers and we could see more of our students, especially young Black youth from Baltimore specifically, interested in these STEM programs or STEM jobs . . . I have [created a] positive growth mindset environment in my classroom, ‘no, it’s not that you can’t do it, you can’t do it yet.”

When it comes to shifting narratives of Black students and their capabilities, Areial Thomas, a first-year ninth grade English teacher in Jackson, Mississippi is bringing her passion for storytelling into the classroom. This is no easy feat being that Thomas is teaching in a state that has been at the center of several book bans targeting Black and LGBT+ authors. This makes her mission as an educator more pertinent than ever.

“I do believe in the power of the pen and the power of authorship. And when I say that, I don’t just mean students writing, but I do mean them crafting their own narrative and their own journey through life. So I do my best to introduce them to a wide variety of works.”

And while Thomas has been very intentional about affirming her students and their stories, she is still navigating first-year teacher woes. As she recalled her experience, I couldn’t help but think back to Janine in season one of Abbott Elementary trying to find her place among her veteran peers.

“As a first-year teacher, it can be discouraging, especially for me since I’m literally working with the teachers that taught me. I’ve had to remind myself why I started in the first place and know that while I may be different from the rest of my coworkers, I have something very special and very important to bring to the table.”

Abbott Elementary in no way represents the full experience of being a teacher, however, Janine Teagues does exemplify the drive and dedication of so many Black women educators. Both Tates and Thomas are testament to that. Despite being grossly underappreciated on the national level, they show up everyday creating a safe and affirming space for their students. And according to Thomas, where there is safety, there is also joy.

“Joy, I think, comes from being able to express yourself. . . I provide a safe space for my students, and they pretty much feel like they can show up as whoever they are inside of my classroom and I think that’s really important.”