Beyond the Classroom: The Lasting Legacy of a Great Teacher | S1E12

What if one small moment could change the way you lead forever? This episode of The Ripple Effect of a Teacher begins with Rebecca Johnson’s first C in sixth grade — and the teacher who refused to reward autopilot. That single moment set off a lifetime of purpose, reminding her that growth begins when someone believes you can do better.

From those early lessons in accountability and belonging, Rebecca built a philosophy that still shapes her work today. As an educator turned business leader, she’s carried the same principles — empathy, consistency, and community — into every classroom, boardroom, and company she’s touched. Her story reveals how structure and care aren’t opposites; they’re partners in transformation.

We talk about what it really means to give students — and people — a voice, to create belonging in spaces where disconnection has become the norm, and to rebuild trust through conversation, not control. Rebecca also shares how she now leads a company that helps seniors age with dignity, continuing the same mission she started as a teacher: to make every person feel seen, capable, and valued.

If you’ve ever doubted the long-term impact of your work, this episode is your reminder — the calm you bring, the boundaries you hold, and the belief you extend ripple far beyond your classroom or your business. Connection is the legacy.

Step into growth and purpose! Discover my books and resources designed to help you lead, learn, and live with impact.

✨ Click here: https://t-sml.mtrbio.com/public/smartlink/toolsforsuccess

//About

Cathy Tooley is the Founder & CEO of Tools for Success and a seasoned educator with over 40 years in K–12 classrooms and school leadership. From high school teacher to principal, Cathy has dedicated her life to supporting educators. In 2014, she launched Tools for Success to provide real, in-person instructional coaching—not just “PD in a box.” She’s the author of The Education System Is Broken, a national speaker, and a fierce advocate for teachers. Through this podcast, she’s spotlighting the ripple effect of great teaching.
🔗 Website | YouTube | Facebook | LinkedIn

Transcript

Setting The Stage: Teacher Legacies

Rebecca Johnson 0:00

In sixth grade, I had a history teacher who saw my um promise and he saw I was phoning it in. And he gave me my first seat, and I was so mad at him that I stomped up there and I said, How did I get a C? I have all the answers right. I did everything that you told me to do. He said, Because I can tell you you didn't try. And I want you to remember what it feels like to get a seat.

Cathy Tooley 0:26

I say this all the time. I wished that so many of the lessons that we teach in school every day. Like, I don't have to agree with you. That's okay. Right. But what we do have to do is figure out a way that we can work together. I sometimes wonder where do we lose that? I think, especially with the whole mobile phones and being online, and you know, people just aren't interacting with people as much as they used to be. I can remember a parent saying to me, an exact quote, I don't know what you want me to do. She has her video game

Rebecca’s Path And Rollercoaster RIF

Cathy Tooley 1:00

and stays up till midnight or one o'clock and plays it. And I said, without even thinking, turn it off? Take it away? And before I knew it, she went to my principal, and my principal came to me and said, You can't tell him that. And I thought, I can't say what's logical. That is the world we live in. You and I can't change that. But what would you say to those teachers that are in those trenches, living those worlds?

Rebecca Johnson 1:19

So two things. Uh, the first thing is you matter. Um, you are having an impact. Do what you need to do to take care of yourself, but keep coming back every day because your kids need you. And the second thing is don't assume just because you can't get a hold of a parent that they don't care.

Cathy Tooley 1:39

Hi, everybody, Cathy Tooley. So glad to have you join us today on today's um podcast where we're continuing the series of the ripple effect of a teacher. Today I am joined with the, the one, the only, the Rebecca Johnson. Moment of applause. Moment of applause. Um, so I want to hit a couple of highlights on her uh bio that I like. 15 years in education. I love to speak with other people who have lived in the trenches like I have. Not to say that I don't respect a teacher that's been out there for years, so please don't send me a nasty email. I didn't say that. But I love to talk to people that have, you know, we've got some dirt on us. Right. We got some mud under the fingernails, buddy. We have had that. Um, she spent time as an instructional coach, an assistant principal, a teacher, and then ultimately a principal. I love this, and I wanted to interrupt me, as we talked about before, that she got teacher of the year.

Rebecca Johnson 2:30

Yes, so I was uh awarded teacher of the year the same day as I got my RIF noted. So, yeah,

The First C And Effort’s Value

Rebecca Johnson 2:38

talk about a roller coaster.

Cathy Tooley 2:40

I just so ri RIF, for those of you that don't know, reduction in force. So she was laid off. Now she got to finish out the school year. That's the way it goes on.

Rebecca Johnson 2:47

And I was I was also hired back by the same district in the same year by the end of the year.

Cathy Tooley 2:52

But but let's just highest of high to get a teacher of the year is a pretty big deal. Yeah. It's a pretty big deal. And then to be riffed in the same day is an emotional roller coaster. It it just took all the joy away from a teacher of a year.

Rebecca Johnson 3:05

It did.

Cathy Tooley 3:06

A teacher of a year. So thank you for being with us. Thank you. Thank you. So we're what we're gonna talk about today is um really about the legacy that a teacher leaves. And really it's about how those small moments. We've talked about this on the podcast before that I mean, there's big catasclement moments that I that I certainly don't want to disrespect, those pivotal big, big, big moments. But that's not really what education is. It's the we were saying this off camera a minute ago, it's the two o'clock on a Tuesday. Right. It's the Monday when it's snowing and nobody wants to be here moment. Yeah. So do me a favor and tell me a story about a teacher who made a lasting impact on you.

Rebecca Johnson 3:48

So um, the first time I ever got a C.

Cathy Tooley 3:52

Oh.

Rebecca Johnson 3:52

Yeah. So I was in sixth grade and I was one of those kids that didn't have to do much to get good grades. I'm not patting myself on the back, it's just how it is. School was easy for me. I have a semi-photographic memory. If things are in order, I can remember it exactly where it looks on the page in my brain. Um, so it's just one of those things that school was just really easy for me. And um in sixth grade, I had a uh history teacher who saw my um promise, and he saw I was phoning it in. Yeah, he saw that I wasn't putting energy in the way that I needed to. His name was Mr. Thompson,

Beyond Academics: Voice And Belonging

Rebecca Johnson 4:35

and um I wanted to have Mr. Thompson. I knew that he was this dynamic teacher and he had all of these wonderful things, and we were gonna get to do cool things like um dissect a pig and you know, all these things, like which is gross. But you know what I mean? Like these exciting things, and he would read stories and tell all these amazing, amazing things. And he gave me my first C, and I was so mad at him that I stomped up there and I said, How did I get a C? I have all the answers right. I did everything that you told me to do. He said, Because I can tell you didn't try. And I want you to remember what it feels like to get a C. And you know what? I that I mean, I'm 45 years old. That was back when I was 12. And I do, and I recognize that hard work matters, and even if I feel like I can do it, giving my best effort in everything that I do.

Cathy Tooley 5:32

And not phoning it in.

Rebecca Johnson 5:33

And not phoning it in.

Cathy Tooley 5:35

We've talked so much on this podcast how um it translates so much of those lessons into life. Can you imagine phoning in your marriage? Right. Or phoning in raising children, or phoning in being a teacher. Yeah, and had you not had that lesson, right, what you had learned up to that point was my minimal is good enough.

Rebecca Johnson 5:53

Yeah.

Cathy Tooley 5:54

Wow. Wow. So tell me how a teacher's influence like that can transcend way outside of the classroom.

Rebecca Johnson 6:06

Yeah, so I think I think of all of the many teachers that I worked with and especially that I supervised as an um instructional coach and a prince, assistant principal and principal. Um, and I just think of all of the life lessons that kids didn't even know they were learning. You know, they were teaching, I did, I was in elementary school. So, you know, we're not teaching these heavy life lessons like high school, you know. We're teaching how to read and how to whatever, but but we're teaching them how to persevere. We're teaching them how to regulate their emotions. Um, you know, we had I had a teacher who was an amazing um mentor for me, and she didn't even know it. I was I was the assistant principal and she was mentoring me and she didn't even know it. Um, she just helped instill joy into learning every day by just allowing kids to have a voice in their education.

Soft Skills, SEL, And Civility

Rebecca Johnson 7:00

She developed the system where kids would sit around in a circle and they would talk about their feelings and they would talk about the book and they would talk about how it could, how it could um, you know, apply to their lives. And just for them, these kids who are in an economically depressed area and they're outside of their school, their life is just chaos, and everything is out of their control, you know, where they live, who how they eat, where they eat, who all the things are completely outside of their control. But in her classroom, they had a voice and they were able to help express how they were feeling and make connections and learn and love and and feel valued and you know, all of that. And I just think about how much these kids learned as third graders, that they matter, their voice matters, and that's so much more than learning how to read and how to how to do math, and you know, all of that, those are important things, but to me, knowing that that we can impact a kid's idea of their power of their self and their power of their voice, their their whole identity, yeah. Yes.

Cathy Tooley 8:14

What is it that I read one time that we could write on the slate of their souls, yes, of who they are and who they're created to be. And when you think about that they're his children, and that we have such impact on literally creating their identity of the legacy of who they're going to be outside of that classroom.

Rebecca Johnson 8:36

It's it's absolutely and she didn't do anything great. I mean, she did some pretty phenomenal things. Sure. I will tell you. Sure. But this, what I'm talking about, is just the everyday culture of helping kids to understand that they matter, that their voice matters, that they have opinions and they have feelings.

Cathy Tooley 8:53

And that I don't have to agree with it, I don't have to like it. Right. But there's a respectful way, but I want to hear it.

Rebecca Johnson 8:59

Yeah. And if they disagreed, she would have them sit down and she would mediate a conversation. And I mean, just amazing. Just absolutely.

Cathy Tooley 9:06

Can you imagine? Okay, that just made me think. Can you imagine where politics might be today if we had taught people how to I don't I I say this all the time. I wished, I wished that so many of the lessons that we teach in school every day. Like, I don't have to agree with you. That's okay. Right. But what we do have to do is figure out a way that we can work together because we have a shared project, a shared grade, a shared assignment thing that we're having them do. I sometimes wonder where do we lose that?

Rebecca Johnson 9:36

I don't know.

Cathy Tooley 9:38

Because we have I like I watch our I watch people who just argue for the sake of arguing. And I think I know you sat in a classroom one day. I know you did. Well, I don't care if you're 50 or 60 or whatever, you at some point were five or six, like you didn't come out of your mother's womb at 60. Um and you were taught these lessons.

Rebecca Johnson 10:02

I don't know that they are always are though. And I will say I think especially with the whole mobile phones and being online and you know, we just aren't interacting

Tech, COVID, And Lost Connection

Rebecca Johnson 10:15

as people in a way that we used to. We're not taught how to really, you know, the keyboard warriors, we're not taught how to disagree respectfully. You know, people can do it in ways that are anonymous. I mean, I saw even the rise of that from the time I began teaching to when I got out of education, I saw a rise in that so much that, you know, people just aren't interacting with people as much as they used to be because they don't put phones down. They don't, they're not really taught how to, and even in schools, a lot of them are using devices now. And so they're not working together to do projects and they're not working together to do things, especially since COVID, you know, we're just not taught those some of those soft skills.

Cathy Tooley 11:02

I all of a sudden it hit me and I thought the the Lord placed on my heart if what if, what if that is our legacy as educators is to teach those soft skills.

Rebecca Johnson 11:13

Yeah.

Cathy Tooley 11:14

What a different world we would be.

Rebecca Johnson 11:16

Well, and I think you probably I'm I'm preaching to the choir here. But um, you know, that is one of the things that I think is the most um le the least appreciated thing about teachers is all the hats they wear.

Cathy Tooley 11:29

That's it.

Rebecca Johnson 11:30

You know, they wear that not only are we teaching them how to read and how to do math and history and science and all that, but we're also teaching them how to problem solve and we're teaching them how to um, you know, analyze. Analyze to we're also their moms some of the time. We're their nurse if they fall and get work, we're their social worker. Um, a lot of times we're working with the parents to navigate their lives outside of social media. So we have babies having babies, yeah. And so, you know, I mean, we have kids who literally just graduated or maybe they haven't even graduated and they've got kids, and so by the time they're coming in, you know, into first grade, they're maybe 24, 22.

Cathy Tooley 12:15

I know what I didn't know at 22.

Rebecca Johnson 12:17

Right, and so uh it's difficult because some

Rethinking Parents And Assumptions

Rebecca Johnson 12:20

of these kids didn't have a chance to even be teenagers, let alone parents, and so I don't know that they are learning those things.

Cathy Tooley 12:27

Yeah, I wrote a chapter in this book um titled The Spinning Cracking Plates of Teachers, where it talks exactly about that, the the the demands and what we're being asked to do. And and I I think that it's what makes it difficult to make our legacy so important. But I never really thought about until you and I are sitting here talking about this right now, that school is one of the last places where those soft skills like kindness and forgiveness and acceptance because hate is taught. Yeah, hate is taught. Look at it, look at small children playing together. Right, all they care is you toss me the ball. Yeah, the color of your skin, what your home looks like is irrelevant to me. Just toss me the ball because I want to play with the ball now. Yes, but somewhere along the line that changes.

Rebecca Johnson 13:23

And there's, you know, there's a lot of debate, and I'm not even gonna get into the politics and debate about things, but there's a lot of hate on the SEL stuff.

Cathy Tooley 13:31

Yeah, I don't understand. But I can't understand that.

Rebecca Johnson 13:34

I feel like that is so necessary. And when I was an administrator, I felt like it was so crucial because we're not taught. They're they weren't taught, and so this gave us a curriculum at least to address how to be kind, how to not bully, how to, you know, be a upstander instead of a bystander, how to be, you know, all of those things that how to do collaborative group work.

Cathy Tooley 13:57

You know, uh I got to see the other end. You know, you got to see them coming in, I got to see them going out. So we would interview employers a lot and colleges a lot to say, you know, we want to know what soft skills, and you know what we heard all the time. They don't know how to think, they don't know how to get along, they don't know how to problem solve. If they have a worker that they don't like, they know how to trash talk them and send a nasty text or an email, but they don't know how to work out the problems. And I remember thinking, but we did that, but we did that, but we taught them that. But but skills are just skills if they aren't used. Right. If I'm not, if I am not put in a situation that I have to speak to you, and as adults, as humans, we have to work this problem out because we have a job to do. Right. That I won't. And I I we just I I it makes me I wonder, I just wonder if that could be our legacy.

Rebecca Johnson 14:47

Yeah.

Cathy Tooley 14:48

If that could be our legacy.

Rebecca Johnson 14:50

And I know that this is a a podcast for educators, but I will tell you that as an employer now, yeah, I am having to work through that with my current employees, how to how to have a a disagreement with someone respectfully, how to understand how to calm down somebody that's upset,

What Teachers Need To Hear

Rebecca Johnson 15:10

how to navigate things and big feelings, all of those things.

Cathy Tooley 15:16

We've simply lost the ability to look a human in the eye and understand that you don't have to agree with me, but you're still a human. Right. I was saying to a good friend of mine, I have family we all do. Everybody has family members that you just don't argue with. Right. Because they have an inability to argue. Um and I don't mean argue as in arguing. I mean argue as in you have this opinion, I have this opinion, let me hear yours. Yeah, you hear mine. It's either you believe what I believe or you're stupid. Right. There's something wrong with you. Um and and we've we've got leaders now that take to social media, and our our our MO is name-calling and belittling, which is things we would have given detentions for, and they would have gotten in trouble for in school. I I I start to ask myself, I don't ever want to be one of those people that gets so old that you're like, well, back in my day, you know, I don't want to be one of those, well, back in my day when I was myself doing that. When the dinosaurs were bringing kids to school, but but you got in trouble at school. When I was in school, trust me, home was a way worse place. When that teacher called home, you'd wished you hadn't gone home. Right. And today, I mean, we have so many teachers they can't even reach a parent. And I can remember a parent saying to me, an exact quote, I was a high school teacher and student was sleeping a lot in class, and yes, I was calling home, what can I do? And she said, and I quote, I don't know what you want me to do. She has her video game and stays up till midnight or one o'clock and plays it. And I said, without even thinking, turn it off, take it away. And before I knew it, she went to my principal. My principal came to me and said, You can't tell them that. And I thought, I can't say what's logical.

Rebecca Johnson 17:02

Right.

Cathy Tooley 17:02

Like, where did a 14-year-old trump you? But it's like you said, if I was 20 when I had her, I don't even have the soft skills myself. So how, okay, so let's, so let's shit, boy, because we could, we could go there.

Rebecca Johnson 17:16

Right, we could.

Cathy Tooley 17:17

We could go there. But if you could tell teachers today, because they're getting those kids, they're getting those kids in their classrooms whose you know I read a study not that long ago that parents that that babies, they're doing studies on babies and they don't recognize face, like, you know, teaching them to smile or to like they don't recognize this. I know if I did this to you, you know I'm angry. Right. Or if I'm smiling, they don't recognize facial cues because parents' faces are in phones. And so they're not making that face like, oh no, no, no, no, like we would have, or that is the world we live in. You and I can't change that. Right. We, you know, we could sit here for the next 12 days and discuss why or how it is. But what would you say to those teachers that are in those trenches, living those worlds with those parents that may or may not be looking at? I mean, this isn't a podcast of trash talk parents. Right. I really believe that adults are doing the best they can. Right. Everyone is doing what they can do, muddling through today to make it to tomorrow. Right. There's a reason that the Lord says this

From Schools To Workplaces

Cathy Tooley 18:20

is not our home. Praise God. Right. Praise God. But um, so this is certainly not an attack on a parent who might be working six jobs and flat doesn't see them. Or but but it what it is is we still have to speak to these educators who are teaching them. What would you say to those teachers?

Rebecca Johnson 18:37

So two things. Uh the first thing is you matter. What you're doing, what you're doing matters. Um, you are having an impact. Don't give up, don't get tired. Um, do what you need to do to take care of yourself, but keep coming back every day because your kids need you. Um and the second thing is don't assume just because you can't get a hold of a parent that they don't care.

Cathy Tooley 19:02

Oh, absolutely.

Rebecca Johnson 19:03

Um, I think that that is really important to understand because um we don't know what's going on.

Cathy Tooley 19:09

No, we don't. You know, they might literally be working six jobs just to keep a roof over their head.

Rebecca Johnson 19:14

I mean, to be honest, um my that my children's teachers might think that I am a completely checked-out parent because when I was first, well, we adopted our kids, but when they first moved in with us, I was um an instructional coach, and then I was an assistant principal, and then I was a principal, and I'm running my own stuff, and so I can't make it to my kids' school stuff because it's when I'm working.

Cathy Tooley 19:41

And we're the worst at that, aren't we? It's terrible. You can't be at the parenter conferences and the back to school carnivals because we're at a school, right?

Rebecca Johnson 19:50

And um, you know, so I'm sure that they thought I was the worst parent in the world. And that's what I would say to all of my teachers. Do you think I'm a bad parent? Oh no, you're a wonderful mom. You're you do a great job with your kids. Um, well, I I haven't made it to a back to school night ever for my parents. And they're like, oh, so you just don't know what's going on in your parents' and your kids' lives. Um, the other part about that is if they're not working, maybe they had a really bad experience.

Parting Wisdom And Senior Care CTA

Cathy Tooley 20:20

I say that all the time.

Rebecca Johnson 20:21

And so you don't know how to do it. That coming through back through that door scares. It does because they don't know what to expect. They don't know whether they can trust you. They don't know if you have your best experience. But I will say that if you have a parent who is helping their kids come in with the best shoes, or that they come in and they're dressed every day, and maybe you can't get a hold of them, but they're wearing nice shoes, I will tell you that they care about their kids.

Cathy Tooley 20:49

You betcha.

Rebecca Johnson 20:50

They're just showing it in a way that's different than what you value.

Cathy Tooley 20:53

Than what you would.

Rebecca Johnson 20:54

And so just remember that. Remember that we all show our care and concern and love in different ways.

Cathy Tooley 21:01

Amen. Amen. And that as parents, we don't get to judge other parents. Correct. We get to love them, we get to support them. Yep. My dad used to say all the time you meet people where they are, where they are, and you take them to where they know they can be. That's what my company does.

Rebecca Johnson 21:13

We listen and we don't judge.

Cathy Tooley 21:15

That's right. We listen and we don't judge. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. An honor to have you here. Um, this has been so enlightening. I'm so glad that our paths got to cross. And I too. I know that they will cross again because the Lord has the way of making an intersection and roundabouts where we come back at each other's lives. But I I I know that you've stepped away from education and are running your own company. Is there anything you want to say about your company and about what you're doing that we can support you?

Rebecca Johnson 21:43

Sure. So we work to give our clients voice and choice on where and how they age. We help seniors to age in place as safely and independently as possible so they can stay home. And we also give resources and respite to our clients' families. Um, but I will say that um, yeah, so if you know of anyone who needs some help in their homes, or if you know a young person who maybe needs a little mentoring and a job, um, that is my other way that that the Lord is using my educator gift is helping people to learn how to be good employees.

Cathy Tooley 22:17

There is nothing like taking care of our aged. That's right. We are one of the only nations, I think, that does a really poor job at that. So I'm glad to see that there's someone out you that took an educator's heart to take care of his old, no differently than his young. And as someone who is getting a little closer to that, more by the day, right? I may keep your phone number. So thank you again. Thank you everybody for being with us um as we continue the series, and we look forward to seeing you on the next one.