Johnny Moya: From Tutor to Teacher

Johnny Moya may not have had a traditional start in teaching, but he has always been driven to help others learn. You could say educating the next generation is a through line of his entire working career. At first glance, you might not realize just how much experience he has in education. But behind the collared shirts and professional demeanor, you begin to see a quiet confidence that comes from decades of teaching, learning, and helping students understand difficult subjects.

At 18, with support from a college professor, he helped start a small learning center in Clear Lake, Texas. The business eventually grew to seven locations across the state. For more than 20 years, Johnny continued working with students ranging from kindergarten through high school and even college-level coursework, often teaching himself math and science topics by reading textbooks, taking notes, completing the homework himself, and learning the material well enough to teach it back.

By age 21, Johnny was faced with a decision. He could continue working toward a college degree, potentially take on debt and eventually search for a job, or he could continue running the successful business he had already built. He chose the business.

At the time, the decision made sense. Johnny already had the skills he needed to do work he enjoyed, and he was making a good living doing it. Why, he wondered, did he need to go to school for someone to teach him how to use skills he was already using every day?

Then COVID-19 changed the business he had spent decades building, and eventually a competitor approached him with an offer to purchase his existing clients if Johnny agreed to step away.

Around the same time, Johnny’s father passed away. He always wanted Johnny to return to school and, eventually, earn a Ph.D. in mathematics. The timing seemed surreal. Hutto ISD had just called and invited him to learn more about its teacher apprenticeship pathway. Through its work with Reach University and edwell, Hutto ISD was helping to support aspiring teachers as they gained classroom experience while working toward certification. Reach provided the Apprenticeship Degree and teacher preparation, while Edwell helped support the registered apprenticeship experience in the field.

The idea was simple: Johnny could continue doing what he loved while working toward his degree. So, despite his skepticism, Johnny enrolled in the program. “I originally went into the program thinking, ' What am I still going to learn in this program?” Johnny said. “I’m not going to learn anything. I’m just going to teach.” After decades of working with students, Johnny already knew how to explain difficult concepts. But class by class, he began to realize there were parts of the profession he had not experienced in the same way before.

Those gaps included planning, classroom management, student behavior, and curriculum development. Johnny began to see a difference between knowing how to teach someone a subject and being prepared for everything that comes with leading a classroom.

His perspective on teacher preparation began to change. As Johnny continued to pursue his Apprenticeship Degree, he took on significant classroom responsibilities at Hutto, from planning and meetings to supporting the day-to-day work that comes with serving students. “Students started to recognize me. Principals started to recognize me. And they were just like, ‘Johnny, you can teach.’ I’m like, ‘Yes, I can.’” He said, grinning.

He also came to believe in the preparation itself.

Johnny has now graduated from Reach University, passed the TExES Mathematics 7-12 exam, and accepted a full-time position teaching Geometry and Algebra II at Hutto High School. For someone who has spent most of his life learning, graduation was never going to be the end.

He is now preparing his classroom for the upcoming school year while studying for the PPR exam and independently preparing for the GRE Mathematics Subject Test.

His next goal is graduate school. One day, he hopes that path could lead to a Ph.D. in Pure Mathematics and perhaps even a college classroom of his own, teaching subjects like Differential Equations or Complex Analysis.

More than 20 years ago, Johnny decided he did not need to step away from the work he loved to continue learning.  Today, the work and the learning are still happening side by side.