At Verrado High School in Buckeye, Arizona, math teacher Renique Webster is turning her passion for mathematics into a lesson about perseverance. She believes the way students think about mistakes can shape their learning and their lives. Errors, she reminds her students, are not defeats but a component of education.
Ms Webster’s own path to teaching reinforced that belief, a story told by Kacey Sienko in the school’s student newspaper. During college, she discovered that even one semester without math left her missing it deeply. That absence made her realize that mathematics was more than a subject she liked. It was something she wanted to dedicate her career to. Now, after eight years at Verrado, she sees teaching as an opportunity to pass on not just equations but also resilience and confidence.
In her classroom, collaboration and communication are central. Students are encouraged to work in teams, share ideas, and openly talk through challenges. By shifting the focus away from right-or-wrong answers and toward the process of problem solving, Ms Webster creates a safe environment for students to learn from missteps. Persistence, she would say, is more important than instant achievement.
Her approach echoes psychologist Carol Dweck’s well-known research on the growth mindset. That’s the idea that intelligence and ability can be developed through effort, feedback, and practice. Dweck emphasizes that mistakes are not evidence of failure but opportunities to grow. Ms Webster embodies this philosophy by designing lessons tied to real-world experiences, from financial literacy to data analysis, that show math as a life tool rather than an abstract subject.
For her, the reward is seeing students embrace the mindset that effort matters more than perfection. She hopes they leave her classroom not only knowing math but also carrying the perseverance to tackle challenges far beyond school. The true lesson for this teacher is simple: If my students possess the strength to persist, analyze critically, and confront challenges directly, then I have fulfilled my role.
