From Psychology to Pedagogy: How Dr. Eddie Johns Found Empowerment in Teaching
| by Alex Skov
Changing careers or finding a way to meaningfully enhance your professional skills can be a big task. For people becoming teachers, it can involve unexpected turns and the realization that even with advanced degrees, there is always more to learn. For Dr. Eddie Johns, the journey to becoming a global educator and business owner highlights the power of dedication, continuous learning, and following your passion.
Before he even considered helping students grow as a teacher, Johns was building another career centered on supporting others — earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology as well as a master’s degree in clinical counseling from the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
With his training as a therapist, Johns initially applied his skills in higher education as a program coordinator for the LGBT student resource center at Penn State University. What began as a professional contract turned into something more when Johns met the person who would become his husband, a native of Thailand who was in the U.S. completing a PhD in plant biology.
When his husband’s scholarship required him return to Thailand to teach, Johns made the move with him, landing a role as a guidance counselor and student activities coordinator at Mahidol University International Demonstration School, where he would eventually become the director of student services and worked closely with the school’s director to help build the admissions infrastructure from the ground up. Naturally, this sparked an interest in building more experience by working at the classroom level as a teacher.
The Transition to International Teaching
After his time in Thailand, Johns moved to China to work as an English lecturer at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
Despite his success in administration and counseling, and even after earning a doctorate in organizational change and leadership from the University of Southern California, Johns faced a hurdle that many international educators encounter at some point: licensure.
“When I was working in China, to kind of expand my options — especially if I wanted to get into other international schools — I knew that I needed to eventually get my [teaching] license,” Johns said. “While I was searching for jobs, I think one of the things [I saw said], ‘You’re only going to be considered if you have your teacher’s license.’”
This wasn’t news to Johns. He had been aware of potentially needing official teaching certification when he became interested in classroom duties in Thailand. Even during his transition to living and working in China, Johns noted that “a lot of places wouldn’t even consider my application because I didn’t have a teacher’s license, even though I had experience, essentially.”
However, Johns’ job search also provided a solution to the licensure problem when one of the resources recommended Moreland University’s 9-month TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program as a way to earn the credential required for jobs at top-tier international schools. Another feature that made TEACH-NOW appealing was that Johns would be able to complete it 100% online through virtual classes, unlike the correspondence courses his friends were taking at the time.
The program’s flexibility also allowed Johns to complete his coursework while pursuing further teaching opportunities at the Hailiang Foreign Language School, whether he led classes in English and psychology.
“Because I was already teaching inside of the classroom, in terms of how [TEACH-NOW] helped my career, to be honest…it really allowed me to be very efficient and very effective,” Johns reflected.
Bridging Creativity with Structure
For Johns, who has ADHD, structure is vital. He describes structure as a “savior” in his life as it relates to daily duties. While he was already an innovative teacher who loved project-based learning, the foundational teaching concepts and formal pedagogical framework that TEACH-NOW provided empowered him to take his lessons to the next level. Concepts like “backward design,” objective writing, and assessment strategies gave Johns the tools to take his creative ideas and organize them more effectively.
Johns put these ideas to work in a unit titled “The Future of Housing,” creating an engaging series of assignments where high school students explored and reported on the current state of the housing market.
“I said to the students, ‘Okay, at the end of this unit, you folks are going to be real estate agents, and you’re going to research a house that’s on sale anywhere in the world, you’re going to understand the different factors of the house — how many rooms it has, where it’s located, the features of the neighborhood — and you’re going to develop a presentation …to [present to] your peers, as well as other faculty members,’” Johns explained. “I invited other teachers to kind of be judges and then I also invited their senior class to watch and give feedback. So it was taking something that could be a little bit boring, and [making] something that’s more innovative.”
It’s a strategy that paired the skills he already had with the new methods he was learning.
“Because I was already doing [creative, project-based lessons] before, the TEACH-NOW program allowed me to understand my thinking and be able to backtrack how I was doing it, and understand, what are the goals? What are the different parts that I’m kind of putting together?” Johns said.
This structured approach to creativity meant he was both teaching and engaging students while ensuring they met learning objectives and developing skills like teamwork and digital literacy.
Empowerment Through Education
Describing his experience as a Moreland candidate in one word, Johns called it “empowering.”
“[The TEACH-NOW program] allowed me to do what I wanted to do in a really thoughtful and structured way, to take everything that is inside my mind and then be able to do it inside of the classroom,” he said, “It provided the skills to allow me to reach the potential of being the best teacher that I could.”
This empowerment extended beyond the classroom, as well. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns applied his leadership skills to a project that helped his colleagues document their increased workload during their school’s pivot to remote learning. His efforts earned him high marks as part of a leadership project for TEACH-NOW, but more tangibly, they were an important step in advocating for faculty salaries at his school during a time of potential budget cuts.
“I don’t think anybody got their salary cut,” Johns recalled, “and I’d like to think that I helped them to be able to do that.”
Today, Johns has come full circle. He is now a faculty member and serves as the department chair for computer science-technology at Moreland University, where he guides new cohorts of teachers through the same program that shaped his practice. Johns also recently launched his own business that helps college students pursue study abroad opportunities in Thailand.
He credits the skills that he refined at Moreland — like organization, critical analysis, and differentiation — with helping him succeed.
“I think just knowing pedagogy, knowing the process of education, actually allows me to be good in many different things — not just being a teacher but also just being a good person, being a good organizer,” Johns said. “In my study abroad program I was able to put that together because of the skills that Moreland University provided to me, I am able to take a look at things with a critical eye. I’m able to…assess how our world is operating today to try to figure out the reasons why [things happen], similar to what we learned in the program in terms of differentiation, so I think it’s not only about teaching, but it also allows us to be better humans operating in society.”
Moreland University Supports Your Path to Teaching Empowerment
Johns’ career journey is proof of the dedication and entrepreneurial spirit found in classrooms across the world, and proof that adding a teaching license to your portfolio does more than check a box or fulfill a formality. Earning a U.S. teaching license provides the framework to have a positive impact on students’ lives and the credential to work anywhere in the world. Whether you are an aspiring teacher or an experienced professional looking to uplevel your skills, the right preparation is key.
Are you ready to open new doors in your teaching career? Learn more about how Moreland University can support you with our 100% online 9-month TEACH-NOW Teacher Certificate Preparation Program and 12-month master’s degree programs today. It takes less than 15 minutes to complete your free application.
