Mindy Barrett brings her years of experience teaching theater and public speaking to students across the globe.

Most teachers who do online instruction would probably agree that their biggest challenge is forming relationships with students. Mindy Barrett certainly feels that, particularly as she has pupils on two continents. She is Texas Tech K-12’s stateside high school theater arts instructor and the public speaking teacher for students in the Brazil partner schools.

This is Barrett’s fourth year teaching internationally but her 12th year with Texas Tech K-12. She recently retired from public education after 29 years, starting out teaching speech communications in Arlington in the 1990s and moving to Lubbock in the early 2000s, where she started teaching theater.

Barrett was attracted to Texas Tech K-12 through friends who were teaching for the distance learning school. She thought it would be a nice supplemental income while she was teaching in public schools full-time. 

“Also, I found it fascinating that kids at that time were able to do school this way,” Barrett said. “Remember, this was before many classes were online. This was before COVID. When I started out, I didn't even know there were international students. It was just really interesting to me that kids would do a distance learning or online program.”

When Barrett had the opportunity to travel to Brazil in December 2025, she was thrilled to make the trip. Unfortunately, the students were already on summer break, but she did get to visit face-to-face with teachers and administrators she had only met online. 

During the visit, they took videos of her with the teachers to share with the students when the semester begins. She would also like to set up Teams meetings and actually talk to the class.

“Just so they know that I'm a person, and not just some robot that grades things,” Barrett chuckled, “and that, you know, I have feelings and I care about them and that I want them to be successful. Because it’s important for them to know who I am, not just some stranger who’s grading their papers.”

Barrett also has tips for online learners – gleaned from her professional experience and from working from home herself. She encourages students to have a set schedule, wake up at the same time every day, and do their work. Just like in a brick-and-mortar school, have some structure.

“These are especially true for online students, because if you're just doing it when you feel like it, you're not going to get it done, because it's not easy,” she said, shaking her head. “Even teaching, doing my job from home, I set aside a certain amount of time during the day to do my Texas Tech work, and if I don’t, my ‘lazy’ takes over.”