Mike Johnston

Mike Johnston is an educator, poet, and author of You Are Poetry: How to See—and Grow—the Poet in Your Students and Yourself, an educational resource that helps teachers and students develop emotional literacy and recognize their own poetic voices. A middle school teacher and poetry educator, he is also a National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow, a champion slam poet, and an award‑winning spoken word artist, roles that inform his classroom practice and his approach to helping learners see themselves as poets.

Johnston identifies as a proud Indigenous public school teacher and land‑based learning specialist, and he has been featured as a TEDx speaker. His #YouArePoetry work has extended beyond the page into an international movement connecting students and teachers around the world through classroom poetry activities inspired by his book.