From West Virginia to California, thousands of teachers have taken to the streets in the past two years to demand changes from their school districts. Pay increases, smaller classes and more resources for schools are just some of the demands that united educators across the country.

But for many teachers, the picket line took an emotional toll, even if they did reach a compromise with their districts. Writers Alex Neason and Emmanuel Felton profiled 10 teachers across four states about their thoughts on the protests for California Sunday Magazine. They spoke with Marketplace’s Kimberly Adams about the lessons these teachers shared with them.

“There’s one teacher in Denver, Christina Medina, and part of her preparation for the walkout there involved making some of her favorite dishes. She made burritos, for example, and froze all of them,” Neason said. She kept them in glass containers in her freezer and this is basically how she saved money to make sure that she could do things like pay her mortgage.”