Constance Jones

Alameda COE
ACOE Court & Community Schools
8th-12th Grade Speech and Language Pathologist

Constance Jones has been a licensed and credentialed speech language pathologist in California schools for 18 years. Working as the speech language pathologist in Alameda County Office of Education’s Court and Community Schools, Jones helps students develop strategies to improve language and communication skills that will support school and life successes. Her commitment to the students she serves drives her motivation to further develop skills by student observations and persistently researching techniques and strategies to give all students a voice. “I love to help support the process of my students becoming the best version of themselves and preparing them for life post-secondary college and career and life.” 

Jessica Kerber

Alameda USD
Encinal Jr/Sr High School
11th-12th Grade English

Jessica Kerber has taught English and Reading subjects at Encinal High School in Alameda for 18 years. Her English curriculum centers on the power of activism that focuses on mental health impacts of racism and trauma. Kerber is the sole National Honor Society teacher advisor on campus, she works closely with students who are a part of the club to initiate more community involvement in and around the school community. “The world changes every year, so you’re always changing the way you teach. I think that alone makes the teaching profession so engaging. You are the master of your little universe in that space. You get to choose what your world is, at least for a portion of the day.”

Claire Heppner 

Castro Valley USD
Castro Valley High School
9th-12th Grade Special Education

Claire Heppner didn’t take the orthodox path to teaching. Instead of finishing college right after high school, she had her family first. She returned to school in her mid-30s to finish her degree. After organizing events at her own children’s schools, she knew she wanted to become a teacher. She started as a substitute teacher, where she immediately gravitated toward special education. “I found my passion,” she said. Now a Special Education teacher at Castro Valley High School, her program Functional Life Skills, readies her students for the next steps in life. They learn everything from safety skills in the kitchen, to how to take care of laundry. “I want to make sure they are contributing members of society when they leave my program.” In her classroom, they focus solely around her students' specific individual needs.

Chelsie Avila

Dublin USD
John Green Elementary School
TK/K SDC Special Education

Chelsie Avila has been a Mild-Moderate Special Education Teacher at John Green Elementary for Dublin Unified School District for the past five years. Avila says her greatest achievement has been creating a strong partnership with parents and students, working together to create the best plan for their child. Believing in inclusivity and equity in education, her teaching philosophy is that all students have the right to learn and can do so with appropriate accomodations. “I love doing what I do. This population of students is wonderful and amazing in their own way,” she said. “I want kids to be the best they can be, and know that someone is always there for them.”

Heather Bystrom

Eden Area ROP
11th-12th Grade Medical Careers 1 and 2

Heather Bystrom teaches a two-year medical career program at Eden Area Regional Occupational Program, where students (juniors in high school) learn the clinical areas of medical assisting. She came into teaching because it “fell into her lap” after graduating from her own medical assisting course. She became a teaching assistant, and then saw an ad for the high school position. She didn’t consider herself a good high school student, but it took going to school to find something she was passionate about. “Sometimes it’s those students who realize they don’t want to be there, that end up loving the class and graduating at the top,” she said.

Kimberly Miller

Emery USD
Anna Yates Elemenentary
TK-8 English Language Development

Kimberley Miller’s path to teaching wasn’t direct. After college she found jobs that weren’t satisfying. But walking in San Francisco one day, she saw a flier for a teacher-educational credentialing program, and signed up. Now, she’s an English-language development teacher at Anna Yates Elementary School in Emeryville. She advocates for her students and works with them to find places where they can access the curriculum when they go back to working in the classroom with their classroom teachers. Since it may be difficult for the students new to the country, she keeps their interests at the forefront of the work they’re doing together and thinks of creative solutions to offer support. “I love working with students…Teaching is challenging and I really like the challenge of trying to create ways to reach students and do that in an efficient way that is understandable, where those sparks go off.”

Rachel Brown

Fremont USD
Mission San Jose Elementary School
4th Grade

Rachel Brown has been a teacher in elementary classrooms in Fremont Unified for 24 years. Her teaching philosophy is to create a learning environment of life-long learners who are resilient, self-motivated, and critical thinkers who know their value and how to treat others with dignity. Brown has developed a service learning curriculum for her students, believing that community connection is a key component to developing students who are civic-minded, involved, empathetic, and who have cultural competency. “I’m lucky enough to get to be a part of the life of a child and facilitate an experience that will set them on track to the future they deserve, the future that will allow them to be fully exploring their talents, and their gifts. For me.,it’s one of the greatest joys that there is.”

Paula "Janette" Johnson

Hayward USD
Bret Harte Middle School
7th-8th Grade English

Janette Johnson has been a middle school teacher for seventeen years and is currently serving as the department chair of English Language Arts at Bret Harte Middle School. She helped create and pilot the first middle school Puente Project Program. She works with the statewide Puente Project to learn and develop curriculum around language, identity, linguistic justice, and the challenges of A.I. in education. Johnson’s teaching philosophy is that great educators must continue to adapt, change, learn, and grow with their students' academic and social needs. “Everyday is different. Every year I can change up what I teach and how I teach it. It’s the most fun job. I have zero regrets for switching careers and choosing this one.”

Irene Lucero

Livermore Valley Joint USD
East Avenue Middle School
7th-8th Grade Spanish, AVID

Irene Lucero has been teaching for 9 years and in her current role as the Spanish, Avid elective teacher for 3 years.  She believes creating a strong classroom community is crucial to foster student learning. Lucero works with administrators and teachers from other subject areas to reflect on how to improve learning for all students of all abilities and backgrounds. In her Spanish class, students are able to connect the school to their community and family with the curriculum by interviewing a family member about their culture and how they identify. Lucero also teaches the AVID elective which helps students prepare students for college and careers by exposing them to career pathways and skills. “It was great teachers who shaped me to be the person I am today and I enjoy giving back. Even the littlest successes to the biggest successes, it really makes my day, it makes my year to see how students progress.”

Masiha Farooq

Mission Valley ROP
10th-12th Grade Biomedical Science

Masiha Farooq has taught Biomedical Science courses at Newark Memorial High School and Mission Valley Regional Occupational Program for eleven years. Her philosophy of teaching is to keep students engaged and excited about learning. As a career technical educator, Farooq creates lesson plans that help students in practicing both technical and soft skills that will help them achieve success in their professional journeys. “I strive to see those ‘ah-ha!’ moments. Those are the moments when students are getting the material, they’re engaged, they’re excited about learning. This is all the hard work, all the challenges teachers have, when you see those moments, it makes it all worth while.”

Leda Mares

New Haven USD
Searles Elementary School
3rd Grade

Leda Mares has taught grades 2 and 3 for 20 years and has held various leadership positions during that time. Her focus is on creating a classroom environment where students are respected and can have meaningful conversations and interactions. Mares uses various partnerships to help her students connect to the community and ensures that parents are also connected to their students’ learning. “I really want to make a difference in the lives of kids and in the lives of my community and I hope that’s what I’m doing everyday.”

Stephanie Schubert

Newark USD
Birch Grove Intermediate
Research Specialist Program Lead Teacher

Stephanie Schubert teaches 3^rd through 5^th grade Special Education students. Her students come to her for resource services, and she works with them to reach their goals, specifically in reading, writing and math. She knows each student who comes to her classroom has specific needs that impact their education.

Since she was little, her mom told her she would make a good teacher. But like anyone who doesn’t want to listen to what their parents tell them is good for them, she came to teaching in a roundabout way. After college, she held various jobs until working for a nonprofit organization that supported fundamentally disabled people. She met her husband, a special education teacher, who echoed what her mom said: she’d make a good special ed teacher. After having her own children, she became a paraeducator, then a resource teacher, and the rest is history. “I found my calling. I really enjoy these kids.”

Niesha Johnson

Oakland USD
Chabot Elementary School
3rd Grade

Niesha Johnson teaches 3rd grade at Chabot Elementary School and says teaching helps to keep her engaged as an everlasting learner. She started working in teaching part time in afterschool programs and quickly realized that teaching brought her joy. Going to work everyday was an enjoyable experience. In her classroom, Johnson centers her students on making students feel safe, seen and heard  so that they know they are valued. She appreciates that her students can participate in enriched learning experiences in Science, Technology, and “I am a teacher because I was born to be one. Teaching helps me engage as an everlasting learner.”

Sean Gleason

Oakland USD
Rusdale High School
9th-12th Grade English 4

Sean Gleason never thought he would be a teacher, since it was never a part of the plan. But after taking time off in college and diving into literature that helped him begin to think about education in a different way, he realized that teaching was the best way for him to change the system for the better. He is currently an English teacher at Rudsdale High School in Oakland and is involved in prisoner education, teaching creative writing and poetry. He education as an individualized experience and as a tool for empowering students. “I am a teacher because I strive to not contribute to harm. It is my way of advocating and supporting.”

Kevin Kiyoi

Pleasanton USD
Amador Valley High School
10th-12th Grade AP Computer Science, Cybersecurity

Kevin Kiyoi has been teaching for 26 years and has been in his current position for 7 years. Kiyoi teaches Cybersecurity and Computer Science to 9-12 grade students. He hopes his students are comfortable enough to work together in the classroom and to solve problems as a community. Since starting the program in 2015, Kiyoi has led the Computer Science Program at Amador Valley and seen its growth from 170 students to over 400 students in 2023. He’s done outreach to specific groups of students, African-American, Latinx, students with disabilities and female students, who have historically not been represented in computer science, in order to diversify programs and make the demographic indicative of the community. “I’m a teacher because I want to give back and let kids have every experience possible for them to be the best person that they could be.”

Lisa Wong

San Leandro USD
San Leandro High School
9th-12th Grade English Language Development

Lisa Wong has been a teacher for 38 years and has taught in San Leandro for over 25 years. In her 11th year of teaching, she began working with students in the English Language Development for newcomer and 9th grade students. Wong makes sure to see and hear her students as individuals and believes this is foundational to the work in the classroom. She works with students to learn content, skills and languages that help family, friends, and the community overall.  She also coaches the boys and girls volleyball teams at San Leandro High School. “Teaching is a wonderful way to show that you care,” she said. “I am a teacher because I am part of a community who cares, and wants to change the world.”

Joel Gonzales

San Lorenzo USD
Arroyo High School
9th-12th Grade Ethnic Studies

Joel Gonzales has taught for 18 years and currently teaches US History and Ethnic Studies at Arroyo High School. Teaching was an easy choice for him, as he began early on working in after school programs and as a camp counselor. He enjoys teaching Ethnic Studies because it allows students to see themselves in the curriculum, which he says is important to the learning process and brings more perspectives into the classroom. “I am honored to have chosen this path and to have the students that I have had.”

Randy Barnard

Tri-Valley ROP
Livermore High School
10th-12th Grade Auto Body Repair & Advanced Auto Body Repair

Randy Barnard became a teacher because he saw the need for more technicians in education. He began his career as an auto body technician for 20 years and then decided to become a teacher when an opportunity came up to teach in the Tri-Valley Regional Occupational Program at Livermore High School. His teaching style allows his students to have more engaged learning in outdoor settings which is where he sees the learning increase. He hopes that his students can take away problem-solving skills that will ultimately prepare them for getting a job in the future. “I hope that my classes will want to bring more people into the industry and build the love of working on cars to the students,” he said. “It makes a big difference.”