Honoring Our Own - Oakland Unified School District

Teacher Quality AwardDANA GRAHAMPiedmont AvenueElementary SchoolHer principal says, “I can always depend on Dana.As a member of the school leadership team, shegenerously shares knowledge and ideas, works closelywith her 4th grade team teacher and sets an awesomeexample of organization skills and follow through.Her classroom is always neat and tidy; the studentsare always engaged and on task and are showing consistent improvement in mathand ELA scores. She accurately and faithfully follows all curricula; Si Swun himselfeven brought principals to see Ms. Graham teach his program. She is also theliaison for our after school program, helping teachers follow our pacing charts anduse data effectively. Ms. Graham’s extra dimension of love and concern expressesitself in praise, creation of leadership opportunities, and daily reinforcementof Piedmont ‘s college-bound culture.” Dana’s commitment to success for herstudents is truly The Oakland Way!ERIC CHORLEYWestlake Middle SchoolEric Chorley has been a dedicated career SpecialEducation teacher for over 20 years and is a valuedcolleague and member of the Westlake communityHe possesses a wealth of intervention strategies aswell as finely honed teaching technique; as a result,children flourish in his classroom. Special Educationcomes with a significant “caseload” responsibility,and Eric is exceptionally meticulous, organizedand yet still inspired in assessing, maintaining and implementing students’ IEPs.Eric is also the ultimate “team player” at Westlake; he gets to work before 6AMand prepares the teacher work room for the entire staff. He has also contributedmightily to the Westlake community as Secretary for Westlake’s SSC for manyyears. Eric’s consistent contributions to improve teaching, school and communityare truly The Oakland Way!LARK MATIS-RUFFNERWestlake Middle SchoolMs. Ruffner’s dedication to teaching and love oflaboratory science is inspiring and infectious for thestudents, who line up before and after school to makeup work, get extra tutoring, and help around the class.She has mentored 13 new science teachers in her timeat Westlake. Her parents often come to class just toparticipate in dissections! Ms. Ruffner is a whirlwindof individualized instruction and assistance in theclassroom—no student leaves the room with work incomplete, and no studenthas to wait long if they need help. The numbers of students who are placed intointernships, who decide they wish to pursue a science related career, and the testscores on benchmark exams speak for themselves. Ms. Ruffner is truly a teacherwho students remember for decades for her passion and caring, she is a teacher thatpositively impacts lives every day!LAURA HAYESOakland Technical HighLaura Hayes demonstrates she is The Oakland Wayin her tireless support of staff and students alike toensure student success. A highly effective instructor,her gift for establishing and holding fair policiesand clear boundaries create a coherent classroomatmosphere that encourages and facilitates studentfocus and engagement. Professional and actionoriented, Ms. Hayes collaborates closely withcolleagues, utilizing available data to identify the best instructional strategy andpractice to improve student outcomes. She works closely and patiently with allher students, meeting them at their ability level to maximize their understandingand help them achieve proficiency; additionally, she spends many hours outside ofthe instructional day to assist students, conducting after-school study assistancesessions, and serving additionally as the Intervention Specialist for Tech’s Algebrastudents.DAVID CAVENHorace Mann Elementary SchoolDavid Caven is everywhere at Horace Mann! Hearrives on campus at 7:30AM daily to set up yardequipment and is also there after school to monitordeparting students. As prep teacher, Mr. Cavenhas the special challenge of interacting with everystudent each week, but he knows all their names,can identify something positive about each one, andmakes a special effort to address their individualinterests during prep to maximize their engagement . A shrinking budget andlimited support staff render Mr. Caven an invaluable “go-to” behind-the-scenesstar at Mann; he never loses his sense of humor as he troubleshoots and repairs allequipment, helps with everything from furniture moving to extra yard duty, and isa generous and supportive presence to everyone on campus.CHRISTI CARPENTERUnited For Success AcademyChristi Carpenter truly has helped put the “Success”in United for Success! She arrives daily preparedto inspire, intrigue and sometimes just push eachstudent to go farther and achieve more than theythought they could. She livens lessons with teamwork and group projects and discussion, andregularly has her students self-reflect, to create andrevise their own learning goals. She makes heavyuse of formative and summative assessment data to plan her individual andgroup instruction, skillfully differentiating to meet the needs of all learners in herclassroom. Not content with providing a rich a classroom experience, she bringsEnglish studies to life through evening excursions to plays, movies, other culturalevents in the community. Her coach reports, “Christi is truly exceptional. I lovegoing into her classroom each week. Students are glowing and growing each day inher classroom.”