Jane Ching Fung
Kindergarten Teacher
Layfayette Park Primary Center
Los Angeles, CA
Biographical Information:
Jane Ching Fung teaches kindergarten at the newly opened Lafayette
Park Primary Center in Los Angeles. Before teaching at Lafayette,
Miss Fung taught at the nearby White House Place Primary Center,
where she helped students increase their reading scores by 20
percent in just one year. An expert in standards-based instruction
and a teacher leader in the field of early literacy, Miss Fung
uses multiple assessments to monitor her students' progress and
matches grade-level requirements and standards with students'
individual strengths to assign appropriate reading materials.
In the summer of 2002, she was invited by Wyoming Governor Jim
Geringer to participate on a panel at the Education Commission
of the States' National Forum on Education Policy. She has published
research and an editorial on new teacher development and has served
as a district intern instructor.
Maribel Garcia
Bilingual Second Grade Teacher
William Laird Adam Elementary School
Santa Maria, CA
Biographical Information:
Second-grade bilingual teacher Maribel Garcia has impacted not
only her students at William Laird Adam Elementary School in Santa
Maria, but the district and the community as well. She uses instructional
techniques that help her Spanish-speaking students make the transition
to speaking English within the context of curricular study. Mrs.
Garcia co-sponsors a Family Literacy Night, bringing together
students, families, and community representatives for a book fair
with activities centered on literacy. She is a member of her site's
leadership team and has helped choose grade-appropriate benchmarks
and assessments for all primary teachers in the district. Mrs.
Garcia helped develop a garden for the school and community that
is now used as a district model for integrating science and language
arts in the curriculum. She is also working to build a library
to help parents work with their children while furthering their
own education.
Don Ogden
Principal
Camellia Basic Elementary School
Sacramento, CA
Biographical Information:
In his four years as principal of Camellia Basic School in Sacramento,
Don Ogden has transformed the school, instituting staff development,
using data to drive instructional strategy, wiring the school
for the Internet, establishing programs to monitor individual
success, and creating after-school extended day programs as well
as homework clubs and team-teaching for science and social studies
in intermediate grades. His leadership helped Camellia Basic earn
recognition as a California Distinguished School in 2002. A highly
visible leader with an open door policy, Mr. Ogden is quick to
reward excellence, leading trimester awards and honor roll assemblies.
He holds leadership roles on budget, summer school and collaborative
planning committees with members of his district and is a mentor
to new administrators.
Jennifer Yoo
Reading Teacher
Welby Way Elementary School
Canoga Park, CA
Biographical Information:
Teacher Jennifer Yoo's parents brought her to the United States
from Korea so that she could pursue a better education. She now
provides that same opportunity to her students at Welby Way Elementary
School in Canoga Park. With a strong background in curriculum,
Miss Yoo helped redesign the district's method of teacher evaluation
by directly correlating it to state standards. She initiated a
before-school reading program for teachers and teacher assistants
called the Professional Literature Club. She also headed the El
Camino Mentoring Program, keeping detailed records of mentees,
from assessments to evaluations and matching the students with
approximately 100 tutors. She is currently a literary coach through
UCLA's Principal Leadership Institute (PLI) program. Each summer
she works at a camp she established in 1995 for severely epileptic
children.
