Educators, not robots

Paul has been an active musician in the Central Valley since 1981. A graduate in Music Education from the University of the Pacific and a Music Master’s Degree from Holy Names University, Paul served for 27 years as third French Horn with the Stockton Symphony under Maestros Kyung Soo Won and Peter Jaffe. He has conducted dozens of musicals at Stockton Civic Theater, Delta College, Lincoln, Tokay, and Saint Mary’s High School. He has received two Sarta Elly Awards for outstanding musical direction as well as numerous Willie Awards. As a performer he was last seen as the “Ghostbusters Guy” and “Robin” with the Stockton Symphony. His acting credits include Albin in La Cage Aux Folles at That’s Showbiz and Adolpho Perelli in Sweeney Todd at Stockton Civic Theater. He has taught orchestra, choir and classroom music in Lincoln Unified for 32 years. He currently has two middle school and three high school choirs! Once a month Paul teaches music class to the homeless at Saint Mary’s Dining Hall. He and his wife Dominee were awarded the Star Award by the Stockton Arts Commission in 2018. They have two daughters, Alyssa and Ashley and one son in law, Garrett! 

Happy holidays everyone! Anthony and I do celebrate Christmas and this is a special interview where we are joined again with Mr. Stephen who has some Deaf and Hard of Hearing friendly Christmas music videos available on his Mr. Stephen Youtube channel. ​

Good Morning! This is Rosalie and I have an important announcement about the show. Teaching has always been a difficult job, and even more so this year because of the impact the pandemic has had on the school system and on the families of students and educators alike. At this time, many school districts are in the process of transitioning from virtual learning to on-campus learning in response to California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.  Students are being brought back on campus within the next two weeks in some cases. Other districts have only announced their desire to transition back on campus with no timeline, creating more uncertainty than what already inherently exists during this time. This whole situation has been emotionally and mentally taxing for students and teachers. And teachers feel the burden as extra heavy when we are the ones trying to maintain a sense of stoicism and strength for the students watching us from 7am - 3pm Mondays -Fridays. 

With that said, a handful of interviewees have had to postpone joining Anthony and I for interviews over the last 3 weeks due to the stress these constant changes have caused them. Two educators have requested we contact them after the winter break when they have had a chance to rest and refuel from all of this uncertainty. So we have decided to transition from providing weekly episodes to monthly episodes in the interim. 

This will also give us time to set up our patron account. We are in the process of hiring a transcriber to provide more accessibility to a wider audience by providing closed captions on our Youtube channel. In addition, many of the resources and platforms we use to make this show happen do not come for free. We hope that you all will consider providing donations in the future to help keep the show running so we can continue to share these important conversations with local educators. 

We are still scheduling a November interview, so we do not have a set date for our next episode at this time. Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram or at our website for updates. Our Facebook and Instagram handle is @educatorsnotrobots with no spaces and our website is www.educatorsnotrobots.com .

Thank you for your support and if you haven’t yet, please subscribe to our podcast on whatever platform you use to listen. If you like us, please leave us a review! Positive reviews help our podcast get more visibility and allow us to reach a wider audience.

Rosalie Sauceda grew up in San Joaquin County, graduating high school and the Army JROTC program in Manteca, CA. Upon graduation, she enlisted in the Army Reserves in response to the terrorist attacks on 9/11.  She later enrolled in classes at San Jose State University to pursue her bachelor’s degree and a Commission as an Army Officer. 

After separating from the military, Rosalie inspired her husband to also leave the military so that they could begin raising their family back in her home community. Since returning, she has earned her teaching credential at the Teacher’s College of San Joaquin, and a Master’s Degree in Educational Entrepreneurship from the University of the Pacific, Benerd School of Education. She currently teaches Freshman English at Lincoln High School in Stockton, CA where she also serves as an advisor to Lincoln High School’s LGBTQ Organization, GSA (Gender and Sexualities Alliance).

Thank you so much for joining us today at Educators, Not Robots where we humanize the educational experience. If you like what you hear, please leave us a review on whatever podcast platform you are using. Positive reviews help us reach a wider audience and share these incredible stories of every day teachers.

Introducing…

Daniel Rios also known by his students as: Mr. Rios, Rios, Jefecito, or Rivers man. Mr. Rios has been teaching for 9 years and is currently out of the K-12 classroom and is now teaching adults with disabilities, but he primarily taught History and Social Studies at a charter organization for grades 6-12. He started in the Community College system and attended San Joaquin Delta College. He then transferred to Sac State where he completed his undergraduate degree and credentials. He recently graduated from The University of the Pacific with my M.A. in Educational Entrepreneurship. He and his childhood best friend have also started a podcast of their own called “Socially Challenged” where he and his friend debate over topics they are diametrically opposed on while still maintaining their life long friendship at the end of each heated episode. You can find their Podcast on Spotify if you would like to learn more but be advised that there is use of foul language. Visit our blog at www.educatorsnotrobots.com for links to Mr. Rios’ podcast information.

Ashley Lowe is in her 5th year of being a Deaf & Hard of Hearing (DHH) Specialist and she is also an American Sign Language professor at the University of Pacific in Stockton, California, and a mother of 5! Currently, she is the first and ONLY profoundly deaf instructor in the Special Education program in the Stockton Unified School District, and in San Joaquin County. She teaches and maintains a caseload with students from the DHH, Deaf and Hard of Hearing program.  She currently works with 9th to 12th graders at Edison High school and has previously worked at Walton Special Center for the Severe and St. Mary’s High School. Her passion in the field of education stems from her own experiences, having graduated from Stockton Unified as a fully mainstream Special Education student. Ashley is a fourth generation Stocktonian and her children are fifth generations as well. Ashley is teaching for the same district she had attended as a student. She has attended UC Davis, Gallaudet University, and National University. She received her Bachelors, Masters, and Credential for teaching Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Autism. She is working toward her PhD in Special Education, and an administration credential even though she has already been told that she does not qualify to be a school administrator simply because she is deaf. She is determined to change the face of deaf education, especially in public school settings.

Akilah Jeffery, aka A.A. Jeffery, aka Dr. Jeffery, aka Ms. Jeffery….that’s right! This teacher has worn and still wears a couple of hats. She is an Oakland, CA native who was raised in a family of educators. Growing up, she remembers being in her parents’ classrooms, even sometimes helping out with setting up lessons and organizing graded work. Even during her undergrad at UC Berkeley she continued to work in K-6 classrooms as a classroom aid. She also eventually took part time work as a substitute teacher. But when it came time to choose a career, she wanted to pursue something outside of what she considered her parents’ interest. So she went back to school to become a lawyer. Originally believing she would pursue a concentration in music law, she attended Vanderbilt University and found herself immersed in a vivacious music scene….did I forget to mention that Ms. Jeffery is also a bit of a musician herself? She strongly believes that art and music education had an enormous impact on her success growing up. Having gotten her music fix in Nashville, she finished law school and moved to Seattle where she found herself working in immigration law instead. She found working with immigrant families meaningful and necessary, but also mentally and emotionally exhausting. In her spare time (which she had very little of) she volunteered in a middle school Social Studies class and she realized that she may have been wrong about her place in education. It wasn’t that education in general wasn’t “her thing” but that she had limited her experiences to the elementary classroom. Being in a single-subject classroom was a whole different vibe. She came home to Oakland and pursued her single-subject credential in Social Studies and found a job as a middle school Social Studies teacher at American Indian Public Charter. She loved her job and she even won teacher-of-the-year in her first year at that school. Skyrocketing housing costs caused Ms. Jeffery to leave living in the Bay Area and ultimately her job at American Indian and that is how she has ended up here in Stockton. She has been working at Lincoln High School ever since her move and still loves her job although she misses her former school and the city that raised her. She also teaches law classes in the afternoon at San Joaquin Delta College and has recently written a middle school fantasy novel under the pen name A.A. Jeffery. “Wilda Silva Secret Keeper is a fun, illustrated middle grade novel fantasy about a girl who moves to the Pacific Northwest and finds herself in the midst of a power struggle between fairy courts.” The character Wilda Silva was inspired by fellow teacher Jilliane Gravelle, who one day lamented to Ms. Jeffery about being stereotyped as a wild child for having bright red hair. (Hi Jilliane, we’d love to have you on the show!) Ms. Jeffery’s website www.wildasilva.com is coming soon with more information about publishing dates and where you can get your copy. 

Introducing...

Jordan Jimenez, known by his students as Mr. Jimenez works at Cesar Chavez High School in Stockton, CA and is in his 5th year of teaching. He teaches English Language Arts for high school Juniors and Seniors and AVID for Juniors. He is also the advisor of the CCHS Gender and Sexualities Alliance. He attended Fillmore Elementary school, Hamilton Middle School, and Chavez High School (where he now works!). He was a Hazelton scholarship award recipient, an award offered to outstanding Stockton Unified School District students. He earned his AA in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus in English at San Joaquin Delta College, his BA in English Literature at CSU Stanislaus, and his Single-Subject Teaching Credential at Teachers College of San Joaquin County. He is also very proud to have joined the ranks of Chavez High School royalty as the 2018 Teacher Prom King. 

Introducing...

Linda Peña, known by her students as Ms. Peña. Ms. Peña has been a teacher for 7 years and teaches 7th grade Science and 7th grade AVID at Sylvan Middle School in Citrus Heights, CA. She earned her B.S. in Nutrition Science at UC Davis, her single subject teaching credential and BCLAD in Spanish at Sacramento State University and her Master of Educational Entrepreneurship at the University of the Pacific. Ms. Peña is a Stockton native and is passionate about her job as an educator, especially as an AVID coordinator as she herself had benefited from the AVID program when she was a student in the K-12 system.

Introducing:

Educators, Not Robots: A Podcast that Humanizes the Educational Experience

Join us in our conversations with teachers, about teachers as professionals and neighbors.