Jane Ching Fung has over 24 years of experience in the field of teaching and learning.  She has taught for the past 20 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District.  Currently she teaches in a departmentalized, full-day kindergarten at the Alexander Science Center School in Exposition Park.  Jane’s teaching experiences includes: multiage (PK-2nd), Reading Recovery, District Intern Program, teacher education at California State University, Northridge, and has facilitated professional development at the school and district level.  She is an active member of the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning www.cftl.org, and serves on the board of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future www.nctaf.org and The Larchmont Charter School in Los Angeles http://www.larchmontcharter.org. Jane is a 2002 Milken Educator, National Board Certified, and holds a Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction (Reading and Language Arts). She served on Governor Guinn’s Education Commission of the States’ Early Literacy Council and the Independent Citizens for California’s Children Committee.  Jane’s journey with TNLI began in 1997.  She credits Frances, Ellen, and her original Los Angeles MetLife fellows for pushing her into the educational policy.  Her research on new teacher collaboration is included in TNLI’s book: Taking Action with Teacher Research.  Jane’s professional interests include: early literacy, new teacher support and retention in inner city schools, teacher networks, educational policy, and quality professional development.  Her personal interests include: Dodger baseball, Broadway musicals, and trying to find fun and interesting things to keep her son Daniel busy!

Antoinette Pippin writes:
I am a first grade teacher at the Alexander Science Center School in downtown Los Angeles.  This is my third year teaching in LAUSD, with two years in a first Grade Spanish Dual Immersion program and one year in a fourth grade Waiver to Basic bilingual classroom.  I completed a masters inquiry at UCLA on the topic of how students develop identities as scientists.  I love learning and reading on just about any topic and my passion is people.

Dana Rico writes:
After I received my BA in Sociology at UCLA I felt a need to travel. So, I signed on as a PCV and I taught in Andhra Pradesh, India at teacher training schools in rural and urban areas. After two years, I returned to L.A. and decided to explore diversity so I obtained an MS in Rehabilitation Counseling. But my direction flowed in a lifestyle change, which resulted in a husband and two daughters. I became involved with education by association and as a result, I received a teaching credential from Pepperdine and a career that has exceeded all my expectations with its emotional twists and turns as well as an abundance of intrinsic rewards.