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These are the 6 OC Teachers of the Year

Rosie Harshman was in her classroom Thursday morning at Huntington Beach High School getting ready with students when she heard the marching band start playing, an odd sound so early in the morning.

Coming through the classroom doors was Orange County Department of Education Deputy Superintendent Ramon Miramontes to surprise Harshman with a Teacher of the Year award and a $25,000 check, bringing tears to her eyes and leaving her with “no words.”

Her husband, Dan Harshman, also appeared, dressed in a suit and carrying a bouquet to congratulate her.

Harshman said she was “baffled and humbled” by the award.

“I am truly beyond grateful,” Harshman said. “This is such an honor for me. I really love my job and it feels so nice to be recognized. It’s all about the kids, and it’s so wonderful. But to have someone acknowledge that I do work hard and try to do as much as I can to make our school better, it’s such a huge accomplishment.”

Six teachers on Thursday got the good news that they were one of the winners of the Orange County Teachers of the Year award. They’ll have a chance to be named the California Teacher of the Year.

Their award includes a $25,000 check and an invitation to a gala dinner at the Disneyland Hotel this fall.

The awards program, sponsored by SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union with support from the Orange County Teachers of the Year Award Foundation, takes applications from teachers throughout the county.

OCDE officials and sponsors traveled throughout OC in a school bus to surprise each teacher in front of their students, colleagues and families.

Rosie Harshman

Huntington Beach High School, Huntington Beach Union High School District

Harshman teaches environmental literature and college preparatory English to seniors at Huntington Beach High. She developed the environmental literature course in 2017, which aims to make students feel empowered by combining their work in the classroom with outside activities. Creating that class was “truly a dream for me,” Harshman said.

“(Students) are so inundated with information,” Harshman said. “I want them to know that they have a voice and that they are creative and can solve problems and that they are going to be the generation to do that.”

Harshman’s approach to teaching isn’t to make each unit harder, she said, but to challenge students’ thinking and guide them to their passions.

Portola High School English teacher Melissa Miller in a letter of support for Harshman’s award application wrote that she doesn’t just raise up students, but raises up educators. Miller would know best since she was a former student of Harshman.

“Upon first meeting Rosanna, she was the true embodiment of the type of teacher I wanted to become,” Miller said.

The impact that Harshman’s had on her life is “immeasurable and she has touched, moved, and inspired so many others through her gift as a teacher,” Miller said.

Cassandra Cabrera

Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School, Santa Ana Unified School District

Cabrera teaches introductory engineering courses to students at Mendez Intermediate, a school she once attended.

One focus for her is getting more women, especially Latinas, involved in STEM subjects since, “the number of women that are in the STEM fields right now is not as high as it should be,” she said.

“We are going to have a shortage of engineers anyways,” Cabrera said. “Particularly there’s not as many Latinos or Latinas in engineering. So we just want to see ourselves represented in the different STEM fields. It’s really important.”

She works hand-in-hand with her mother, Lizette Cabrera, who teaches more topical engineering subjects such as aerospace and robotics on campus. They work together to send students on five to six field trips a year, allowing them to see engineering in action outside the classroom. They have gotten a grant to bring aerospace experiences to the district.

When they first started their engineering classes, there were only a few girls enrolled. Now they are at almost 50%, Cabrera said.

“I’m like the chillest drill sergeant,” Cabrera said. “I pick my battles very well. I try not to be overbearing or controlling, but my students know when it’s time to get work done.”

Cabrera started at the school the same day her mom began teaching there in 2000. Many of Cabrera’s aunts and cousins and other extended family are also teachers.

“It kind of seems to be the calling of our bloodline,” Cabrera said.

Keisha Cosand

Golden West College, Coast Community College District

A 25-year English professor at Golden West College, Cosand updates her course every year to have new material, essays and tests.

“I’m always trying to make it better because the semester before I see there are things that could have been done better,” she said. “Even though it’s English, I kind of always think of my class like a science experiment trying new things and seeing if it works.”

Her goal is for her students to think critically, to look at other people’s perspectives and to use that when communicating and making decisions.

Her husband, Chris, and daughter, Brooke, had to keep the award secret from Cosand for a week and were there at Golden West College to see her accept the trophy topped with a shiny red apple.

“She wants to stay feeling motivated and teach fresh material,” Chris Cosand said. “She doesn’t have to change the curriculum, but she always does.”

This semester she has some students who have conditions that affect their ability to learn, but Cosand said she sees them “putting in the effort to grow and learn and really try harder than students I’ve seen.

“That really inspires me,” she said. “To see people that are struggling to learn desperately want to learn.”

Jordanna Jahn

Irvine Intermediate School, Garden Grove Unified School District

In between class periods, a few students came up to Jahn to ask for her well wishes to excel on a test in another class. That’s her connection with students.

So it was natural that when Jahn won her award, a seemingly endless number of students went up to congratulate her. Others yelled out “I love you!” and “Yes Mrs. Jahn!” or just screamed in glee.

Jahn’s philosophy of teaching is rooted in meeting students where they are academically and emotionally. Learning gaps that students may have can lead to helplessness, and these students may need extra emotional support, she said.

A large focus of her classroom is making sure students feel “seen and heard,” she said, and focused on the mindset that they can take time to grow as learners.

“Sometimes I feel like the kids forget that they are in school to learn, and then they get down on themselves, like ‘Oh I don’t know it. I don’t get it, something’s wrong with me.’” Jahn said. “You’re not supposed to get everything the first time. It might take a couple of times, it might take a couple years.”

“What makes this district so special is that we are focused on academics … and we are heavily focused on the child’s well-being holistically,” Jahn said. “It’s a very special community to be a part of.”

Jahn’s husband, David, and her in-laws, Nicki Altieri and Frank Jahn, were there to celebrate along with the students.

“All of the work she’s put into being a great teacher, being there for the kids — I’m immensely proud,” David Jahn said.

Joey King

Hope School, Anaheim Union High School District

King said few people get to experience the beauty of teaching special education students, but he’s lucky enough to be one of them.

“I’ve always been very purposeful about boosting my students,” King said. “They feel the energy I give off, and that’s oftentimes what you get back.

“It boosts my morale and boosts how I’m feeling about everything and so there’s a reciprocity to it all,” he said.

King accepted his Teacher of the Year award during the school’s Hopechella event, in which students were eating snow cones, dancing and singing karaoke to songs from “Frozen” and “Sailor Moon.” Several students went up to him to give high fives and do personal handshakes.

His goal, King said, is to make their time at Hope School as memorable as it can be, while instilling skills to be leaders and help others.

“We don’t always have to receive services, we can also be a help,” King said is his message to the students. “Know that we can support other people.”

King is also the activities director at the school and encourages different groups to put on events.

This summer King will go to Japan to immerse himself in the country’s culture by living with a family and teaching English. He’s done it before in Peru and Cuba and plans to use the awards check to support him learning from other cultures.

He brings the lessons of other cultures back into the classroom, he said.

“I love the culture shock piece of it,” King said. “You bring back a perspective.”

Katie Mayfield

Arbolita Elementary School, La Habra City School District

Mayfield’s background having previously taught as an instructional assistant, a teacher on special assignments and in special education gives her knowledge of how best to approach behavior and curriculum support for her kindergarten class of “little learners,” she said.

“Kindergarten, we get them without maybe any school experience,” Mayfield said. “So my job is to get them engaged, to love learning, to love coming to school, to want to continue with that educational journey.”

Mayfield said data is a huge push right now in schools; to learn how to collect it and use it to support student learning.

“When I assess math and reading skills, I celebrate progress and create a goal with them,” Mayfield wrote in her application essay.

As an example, she color-codes their progress and uses a new color to show them how much more they can achieve, saying she tells them: “Wow! You learned 10 new words! Do you think you could add 15 more by May?”

Students around the room were building plastic towers and learning how the different shaped pieces could affect how a marble slides down the tower to the ground when the prize patrol arrived. They all gazed at what one student said was “so many people in the classroom!”

Mayfield’s father Dave Fuller drove down from the Bay Area to surprise her and was joined by her husband, Matt Mayfield, and children.

“I couldn’t think of a more deserving teacher,” said Principal Jennifer McCully-Rodriguez.