Top r-l: Molly Wahl, Madera Elementary; Christina Ferry, Lovonya DeJean Middle; bottom r-l: Carlo Juntilla, Richmond High; and Laura Garriguez, Richmond High. (All photos credited to the Ed Fund)
With the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest challenging classroom environments nationwide in 2020, teachers across the West Contra Costa Unified School District stepped up their game to ensure educational and inclusive learning environments.
Particularly these four all stars. This week, the West Contra Costa Ed Fund announced the four West Contra Costa Unified School District finalists for the 2021 Teaching Excellence Awards on its Facebook page. The awards have recognized the county’s best teachers for nearly four decades.
Mr. Wilson s second act: Virtuoso s progression from SF Opera to middle-school classroom
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Tim Wilson, music director at Lovonya DeJean Middle School, plays the trumpet during the Spring Concert.Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle
Tim Wilson steps onto the small stage platform, raises his baton and asks the 100 or so students seated before him to settle down. Music, he tells them, is painted on a canvas of silence a lovely metaphor that has no effect. The October dress rehearsal for the middle school band’s first concert of the year is not going well.
Wilson waits. The hum of conversation continues, punctuated by an occasional clarinet’s revolt or trumpet’s yawp. The canvas at Lovonya DeJean Middle School in Richmond is rarely silent. So the music teacher waits some more.