Aspire Teacher Residency Bay Area at Alder GSE

Mentor, Cohort 2018–2019
School: Aspire Golden State College Preparatory Academy
Resident: Cindy Castillo
Years as a mentor: First year

What is your hometown? San Francisco, California

What college(s) did you attend? UC Berkeley

What degree(s) did you earn? BA in Anthropology

What inspired you to teach? The pay! No, seriously, I really enjoyed my own belated educational experience and I enjoy working with young people. I also wanted to be part of the movement to make our public schools places worth going to.

What inspired you to be a mentor for the Alder Teacher Residency Program? I’ve worked with former residents and think of the program as a better approach to educating new teachers than the standard model (the one I experienced). I was, however, fortunate to have a great Mentor Teacher when I started out and see the value this can have.