Ms. Tang is a new Transition to High School teacher at Kalani who wants to help students succeed.

Growing up, she didn’t have a traditional public school experience, but teaching and education came naturally to her because of how she was raised.

“I have four younger siblings,” Ms. Tang said. “I think I was always kind of teaching in a way because we were homeschooled.”

She enjoys teaching because she likes to connect with students and help them achieve their goals.

“I really see it as a stepping stone and a transformative process. I like to be a part of that process,” she said.

While in high school, she was scared away from teaching because of an experiencing teaching a creative writing class to 17 students.

“I learned to build curriculum and to have assignments and that was crazy and that wasn’t fun so I didn’t start teaching until two years ago when I was in my (Master’s) program,” she said

She taught three internships last year in Woodland, California and Davis, California.

“I started teaching as a student teacher,” she said. “I think when I’m doing something the first time I do get a bit nervous. That nervousness I definitely have learned to put in different places in order to still continue to teach.”

Her background is in English but took the Transitions to High School position at Kalani when it was offered to her by Principal Otani. 

“I really wanted to be in Kalani for the district. I really love how warm and friendly the staff was and it felt like the right place to be even though it was not in my subject area,” she explained.

Her passion for teaching is what motivates her.

“You become a teacher by first being passionate because if you’re not passionate about what you do I think you give up really easily,” she said.