COACHING

Currently, I work as an instructional and leadership coach in the Oakland Unified School District. I partner with teachers and principals to improve the educational experiences, outcomes, and life options for students who have been historically underserved by schools.

I also provide consulting services to independent schools that wish to use an equity lens to examine teaching practices, systems and structures, curriculum, or professional development. I support administrators and teachers to use an inquiry method in order to do this work.

Outcomes for Year 1 of an Inquiry Project (PDF file)

“Masterful coaches inspire people by helping them recognize the previously unseen possibilities that lay embedded in their existing circumstances.”
Robert Hargrove

Teaching

I have taught in Oakland, California, since 1995. I was a founding member of ASCEND, a small autonomous school in the Oakland Unified School District, which opened in 2001. At ASCEND I taught English and History to grades six, seven and eight for six years. I have also taught at the elementary and high school levels and was a lecturer in San Francisco State University’s Department of Elementary Education.

Research on reading attitudes in middle school students:
http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/collections/quest/collections/sites/aguilar_elena/index.htm

Photography work with students:
http://participationart.squarespace.com/make-it-known/

To learn more about ASCEND:
http://www.smallschoolsfoundation.org/ascend

Read about my anti-war study in 2003.