SSJE Teacher Bios

Joel Hildebrandt is the SSJE co-coordinator for operations and communications. He has taught for 25 years, 15 at BHS. He is credentialed in Spanish, English and ESL, with a Masters in teaching ESL, and has taught English and ESL in addition to all levels of Spanish.  He is currently completing an administrative credentialing program at CSUH/BayCES.  He has sought conscientiously to address issues of equity throughout his teaching career. In his personal life, he has many years of experience as an activist with a focus on direct action, the environment, and direct democracy.

Deborah Godner has taught English/History core for 14 years in Berkeley and Oakland middle schools and more recently at Berkeley High School. She also taught an English support class for failing students.  She is CLAD credentialed, and holds a multiple subject credential as well as a single subject in social science with a supplementary in English.  She holds a Tier 1 Administrative Credential through the BayCES/CSUH Lead program. While at Martin Luther King Middle School (MLK), she started the Gay/Straight Alliance. She ran conflict resolution trainings both in Oakland and at MLK, and led a girl power group for two years.  She is also trained in Socratic Seminar and Literature Circles.  She has spent her years in education engaging students in a highly rigorous and personalized curriculum with a focus on combating society's "ism"s.

George Palen has taught math for 11 years at the middle and high school levels.  He has a Masters in math, and entered teaching to address issues of equity in the math curriculum.  Before coming to BHS, he taught three years at a startup middle school formed in Bayview-Hunters point with a mission of addressing equity issues for that neighborhood.  He is presently training with SF State to address algebra curriculum issues. 

Khanh Bui is entering her 2nd year of teaching math at Berkeley High School, which she enjoys for its diverse population and committed faculty. Before that, she was a director of education at a local Sylvan Learning Center, where she built individualized math curriculum for students in collaboration with their school teachers and parents.  Her educational and professional background also includes work documenting the history of war crimes survivors with the Human Rights Center, analyzing the environmental impact of metal finishing companies in Los Angeles, and graduate work in public health ethics and policy.  She recently contributed to a seminar at San Francisco State University on revitalizing the algebra curriculum in high schools.

Lisa Chan is a second-year teacher at Berkeley High School who chose to work at BHS for its progressive small school reform. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a Pharmacology degree in 2002, and in 2004, she received her Single Subject Teaching Credential in Biology with a supplemental degree in Chemistry from the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UCSB. She also recently completed her Masters of Education, which focused on scientific literacy. In the classroom, she emphasizes reading comprehension skills in order to help guide students toward scientific literacy-the ability to comprehend global scientific issues and general scientific topics. Furthermore, she is aware of many issues surrounding ecology and the environment and understands the need to impart such awareness and knowledge to our future populace.

Nancy Nelson joins SSJE in her 4 th year as an Educational Specialist, determined to establish a successful program for students with special needs in a small school environment.  After obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Spanish from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, in 2002, Nancy entered the teaching profession through Teach For America, an organization committed to affecting educational change in under-resourced areas across the nation, and has since worked summers within the organization to train new Special Education teachers.  After case managing and teaching Resource Math for 2 years at the middle school level in Oakland, Nancy pursued a position at Berkeley High School because of its reputation for diversity and its dedication to educational equity.  Nancy firmly believes that progress toward closing the achievement gap at Berkeley High School will give other schools and educational systems hope that equity can and will be achieved on a large scale.  Nancy possesses an Education Specialist credential from San Francisco State University and will complete her Master of Arts in Special Education this fall.