Every teacher starts out somewhere.

At Rocklin High School, that starting point is happening this semester. Two student teachers, Jake Cochran and Isabelle Struckman, are stepping into instruction and learning the job. Cochran is placed with Mr. Spears in social studies, and Struckman is placed with Ms. Padilla in language arts.

Spears has taught for 28 years and has advised student teachers for eight. He said mentoring keeps him reflecting on his own teaching.

“I enjoy working with new teachers,” Spears said. “It’s fresh and makes me be a better teacher and reflect.”

Cochran is training in soc

ial science and hopes to teach World History. Before student teaching, he worked as a long-term substitute in the Sacramento City Unified School District, including placements at Rosemont High School and Burbank High School.

“Being around high school kids and getting more confident and competent in the classroom solidified my passion for teaching,” Cochran said.

Cochran said his placement follows a “gradual release” model. So far, he has taught 15 minutes at a time and expects to take on more responsibility as the semester continues. By April, he expects to be planning, grading, and leading class independently.

“The [sophomores] are pretty goofy.” – Mr. Cochran

He added that joining a classroom mid-year has required adjustment because students already have routines with Spears. “They’ve known Mr. Spears all year,” Cochran said.

Struckman’s route into teaching began outside education. She studied communications in college and worked in animal welfare and shelters before deciding to pursue teaching. She said the pivot happened when she began giving tours to student groups and realized she cared most about the teaching part of the work.

“It wasn’t until I started doing tours for students of the shelter,” Struckman said, “that I learned how important it is to teach other people about animal care, shelt

ers, welfare, and that’s where I decided to pivot to teaching.”
Now in language arts with Padilla, Struckman said she hopes to teach reading and writing for eighth or ninth grade because that is when she developed her love of reading and writing. She described that period as the point when reading stopped feeling like an assignment and started feeling personal. She said she wants students to experience that shift early, before they decide they “just aren’t readers.”

Struckman said she is completing William Jessup University’s master’s-in-teaching pathway, a two-year program that leads to a credential and a master’s degree. She said she chose Jessup because it is local and offers night or remote classes, and she emphasized the one-on-one support available through professors, advisors, and mentors. “It’s a small school, so there’s a lot of one on one support,” Struckman said.

Struckman’s goal for the year is to earn her credential and land her first teaching job. Both student teachers said the semester is focused on learning the daily work of teaching while meeting credential requirements through Jessup, including the expectations that come with planning and building relationships with students in Rocklin classrooms daily.