Justina Weinbender with Rotary Club of Santa Barbara’s Mike Bieza. (Rotary Club of Santa Barbara)
Alumna Justina (Pursley) Weinbender from UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School has been recognized for her demonstrated excellence and significant contributions to public education by the Santa Barbara Rotary Club. Weinbender has taught seventh and eighth grade English at Goleta Valley Junior High School for 20 years, if you count her student teaching there. She earned her credential in the Teacher Education Program’s Single Subject credential track (1997) and her M.Ed. in 1998.
“Ms. Weinbender exemplifies excellence and a dedication towards keeping students first,” said her principal Mauricio Ortega. “With consistency, she provides rigorous and engaging lessons, opens her classroom up to clubs during lunch, and runs the school newspaper. It has been a tremendous gain to have Ms. Weinbender at our school, and I have no doubt that she will continue to be a huge asset for our students.”
UCSB’s Teacher Education Program offers the Multiple-Subject, the Single-Subject (in five content areas), the Level I & II Education Specialist Moderate/Severe Teaching Credentials, and an M.Ed. degree. The programs are run as a cohort, with the elementary and secondary cohorts no larger than 60 students each, and the special education cohort no larger than 15. Candidates are placed in partner K-12 schools throughout the 9-month academic year, student teaching in the morning and attending university classes in the afternoon/evening. The Teacher Education Program is unique in that many of its faculty both supervise candidates in the field and teach university courses. The result is a cohesive, well-articulated program of study that takes candidates through each developmental phase of learning to teach.