2024 Honoree Mike Tinoco on Love, Learning, and Belonging

Above & Beyond Teaching is proud to share the first episode of our new podcast partnership with Teacher Stories, featuring 2024 Carlston Award honoree Mike Tinoco, an English and journalism teacher at Yerba Buena High School in San Jose.

In this conversation with Teacher Stories host Ken Futernick, Mike shares how his own struggles as a young person shaped his commitment to seeing every student's potential, especially those others might overlook. He is joined by former student Chris Hernandez, who arrived in Mike's classroom gang-involved and disengaged, and who credits Mike with helping him imagine a future he never thought possible.

Mike's approach is straightforward but profound. Before worrying about lesson plans or test scores, he asks himself one question: "Can I find a way to build and sustain connection with this human being? Because once that's there, the learning will be a natural outgrowth of that."

This is a powerful conversation about belonging, second chances, and the ways teachers change lives, often without ever knowing the full impact of their work. Mike is also the author of "Heart at the Center: An Educator's Guide to Sustaining Love, Hope, and Community Through Nonviolence Pedagogy."