A week or so before a new academic year begins, I start to have early morning dreams about the first day of school. It's usually the same dream. In it, I am invariably 30 minutes late or have forgotten to plan anything. When I was a child, I had similar first-day nightmares, arriving at school only to find that I had forgotten to get dressed that morning and was still in my pajamas, or worse. In this same tradition, I am having a recurring dream about meeting U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, complete with blunders and faux pas, like babbling on forever, or calling her "doctor" instead of "secretary," or being shamed because I spoke before being spoken to first. (My dream-persona may have been confusing Secretary Spellings with the Queen of England — I've never met her, but I'm equally in awe.)

The eldest of eight children, I had always planned on becoming a business tycoon and leaving my poverty-stricken childhood as a forgotten footnote. As the son of two former teachers, (though my mother is now a minister), there was no denying my fate.

My third substitute teaching assignment was in a second/third grade combination class, made up of students from other classes. It was November, and the class had a different substitute teacher every day since the beginning of school. The walls were bare with nary a text book in sight. Children were literally jumping off of the desks. The principal was so excited (and amazed) that I had survived for three days that she raced down to the district and pushed through an emergency credential. So began my illustrious career.

My passions in education are early childhood, family/school partnerships, and life-long learning. Named Los Angeles County Teacher of the Year and member of the USA Today All-USA Teacher Team, I also served as a contributing writer to Scholastic.com for one year, posting monthly unit plans, book connections, and technology links on the Web. At the state level, I trained early childhood educators for three years on effective literacy practices. At the local level, I helped shape the county's universal pre-school policy and then founded the pre-kindergarten program at my South Los Angeles charter school.

Developing effective partnerships with families is critical to a student's success. I have worked over the last nine years to create a comprehensive, model home-visiting program for my school. I have an insatiable desire to learn and grow as an educator. I recently received my master's degree in early childhood education and I now teach a class at a university. A National Board-certified teacher for nine years, I am awaiting news of my renewal application. Last year, I grew to deepen my awareness of children as capable learners through the Reggio Emelia study tour in Italy and the Engaging Minds Institute in Illinois with educators Lillian Katz and Sylvia Chard.

My current endeavor is as chief operating officer of Classrooms Without Borders, a nonprofit organization I formed this year with my seven sisters. Our first project is supporting a school in Battambang, Cambodia, where my father volunteers as director. Although it has been a while since I've had free time, I do like to bike ride, rollerblade at the beach, garden (so far it has mostly been weeding), read, and spend time with family and friends. If it's a beautiful day, I especially enjoy hiking in Griffith Park with my partner, David, and our dog, Jeffrey.