Teachers in Banning USD and Beaumont USD Named 2024 Riverside County Teachers of the Year

BANNING, BEAUMONT – An award-winning playwright, and a teacher whose own school experience included struggles with dyslexia, were named 2024 Riverside County Teachers of the Year in two separate surprise visits held on their campuses on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

James Waedekin is an English teacher at New Horizon School in Banning Unified School District. During his 17 years of teaching in Banning USD, he has also taught drama/theatre production courses at Banning High School while writing a children’s book and multiple award-winning scripts for theater productions staged in festivals and events around the world.

Lindsay Hill is a 4^th grade teacher at Sundance Elementary School in the Beaumont Unified School District. She has 15 years of teaching experience and brings life to California history lessons, focuses on reading intervention, and has published and illustrated children’s books.

“Both Ms. Hill and Mr. Waedekin are published authors and accomplished educators whose vast expertise and experience take center stage in their classrooms every day to foster a love of literacy, the arts, and all subjects, so that students can see the endless possibilities for their own lives as they write their own success stories,” said Dr. Edwin Gomez.

Mr. Waedekin and Ms. Hill will join Lorena Morales from Alvord Unified School District in representing Riverside County in the 2024 California State Teacher of the Year competition later this year. A final 2024 Riverside County Teacher of the Year will be revealed in an upcoming surprise visit.

“We are a family here in Banning, and for the last 17 years, I’ve grown as a teacher and feel more a part of the community each year,” Mr. Waedekin said after receiving his award while surrounded by colleagues from his school and Banning USD. “I’m blown away by this, and I’m ready for another 17 years.”

“Thank you for this award, this is beyond my dream come true,” Ms. Hill said in front of her classroom full of students, her own children, her parents, her grandparents, and colleagues and staff from Sundance Elementary School and Beaumont USD.

About James Waedekin

James Waedekin’s desire is to help students become the voices of their generation. He believes that “working in alternative education is transforming for teachers, and our classrooms are transforming for students.” In the classroom, he is engaging students with improv exercises and creative writing assignments. Outside the classroom, he serves as the school’s Yearbook advisor, serves on multiple school site teams, and is the school’s Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) Coordinator.

When he was younger, Mr. Waedekin toured in drama therapy plays performed at teen shelters, alternative high schools, drug rehabilitation centers, and has grown his career as an award-winning author and playwright. In his application, Mr. Waedekin shared that he believes he is here to “create stories, to share stories, and to inspire others to create and to share their stories.” A project in his classroom, “Book About Me” starts with a blank 24-page book that serves as a self-reflection tool and memoir to chronicle their lives as a student, and their goals as a graduating young adult.

His work has appeared at UCLA, West Coast Theatre Ensemble, the Chicago Playwrights Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, the York Theatre, and more. His play, The Invisible J. Michael Hess, looks at the problems of teenage bullying and suicide, and has had over 30 productions staged nationwide. He recently published his first children’s book, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Finkle.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oklahoma, he earned his fine arts master’s degree in playwriting from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his teaching credential from Loyola Marymount University.

About Lindsay Hill

Inside the four walls of Lindsay Hill’s 4^th grade classroom, students experience the colors, customs, cultures, history, and geography of California. Floor-to-ceiling painted classroom murals display the major regions of the Golden State—alongside family photos from trips that students and families take throughout the year that serve as realia (objects and materials from everyday life used as teaching aids).

By incorporating the class mascot, Bigfoot, constructing Native American totem poles, and dressing up and talking like a ship captain, Ms. Hill strives to create an immersive and authentic learning experience that not only brings the standards to life, but establishes creativity as a foundation to drive learning.

In her application, she states that “teaching and working with children is my passion and creating a family classroom culture where students are unconditionally cared for is the foundation.”

Ms. Hill’s passion for student achievement stems in part from overcoming the challenges of dyslexia when she was a student. Her desire to promote literacy includes serving as a reading intervention specialist, supporting the Read-a-Thon, launching the school’s Reading Lab, and writing her own children’s book series, Catching Twilight.

After graduating from California State University, Fullerton, Ms. Hill earned her teaching credential from California State University, San Bernardino. She completed a master’s degree in the art of teaching from San Diego Christian College in 2023.

Once named, all four teachers of the year will represent Riverside County in the 2024 California Teacher of the Year competition where at least one Riverside County teacher has been selected as a California Teacher of the Year in eight of the last ten years:

• 2022 – Nichi Aviña, Cielo Vista Charter School, Palm Springs USD
• 2021 – Keisa Brown, University Heights Middle School, Riverside USD, and Allison Cyr, Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School, Desert Sands USD
• 2020 – Brenda Chavez-Barreras, Good Hope Elementary School, Perris ESD
• 2019 – Dr. Angel Mejico, El Cerrito Middle School, Corona-Norco USD
• 2018 – Dr. Brian McDaniel, Painted Hills Middle School, Palm Springs USD
• 2017 – Shaun Bunn, Ethan A. Chase Middle School, Romoland School District
• 2016 – Michelle Cherland, Carrillo Ranch Elementary School, Desert Sands USD
• 2014 – Jessica Pack, James Workman Middle School, Palm Springs USD

The Riverside County Teachers of the Year are selected from nearly 20,000 educators in the county. The rigorous application process requires candidates to spend time reflecting on, and carefully defining, their teaching philosophy. The county teachers of the year are selected on the basis of nominations by teachers, principals, and school district administrators throughout the county. Applications are then submitted to the Riverside County Office of Education, where a selection committee reviews the applications on each district candidate and selects semi-finalists. The selection committee then conducts interviews and site visits to select the final four candidates before the county superintendent announces the Riverside County Teachers of the Year.