Above & Beyond Honoree Mike Tinoco on Love, Learning, and Belonging
Episode Notes
What happens when a teacher refuses to define students by their shortcomings?
In this first episode of Teacher Stories' new partnership with Above & Beyond Teaching, Ken Futernick talks with 2024 Above & Beyond honoree Mike Tinoco, an English and journalism teacher from San Jose whose impact extends far beyond the classroom. Mike shares how his own struggles in school shaped his commitment to seeing every student’s potential—especially those others might overlook.
Chris Hernandez, former student
Chris, a former student of Mr. Tinoco’s at Yerba Buena High School in San Jose, nominated him for an award by Above and Beyond Teaching. These are excerpts from the speech he gave about Mr. Tinoco.
“I was a gang-involved youth at a young age, 12 to 13 years old. I was already hanging out in the neighborhood, justice-involved, and just being kicked out of middle schools left and right…I met Tinoco his first year teaching at Yerba Wena High School as the English teacher for freshmen. …Unfortunately for Tinoco, he not only had me, but he had six other of my homies in that class.
Tinoco definitely did go above and beyond for us. His teaching methods were a bit different from other educators…He would go table to table to engage with you…He put me and all my homies in the same desk right in front of the class and would put primary focus on us like, ‘Hey, what are you doing with this and that?’ Of course, weren't doing nothing. We had no books open. We didn't even have backpacks with us. So that was the first instance that I saw a difference in him with the other educators who put us back in the back of the class.”
Former student Chris Hernandez arrived in Mike’s classroom gang-involved, frequently in trouble, and disengaged from school. Today, he credits Mike with helping him imagine a future he never thought possible. Along the way, Mike explains why unconditional care, meaningful relationships, and a sense of community matter more than any lesson plan.
This is a powerful conversation about belonging, second chances, and the quiet ways teachers change lives—often without ever knowing the full impact of their work.
Notable Quotes:
While reflecting on a moment in his own high school class that planted the seed for him to become a teacher, as he watched a teacher struggle to manage the room, he said, "There's got to be a better way of engaging with young people."
When explaining his primary focus, working with students like Chris Hernandez, prioritizing the relationship as the foundation for academic engagement, he said, “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." Later in the interview, he added, “I want my kids to see themselves as part of something larger than just themselves. And I'm hoping that our classroom space can function as more than just an English class.”
When explaining that his commitment to his students stemmed in large part from his own feelings of self-loathing and lack of support as a young person, he said, "There's something about trying to be the kind of teacher that young Mike really needed and hoping that I'm fulfilling that."
While discussing the importance of community and how isolation contributes to teacher burnout, he said, "I think that is one of the biggest things that leads to many educators leaving the profession or being pushed out of the profession is just not feeling like they're valued, lacking the support, and then feeling isolated." He says being in a supportive community with other educators, which he actively cultivated through a "critical friends" group, is a key contributor to his professional longevity and well-being.
Featured Guest:
Mike Tinoco was honored by Above and Beyond Teaching in 2024 as Teacher of the Year.
Mike began his teaching career in Southern California before returning home to the Bay Area, where he has taught ever since.
He consciously journeyed the path of nonviolence during his first few years in the classroom, but seeds were planted long before by people in his life who embodied an ethic of unconditional love and diffused conflicts through creative means.
When he is not teaching or conducting nonviolence training, he enjoys spending time with his partner and child, rock climbing, hiking, and reading.
Related Content:
Heart at the Center: An Educator's Guide to Sustaining Love, Hope, and Community Through Nonviolence Pedagogy
by Mike Tinoco (Author) Format: Paperback
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars (14)
In Heart at the Center: An Educator’s Guide to Sustaining Love, Hope, and Community Through Nonviolence Pedagogy, high school teacher Mike Tinoco examines what it means to reimagine classrooms and schools as spaces that humanize, resist violence and injustice, and center love.
Offering both a framework and a set of practices that are grounded in different nonviolence traditions, Heart at the Center asks readers to consider what a pedagogy of nonviolence looks like, sounds like, and feels like in the classroom.