Auna Harris didn’t begin her career in teaching. In fact, the thought never crossed her mind, but after a successful career in the nonprofit sector, a pandemic, and a trip around the world, she decided to give it a try.
Today, Auna is in her fourth year of teaching and just graduated with her Master of Arts in Teaching from Reach University.
After nearly three decades spent in CFO and CEO roles in the nonprofit sector, Auna took a sabbatical during the COVID-19 pandemic. She spent a year traveling the world, including visits to Africa, Peru, Mexico, and the Middle East.
During that time, she visited a school in Rwanda that served about 200 children, with students ranging in age from three to their 20s. Students learned core academic subjects, as well as life skills such as farming and nursing. She was so moved by her visit, she sponsored a few children whose families could not afford tuition. Seeing the students in that classroom, children and adults, learning side by side, opened her eyes to a career possibility she never considered.
Once she was back in California, Auna started substitute teaching for Reach partner Oakland Unified School District. That’s where Auna discovered her passion for working with kindergarteners. Through the Alameda County Office of Education Pathway program, Auna learned about Reach University’s Intern program and decided soon after to pursue her teaching credential and Master of Arts in Teaching through Reach. “I found out that, wow, this is something I’m really passionate about and never saw myself doing,” Auna said.
In her classroom, Auna focuses on representatively-centered teaching. She brings music, art, language, and intention into her work with students, along with strategies she picked up from her Reach seminars, her past career, and travels. For Auna, culture is not only about differences but also about helping people to see what they have in common.
That approach has helped her build strong connections with students and families. Auna has noticed that when her kids are excited about what they are learning, families often become more involved, too. She has also taken students on camping trips to the Presidio and the Golden Gate Bridge, just to name a few examples.
Through Reach University, Auna was also learning how to connect her daily classroom practice with the skills and expectations required of new teachers. Her coursework, clinical assignments, and classroom experience were all happening at the same time, one fueling the other.
This year, Auna taught 26 students on her own. Her classroom included students with a wide range of needs. The year asked a lot of her 0as a teacher, and one of the biggest lessons she learned from her students was the importance of self-regulation and self-care. At times, her students noticed when she was having a hard day. Some would check on her and ask, “Miss Harris, did you get your water?” This struck Auna; her students were using her own teachings about self-regulation on her. She reflects on this moment as another of those times when she could see she was making an impact on her students' lives.
Auna learned that her own regulation shaped the classroom. Over time, she worked on becoming what she described with a smile as a “warm demander.” She wants to hold students to high expectations while also leading with care, calm, and consistency.
Auna came into Reach with extensive educational and professional experience. She already had her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Because of that, she thought the credential program might feel like an extension course. Instead, she found the program to be much more rigorous than she expected. “I had no clue that the academic program for teaching is as rigorous as it is,” Auna admitted.
A major part of her Reach experience was the California Teaching Performance Assessment (CalTPA) licensure process. In California, candidates for a preliminary teaching credential must pass a Commission-approved Teaching Performance Assessment before they can be recommended for a teaching credential. Auna’s coursework and clinical field assignments helped her prepare for that process. She completed two full CalTPA cycles across two years, one focused on math and one focused on literacy. The literacy cycle alone was about 100 pages across eight sections.
The work was demanding, but Reach helped clarify the process and connect it to the work Auna was already doing in her classroom. “As far as the support at Reach, it was bar none, in my opinion,” Auna said. The coursework was rigorous, but the program provided her with structure, preparation tools, and support as she progressed through the credentialing process.
Auna’s cohort was an important part of her Reach experience. She found a sense of support and community in her fellow candidates during the program. Many people in her cohort were balancing teaching, coursework, family responsibilities, and life outside of the program. Auna was also helping her son and caring for her elderly mother.
Each week, the cohort gave her a place to show up with people who understood what she was going through. The group shared feedback, talked through challenges, and helped each other stay accountable to their goals. “It wasn’t a competitive environment at all,” Auna said. “It was just very encouraging.”
Auna said the professors helped create space for the group to get to know each other, and most of the cohort stayed together across both years.
For Auna, everything she had worked for finally came together one day during a lesson study. She taught a lesson while her cohort and field supervisor observed. Afterward, she received feedback from people who had seen her growth over time. That moment helped her see that she had grown into the kind of teacher – and leader – she didn’t even know she wanted to be. For Auna, the feedback showed how her classroom practice, Reach coursework, cohort support, and feedback were coming together. “I was like, ‘Wow, I really am a teacher!’” Auna said.
Auna has clear advice for new interns entering the program:
What Comes Next?
After graduating from Reach, Auna is entering a two-year induction program. She will work with a small cohort and a mentor as she continues the process of clearing her preliminary credential.
Auna’s path to teaching was nontraditional. She brought decades of leadership experience into the classroom while also learning new skills that will help her flourish as a teacher and grow alongside her students. For Auna, Reach University was part of a new chapter built through classroom practice, cohort support, and daily practice.