High school ROP teacher and student teach college students on the weekends

Recently, on a cold, rainy Saturday early morning at San Francisco State University’s Downtown Campus, the college students of the day-long WordPress (a blog program) class were introduced to their class professor, Lane Good (left). Lane has been teaching electronic media course at San Francisco State since 1999 – he is also a Contra Costa County Office of Education ROP Web Design II instructor at Kennedy High School in Richmond. Along with Lane were two of his Kennedy students, serving as classroom teaching assistants.

Throughout the day, Lane would present his course material in front of the class with his PowerPoint presentation, while he and his assistants would check in with the students who requested some one-to-one assistance at their individual computers. This turned out to be a very effective way of teaching the attendees how to produce their own blogs and websites.

One of his very helpful assistants on this day was current ROP student German Rodriguez (above, right). German is in his senior year at Kennedy, and has been also serving as one of Lane’s teaching assistants for the past few years. While possessing a quiet and somewhat shy demeanor, German had no problem answering the students’ questions throughout the day. It was obvious that he really enjoyed working with students, and sharing his knowledge of the WordPress program.

German said how much he likes Lane’s classes: “He is always introducing us to the very latest technology, so we will be the most up-to-date when we move on to our next class. And, I really enjoy working with him here at San Francisco State University!” German’s experience in tutoring college students while he’s still in high school will certainly look good on his resume.

“What a phenomenal opportunity for a high school student to experience college culture,” said CCCOE Principal David Fendel. “Lane's dedication to giving his students the skills and experience necessary to thrive in the real world is outstanding, and a great example of the productive relationship that ROP and pathway academies are forging in our high schools. Lane's expertise, coupled with the ROP web design curriculum, arms students with the technical and work skills they need to be successful after high school.”

Lane has been teaching a variety of digital arts courses at San Francisco State since 1999, and has been a teacher at Kennedy High for close to five years. Prior to coming to Kennedy, he taught at El Cerrito High and Richmond High. At Kennedy, Lane serves as the lead teacher in the school’s Information Technology Academy. Other courses he teaches at Kennedy include digital arts/web design, computer systems management, and computer networking.

With the combination of his longtime natural gift of freehand illustration, his love for digital arts, and Lane’s guidance, German has his future mapped out after Kennedy High School. He has been accepted to attend Ex’pression College, in Emeryville, where he’ll begin this fall to earn his B.A. degree in digital animation. His dream is to work for a company such as Pixar or Disney.

After a long and fruitful day of learning the new skill of WordPress, all the students agreed that they really appreciated Lane’s class and instruction, along with the assistance of future star digital animator German Rodriguez.

German assisting a student