Owning It: Proven Strategies to Ace & Embrace Teaching

Alex Kajitani, former California Teacher of the Year, will share honest stories of what it truly takes to succeed as a teacher today.

About this Event

Owning It: Proven Strategies to Ace & Embrace Teaching

Twenty-two years ago, Alex Kajitani was a struggling new teacher in one of California’s poorest neighborhoods. His students seemed unmotivated, unengaged and uninterested in what he was teaching. Demoralized and desperate, he set out on a journey to turn his class, and his life, around.

Today, Alex holds the title of California Teacher of the Year and a Top-4 Finalist for National Teacher of the Year, 2009, and is lauded for his innovation and hilarious “real talk” as an educator. His journey — from frustrated new teacher to being honored at The White House — is one he will share with ROE 35's educators (and all across the country), to inspire them to new heights and fresh ways of thinking about the students they serve and the subjects they teach. Alex tells refreshingly honest stories of what it truly takes to succeed as a teacher today, and interweaves them with real, easy-to-implement teaching strategies, which can be used the very next day, to create the world as it can be.

8:00-8:30 Registration/Networking

8:30-12:30 Presentation

1230-1 Q/A

Intended audience: K-12 Educators

Presenter: Alex Kajitani

Location: Ottawa Township High School

PD Hours: 5

Cost: Free for educators in LaSalle, Marshall, and Putnam Counties

Registration will open on September 1, 2025 and close on October 3rd 2025

Get Tickets