Meet Your Trainer

Heather Sherburn believes wholeheartedly in the power of teachers!  She believes that teachers save students’ lives every day; they lift them from whatever their current situation and provide an educational path to achieve their dreams. The more challenging the background of our students, the greater our moral imperative is to connect and educate each student.

While this quote from Madeline Hunter has been around a very long time, it has never been truer than today. “Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!” The research is clear regarding the positive impact of teacher-student connectedness at a personal and human level. Far too often, this vital quality is missing from our classrooms and campuses. Little else matters in education until we’ve met this human need.

It’s a reality that teachers are often spread thin, with numerous demands on their professional time, increasing behavioral concerns, and widening gaps in student knowledge and skills. What’s needed are practical, research-based, efficient strategies that can be easily implemented in any classroom, requiring minimal teacher time and effort. This is exactly what Time To Teach offers, understanding and supporting educators in their challenging roles.

After 34 years serving students in primarily Title 1, high crime, high drug use, and high trauma areas, Heather knows the challenges facing teachers every day. Children come to school needing educators more now than ever, and she believes we must step up to the plate and meet them where they are as humans first.

A part of showing students we care, is knowing them as humans; then we can engage them, motivate them, and inspire their success. Competing with social media, Hollywood, and technology isn’t easy, but with the research-based strategies Heather shares, teachers will walk out the door inspired and excited to teach the next day. Her presentation on Student Engagement and Motivation Strategies fit into any classroom. There’s no need to throw out what is working; simply fold these strategies into your existing lesson objectives.

Heather began her career as a 1st grade teacher, became a Reading Specialist, and worked as a mentor teacher supporting her colleagues before going into administration as the Director of Beginning Teacher and Support, an Elementary School Principal, a Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and finally Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction, and Technology.  She is honored to have been recognized for her success in leading one of the highest-performing school districts in CA and for her work achieving unprecedented behavioral and academic growth in her Title I schools. She has been recognized by the CA State Legislature as the 2012 Woman of the Year for Stanislaus County, the ACSA Curriculum and Instruction Leader of the Year in 2022, the ACSA Elementary School Principal of the Year in 2012, and as one of the Stanislaus County Commission for Women’s Outstanding Woman of Stanislaus County in 2014.