Afternoon
Encian Pastel
PM Teacher & Co-Director
I ground my teaching in anti-bias education principles, a vision toward collective liberation, and a deep trust in play and creativity as methods of discovery and learning. I seek to listen attentively to children in their many modes of communication and expression, and to teach from a place of both love and respect.
I hold a BA in Visual Anthropology and Cultural Studies from Boston University and completed my early childhood education units at Contra Costa Community College, Merritt College, and Cerro Coso Community College. (Yes that’s another CCC and also a CCCC!) I fell into early childhood education sideways, as many of us do, in my late 20s. I was working for a nonprofit social justice organization and volunteering with Bay Area Childcare Collective (BACC), a collective of volunteers working to grow intergenerational communities of care and resilience in the Bay Area by providing free childcare to racial and economic justice groups (we are always looking for new members!). I discovered that the joys and challenges of working with children made me feel more alive than I’ve felt in any other workplace, and I embarked on a journey to become the best preschool teacher I can be. I joined the CCC community in the spring of 2013 as a guest teacher, then became an afternoon teacher in the fall of 2013 and co-director of the afternoon program (with Laura McCaul) in 2020. I joined the team that would become Gender Justice in Early Childhood in 2015, co-authoring Supporting Gender Diversity in Early Childhood Classrooms: A Practical Guide (Jessica Kingsley, 2019). I continue to facilitate early childhood-centered gender liberation trainings with the Kaleidoscope network. From 2019-2022 I served a term as a facilitator for the Diversity and Equity Education for Adults interest forum of NAEYC, the National Association for the Education of Young Children. In 2018, I co-produced the children’s music EP Courage to Feel with Ri Molnár, and I’m currently working on several children’s books.
I want to acknowledge and celebrate a lineage of amazing early childhood educators and activists! I claim many mentors, including Auden Smith, former director of the afternoon program of CCC; Julie Olsen Edwards; Julie Nicholson; Barb O’Neill; the current teaching staff at CCC and of course every child. I’d like to thank these teachers and pay it forward by bringing joy and curiosity to each new interaction.
Outside of work, you can find me making pottery with my sweetie, practicing Aikido, crafting, writing, marching, coordinating childcare, playing and inventing games, storytelling and spending time with friends and family.
Allie
PM Teacher
Hello! My name is Allie Martin Pollak, and I joined the CCC teaching team in 2021. I’ve been providing childcare since I was a kid myself, first babysitting, then in summer camps and afterschool programs. I dropped out of college my first time around and spent a year in Chile working and learning Spanish on small organic farms. After coming back to the US I went back to school in 2018 & completed my preschool teaching certificate at Oakland’s Merritt College, shortly after starting my first gig as a full time teacher with Neptune Nature School, a Forest Preschool in Alameda. While facilitating there I completed a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies at the California Institute for Integral Studies, with an independent focus on Early Childhood Education.
I love the way scholar & activist bell hooks describes education ”as the practice of freedom.” Though her book of the same name isn’t focused on early childhood, I find this framing to be a succinct and inspiring vision of what our institutions of learning can foster. At CCC I see our community practicing a broad and deep kind of freedom, one which is also a practice of care, of inquiry, and of collaboration. In CCC’s emphasis on play-based, child-directed, anti-bias learning, as well as the institutional work being done to address our legacies of bias, I see a kinder, more vibrant world being lovingly grown here every day.
I have learned so much from my incredible co-teachers as well as all the amazing children and participating adults who make this school what it is. I love playing music and dancing, co-creating stories and games, talking about everything under the sun (& beyond it), & tuning in to all the life present & passed on this land which has held CCC for almost 100 years.
When I'm not at CCC you can find me with my loved ones, cooking vegetables, playing basketball and the bass (though not at the same time), reading poetry and speculative fiction, spending time with the land and our plant and animal neighbors, and taking collective action towards a healed and liberated world.
Laura McCaul
PM Teacher
I initially wanted to work with children because it seemed like an effective way to create positive change in the world. I thought about all the children who grow up with a lack of kindness and nurturing from the adults around them and I knew that being kind and nurturing would be the qualities I would value over all else as a teacher. I started taking child development classes at Merritt college in my mid 20’s after deciding against a career in journalism (thank goodness!) and quickly found gigs as a substitute teacher, even though I had no experience. Despite my cluelessness, I found the work to be fun, rewarding, and challenging in the best way. By luck, one of the first schools I found to sub at was CCC.
For the next seven years I would continue to substitute teach at various schools, partly because I liked the variety and freedom, but also because none of the other schools looking for full time staff met my expectations for where I would want to be long-term. Due to great teacher retention, CCC was almost never hiring! I did know that I never wanted to leave CCC. The quality of care and staff and community camaraderie was incredibly inspiring and I knew this place was special. I feel very fortunate to have stepped into my current role (in 2020) as Teacher/Director alongside one of the greats (Teacher Encian.)
As a teacher, I love getting to know each child and figuring out their quirks, interests, and how to best support them. The spontaneous conversations that take place during snack or at group time are my favorite. Children often say the wisest and funniest things!
Activity wise, I often include children in my love for tending the vegetable garden. I like to incorporate children in the entire process of planting, tending, harvesting, cooking and eating! I also enjoy music and dance parties, making up stories, making art, playing with sensory materials, constructing things, and all the other fun and creative activities that preschoolers get up to.
I live in a cooperative house in Berkeley and I like gardening, swimming, horticulture, water coloring, and singing karaoke.
Lilian
PM Teacher
Hi! I grew up in Berkeley (though born in Los Angeles) and spent my childhood split between the two. Most of my social life, and all of my schooling was here in Berkeley, attending K-12 through BUSD (Thousand Oaks, King, Berkeley High). Into my 20’s I studied technical theatre and design, music with a specialization in voice, japanese language, and most lately Early Childhood Education! I started officially pursuing ECE after years of simultaneously working in theaters around the bay area and caring for many kids and their families through babysitting and nannying—many of whom I've now seen grow up themselves!
I started at CCC as a Guest Teacher in 2021 after transferring from a Japanese Bilingual Preschool where I first started teaching. I wanted a place a little closer to home that also highlighted my passions and values in a community I already knew, and had my eyes on from the CCC alumni kids I cared for from years prior. I credit a few CCC parents and staff for guiding me in the right direction on how and where to find classes and start in my ECE journey so truly this community has guided me from the beginning!
Teaching is so captivating to me because I find a place of home in it—I love sharing the possibilities of compassion and inclusivity through the magic that childhood is, and thrive in a community where children and adults alike work together to explore themselves. I also love sharing the wonders of having multiple backgrounds as my identity is layers of different mixes, a prominent layer being first-gen (nisei) bicultural/biracial. I am excited to work at a school where I can be the person I wish I’d had in my life as a young child—and bring my whole self to the classroom, even when my whole self feels like a messy process of discovery!
When I’m at home I take pride in my GIANT bin dedicated to my love for crafting! You’ll find paper of many textures and sizes, stationary, fabric, yarn, resin, dried flowers, paint, tools, extra instax film, half done projects—anything you'd want in a craft bin! I find warmth in sharing my connection to sentimentality with my friends, family, and CCC through creation and am often saving little treasures to put in my paper planner or scrapbooks. Every day brings something new, and I’m eager to see what surprise is next! Cheers to all the memories and experiences yet to come ❤︎