English and AVID teacher Jose Lucero was awarded Teacher of the Year for the 2025-2026 school year. He has been an English teacher since 2003 and has taught at Westview since 2012.
A first-time honoree, Lucero said he felt privileged to have received the award.
“I’m super grateful,” Lucero said. “I’m honored, and to be honest, I’m a little embarrassed. This is my first time receiving this award. But I appreciate the staff taking time to recognize me, and I honestly feel it’s a reflection of all the work that everyone does, because there are so many teachers [who] are well deserving of this award.”
Lucero detailed that his passion for English started in his sophomore year of high school when he won a $50 award for his analysis of a poem.
“I always loved reading and analyzing poetry, novels, and short stories for a deeper meaning,” Lucero said. “Personally, I think it was solidified in 10th grade. I won a $50 savings bond for analyzing a poem that described a root of a flower breaking out of the cement, and I made connections politically, socially, [and] economically. I ended up winning, and at that point, I realized I had a skill, and I had a desire to follow that, which guided me to become an English teacher.”
Lucero said that teaching has helped him grow as a person and gain a deeper understanding of the people around him. However, one of the main struggles he faced while teaching was diversifying his style of teaching to better help more students learn.
“A challenge that I faced in my career is figuring out different ways to teach the same concept for a wide variety of students,” Lucero said. “That has taught me this deep understanding that there’s never one specific way to accomplish a goal. I’ve learned to always [be] open-minded to find different ways to help kids. My basic approach is always to lead with my heart. I constantly check in on kids, on how they’re doing, what they’re involved in. I think getting kids to reflect on that helps me help them. Thus, I connect with them a little better.”
Lucero said that his career as a teacher has helped him connect with students and given him opportunities for change he would’ve never gotten if he was in any other field.
“I really feel that teaching has made me a better parent and a better person,” Lucero said. “I’ve developed a level of empathy, understanding, and patience that I don’t know if I ever would have developed if it weren’t for teaching.”
The staff at Westview nominated and voted for Lucero as Teacher of the Year. Staff members came into his classroom during second period and presented flowers to him. Following this award, Lucero will continue to improve his teaching methods to potentially win the PUSD District Teacher of the Year award in the next few years.
