Meet the Seventh-Grade Teacher Whose Experience Getting Bullied Shaped Her Mission

Ahead of the 2024 school year, PS's The Educators is spotlighting 24 public school teachers around the country who are making a difference.

Ali Russell is a seventh-grade science teacher at Gateway Middle School in San Francisco with 10 years of teaching experience. As a bilateral transtibial amputee — she had her lower legs surgically removed below the knee due to meningococcal disease as a toddler — she dealt with years of bullying that impacted her time in school. As a teacher today, she aspires to be the adult she wishes she had back then. Keep reading to get to know her.

What inspired you to be a teacher?
I started tutoring a peer in chemistry and found myself having so much fun looking ahead at what concepts were next, thinking about how best to teach them, and making fun little infographics to explain. I love science, and getting to be a part of someone's aha moment when they figure out how or why something works is unforgettable. I wanted to be a teacher to be able to share my love of science and my love of people with others and get to be a part of exploration and discovery every day.

While many aspects of my childhood were extremely privileged, such as my race, opportunities for success, support, and resources, I experienced an elevated level of bullying and name-calling during my preteen and teen years, which made my school experience less than ideal and impacted how I viewed myself and my identity for much of my life. This is part of the reason I decided to become a teacher and why I continue to be a teacher despite the intensity and hard work, because I want to be the adult that I wish I had when I was in school — a person and classroom to call a safe space, where you will be held accountable but respected and loved, and to know that you can make mistakes and learn from them and it doesn't mean you are a bad person.

What's the most rewarding part of your job?
It's the kids, it's always the kids. The most rewarding part of my job is my relationships with my students every year. Middle schoolers are the loves of my life and the banes of my existence all the time, every day, constantly. Middle schoolers are so special because they are still young kids in these big bodies and all of their emotions are raw and out and they want so badly to be adults but so badly want to be held and loved and be silly and happy and joyful. I get to know my students deeply every year. Every student is in the trunk and branches and leaves of the tree in my heart, never shedding and always growing more full. It is incredibly fulfilling teaching science to middle schoolers and helping them learn and understand their world, while holding space for them to be their authentic selves, connect with each each other and their community, and have difficult conversations about things like racism, homelessness, and injustice.

Who was your favorite teacher and why?
I have a few favorite teachers from my education experience, but there is one teacher who was the first one to ever suggest that I could be a teacher, and that is my middle school mathematics teacher Ms. Cecilia Vaughn. She was warm, funny, personable, and so smart. She called me up to discuss some math test scores with me and said, "You could take the class again next year," to which 12-year-old me started to have a mental breakdown until she finished with, "and teach it for me so that I don't have to do anything." I'll never forget her smile, generosity, and encouragement, and I definitely would not be a teacher without her influence. I also want to make sure I mention Ms. Lindsay Wines, my high school leadership teacher. She built beautiful relationships with her students that extended far beyond the classroom. She really cared about her students and gave everything to teaching and coaching. She taught me what it means to be a leader and to hold yourself accountable while being unapologetically yourself.

What's your go-to teaching uniform?
I am a science teacher, so I am constantly running around and making messes, so I generally wear jeans, a nice T-shirt, and a purposefully paired set of Nike sneakers. (I reward myself with a new pair of sneakers after surviving each school year, so I have amassed quite a collection now.)

What do you always make time for because it makes you feel good?
Play, laughter, and connection with others. Whether it is connecting with students, colleagues, friends, or family, I make sure to make time to play together, be silly, and have the opportunity to create joy together outside of academic, work, or familial expectations. Nothing helps a bad teenage attitude like a little game of tag or hide-and-seek.

What's your morning routine on a school day?
I wake up around 4:30 a.m. and get ready for the day and start making coffee before my 5-year-old daughter, Kennedy Lou, wakes up at 5:30. We eat breakfast together and chat and get her ready for school. At 6:45, I start gathering my belongings and brush my teeth, and pick up or get picked up by the Oakland carpool team at 7. We commute to San Francisco and take turns driving each week, usually getting to school around 7:45. Then we have about 40 minutes to make sure everything is printed and prepped and ready to go for every period of the day before the students start coming in at 8:30!

How do you practice self-care?
I try my best to practice self-care by having reasonable(ish) boundaries with work and social activities, engagements, and responsibilities and recognize when I'm starting to take on too much or wear myself down and take a break before my body falls apart. Sometimes I am successful at this, sometimes I am not. I also get my eyebrows waxed once per month every month no matter what, and that is one thing that I do for myself because I deserve to not have to pluck my own eyebrows.

What are you reading?
I just finished "Queenie" by Candice Carty-Williams, and I am also revisiting "Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain" by Zaretta Hammond.

How do you keep from getting sick during the school year?
The dark, daunting, and ever-looming threat of making sub plans, having a sub, and returning from a sub day keeps me pretty fit.