Fall 2009 Student Teaching Assignment

I recently was contacted by the Tahoma School District in Maple Valley, Wa (where I am currently working) in regards to my student teaching assignment/placement for the Fall of 2009. I am ambivalent about this placement, but more on the excited side than not. Before this year, i was working for two years in the Lake Washington School District; specifically in Sammamish, Wa at Inglewood Jr. High. There I worked with the same group of kids and coached the the general population for two years. I was starting to feel some stability there, and build some connections with the young staff I worked with.

However, I was on the bottom of the seniority pole when last Summer rolled around, and was told that I did not have a position. I could have done like I did the year befre, and took an IA position in the building untill a para position opened up, but for one reason or another I resubmitted an application to Tahoma that night at about 1am just to see if there were any openings. I was called the next day on the position I have just finished with. I was as an IA for the Alternative Education program in the junior high school. It was the first year the program would be in the school. Even though they wanted someone who would be around for more than one year, they chose me because I have a calm demeanor with kids, and would be able to help them with whatever subject matter they brought to our classroom. I was also a lot like Kenn who was piloting the program. We got along better than a 28 year old Af-Am and a 60(I think) year old Caucasian should.

This was a great year, and I really enjoyed living only 15 minutes away. I did have the chance to be a chaperone for a Relay for Life event in Sammamish for many of the kids I taught and coached up there, and wanted the chance to return there. However, since my wife and I are expecting child number two in november, it makes more parental sense to remain close and take the Tahoma placement. So I am looking forward to this because I will be working with expelled special education kids, and 18-21 year old special education students who are transitioning out of a school environment into an independent setting. So, for me, this Summer could not end fast enough. I just want to start teaching.

Stay tuned for more, and be sure to check back when the school year gets going again.