After deciding that I would become a teacher I was encouraged to seek out experiences in a classroom setting. My first experience in a classroom was in a kindergarten/first grade bilingual classroom in City Heights. This experience was the first opportunity that I had to see what I was about to embark upon.
I graduated with my bachelors degree from San Diego State University in 2000 and started the BCLAD credential program the next semester. I student taught in a fifth grade classroom and a second grade classroom, both at Rosa Parks Elementary School in City Heights.
As soon as I graduated from the BCLAD credential program I began looking for a job and began substitute teaching in the Chula Vista School District. While I was substitute teaching I had a variety of wonderful experiences in all grade levels. I learned a little bit about each grade and the strategies that the teachers were using in their classroom. I also was lucky enough to work in different settings such as Bilingual, English Only, and most importantly, Spanish Immersion. Soon I decided that I needed a different strategy and asked a pregnant teacher if she had a long term sub lined up. She didn’t and just like that I had a long term job teaching first grade English Only. I worked for her at Montgomery Elementary until that teacher returned to work. Within a week I was lucky enough to land another long term job at Harborside Elementary School in a third grade Bilingual classroom. I was later hired on as a temporary teacher to finish off that school year.
Working at Harborside was a great learning experience for me. I had the opportunity to work at this school where the kids were labeled as low performing and the school was tagged as a low performing school for the fourth year in a row. I loved this experience because I was able to make a difference with a group of students that had not been respected by their previous teacher. At the end of that school year this school was disbanded and all teachers were transferred to other schools. I unfortunately had a temporary contract so when the year was up so was my job. That summer I went on countless interviews and always left them with so much hope and confidence. But when it was time to hire I was told that I was their second choice and that they went with someone with experience. I could have let that get me down but I didn’t. Instead it gave me more strength and determination to interview for that job where I was the first choice.
That is how I ended up at my current position. I still remember my reaction when I saw the job posting on Edjoin. It was for a kinder or second grade position in Lakeside. I had never heard of Lakeside. When I searched for it in google maps and I remember seeing a lot more green than I was used to. My interview at the Lakeside Union School District went very well and I received a call that afternoon to come and teach a lesson the next day. I was so scared but I stayed up all night and worked on what I perceived to be the perfect lesson. The afternoon after my lesson the HR office called to inform me that I had been selected for one of the positions that were available. I was the new kindergarten immersion teacher. I was so scared of 5 year olds but I went into it with a positive attitude. I had always wanted to teach in an immersion setting and now I could. I taught kindergarten for 6 years and after my sixth year I decided that I needed a change. I asked to move to second grade. This is my second year in second grade and I couldn’t be happier.
In the 8 years that I have been teaching at my district the amount of technology that I have available to me has gone from very scarce and limited to 1:1 Ipads in my classroom. I am now in charge of 24 Ipads, 4 Imacs, 1 laptop, and 1 Smartboard. This increase in technology has changed the way that I teach to the degree that I felt the need to learn more. So now I find myself back at San Diego State as a masters student in an educational leadership program with an emphasis in technology. My current endeavor is exactly what I feel that I will need in order to stay marketable in the everchanging world of educating children. I wonder where this new and exciting experience will take me.
I graduated with my bachelors degree from San Diego State University in 2000 and started the BCLAD credential program the next semester. I student taught in a fifth grade classroom and a second grade classroom, both at Rosa Parks Elementary School in City Heights.
As soon as I graduated from the BCLAD credential program I began looking for a job and began substitute teaching in the Chula Vista School District. While I was substitute teaching I had a variety of wonderful experiences in all grade levels. I learned a little bit about each grade and the strategies that the teachers were using in their classroom. I also was lucky enough to work in different settings such as Bilingual, English Only, and most importantly, Spanish Immersion. Soon I decided that I needed a different strategy and asked a pregnant teacher if she had a long term sub lined up. She didn’t and just like that I had a long term job teaching first grade English Only. I worked for her at Montgomery Elementary until that teacher returned to work. Within a week I was lucky enough to land another long term job at Harborside Elementary School in a third grade Bilingual classroom. I was later hired on as a temporary teacher to finish off that school year.
Working at Harborside was a great learning experience for me. I had the opportunity to work at this school where the kids were labeled as low performing and the school was tagged as a low performing school for the fourth year in a row. I loved this experience because I was able to make a difference with a group of students that had not been respected by their previous teacher. At the end of that school year this school was disbanded and all teachers were transferred to other schools. I unfortunately had a temporary contract so when the year was up so was my job. That summer I went on countless interviews and always left them with so much hope and confidence. But when it was time to hire I was told that I was their second choice and that they went with someone with experience. I could have let that get me down but I didn’t. Instead it gave me more strength and determination to interview for that job where I was the first choice.
That is how I ended up at my current position. I still remember my reaction when I saw the job posting on Edjoin. It was for a kinder or second grade position in Lakeside. I had never heard of Lakeside. When I searched for it in google maps and I remember seeing a lot more green than I was used to. My interview at the Lakeside Union School District went very well and I received a call that afternoon to come and teach a lesson the next day. I was so scared but I stayed up all night and worked on what I perceived to be the perfect lesson. The afternoon after my lesson the HR office called to inform me that I had been selected for one of the positions that were available. I was the new kindergarten immersion teacher. I was so scared of 5 year olds but I went into it with a positive attitude. I had always wanted to teach in an immersion setting and now I could. I taught kindergarten for 6 years and after my sixth year I decided that I needed a change. I asked to move to second grade. This is my second year in second grade and I couldn’t be happier.
In the 8 years that I have been teaching at my district the amount of technology that I have available to me has gone from very scarce and limited to 1:1 Ipads in my classroom. I am now in charge of 24 Ipads, 4 Imacs, 1 laptop, and 1 Smartboard. This increase in technology has changed the way that I teach to the degree that I felt the need to learn more. So now I find myself back at San Diego State as a masters student in an educational leadership program with an emphasis in technology. My current endeavor is exactly what I feel that I will need in order to stay marketable in the everchanging world of educating children. I wonder where this new and exciting experience will take me.