 My teaching history starts many moons ago. For as long as I can remember I have been in, and around schools. You see, my father has been an educator (teacher, coach, administrator) for over 30 years and my mother has been an elementary school teacher (K-3) for over 25 years. Remarkably, both of their careers have been examples of loyalty, as well as, greatness since they have both been in their respective districts for over 25 years. You may ask what this has to do with me? Well...I was one of the lucky kids who spent, even his spare time, at some school, some where, waiting for his dedicated parents to stop working and take him home. I grew up in schools. I went to school with my dad in the morning and caught the bus from his school to the one I was attending in his district. At the end of the school day, I rode the bus back to my father's school where I did homework in the office waiting for my father's day to end, or waiting for him to take me to soccer or baseball practice. My summer consisted of going to work with my mom for a week after school was out, and a week before the new year began, to help her set up her classroom. I have lived and breathed education for as long as I can remember so what else was I going to do with my life other than teach? I don't know either!!!
To get to the "official" beginnings of my career we have to look at the
end of my 3rd year of college at Chico State. At that time I had
been undeclared for two years because, surprise, surprise, I didn't know
what I wanted to do with my life. That was about the time that I
got a phone call from my parents and they asked what I was going to do.
After all, my sister finished school at UC Davis in four years so I better
figure things out or the money for my education would just disappear.
That's when my dad asked what I saw myself doing everyday. Without
thinking I said, "I want to be outside and wear shorts to work everyday."
After giving those parameters, the vast number of choices came down to
2 very quickly - forestry, or becoming a physical education teacher.
Now I knew that this would drive my father crazy because he had tried to
steer my sister and I away from education as a career our whole lives;
"There's just no money in it!" he often said. However, as I looked
at my 2 career choices, even a P.E. teacher made more than a forester and
after some careful thought, P.E. made sense. I had been an athlete
my whole life including college, I loved working with people, and I could
get into something that I did every summer for money at athletic camps...coaching.
Hence the march toward the family profession, education.
During my short time in El Dorado County I made some very important contacts. I met Carl Fickle when I coached his son in baseball at El Dorado, where Carl was a vice principal during my student teaching. I also worked with Carl's wife Bobby at Camino School. I met Debby Hanson at Herbert Green during my one year there, she took me under her wing and has been a mentor to me since the first days that we met. I met Dave Johnson at El Dorado when I was inquiring about a student teaching position there. He was generous with his time and worldly advice about coaching, teaching, and life in general; he has become like a second father to me. Why are all of these people so important? They all helped me to get where I am today in one of the best high schools in the state, Union Mine. You see Carl is the principal, Debby is the Director of Technology, and Dave is the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach. As my year was winding down at Herbert Green these 3 people, along with several others, were pushing to get a new high school, Union Mine, completed and on the map. They felt that I could help them achieve their goal. So with some constant prodding and with a creative job assignment I headed to Union Mine High School in the fall of 1999. Home of the Diamondbacks!  My first year there I was put in charge of developing a new program to help students struggling in Math and English. The program is called ASC, Academic Support Center. I worked along side the Math and Special Education departments to develop a program that would supplement what students were learning in class and help them achieve success in an environment where they had struggled in the past...school. ASC was a great experience for me as I got to work with many challenging students and I feel like I had an influence on them, which can be difficult with independent teenagers. After a year of hard work in ASC and coaching football and baseball, the year had come to an end. I was moving on from ASC but the results were good as my students had their reading scores drop the least in the school on the SAT-9 tests and the average math score raised 11 points on the SAT-9, a proud accomplishment in my career. 2000
- 2001
2001
- 2002
2002 - 2003
I could go on and on about all the other wonderful people who have helped
me along the way in my career but this is already much longer than I anticipated
so you'll have to ask me sometime when we meet. I hope you have enjoyed
my history!!!
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After about 3 weeks of subbing, there was an ad in the local paper for
a part time P.E. teacher at Camino School, a K-8 school in the hills of
El Dorado County. My cousins had gone to school there so I thought
I would apply. I sent in my resume and the principal called me right
away. His name was Roger Smith and I will be forever in his debt for giving
me my first job. Roger hired me on the spot and I began teaching
P.E. for the 6-8 grade students everyday. Camino is a wonderful school
with some very talented and dedicated teachers working there. I feel
privileged to have worked there in my career. I began helping with
the flag football team and I got to know a few people down at the local
high school, El Dorado. I needed to get some high school teaching
experience in order to get my secondary teaching credential and I was lucky
enough to get a chance to student teach at El Dorado High School starting
in the spring of 1998. When January rolled around I was teaching
1 period of freshman boys at El Dorado in the morning, then I would get
in my truck and head up the hill to Camino to teach in the afternoon where
my teaching assignment had grown from 6-8 graders to also include 1st graders.
It was a new challenge but I think it was the most pure joy I have had
in teaching. First graders are pure and innocent and always excited
for P.E. You just can't match their enthusiasm. After finishing
my teaching day in Camino I would then head back down the hill to El Dorado
to help coach the varsity baseball team. At the end of the spring
my time in Camino had ended. I would have liked to have stayed, however,
Camino had no full time spot for me so I had to move on. In his ever
generous way Roger Smith sent me out the door with great references for
my future.
this
time it was due to an excellent opportunity.
