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My Teaching Career Began in 5th Grade
It came as a surprise on account of me driving my teacher crazy by finishing my work too fast and tapping my pencil, ad nauseum. Her solution was inviting me to research special projects and present them to unsuspecting classmates. My first lesson: Mysteries of the Great White Shark. I was hooked. At the ripe age of 11 years, my Inner Teacher took flight.
I Love Teaching
I LOVE the excitement, the anticipation, the challenge, and the bazillion opportunities to help transform my students' lives, empowering them to grow and flourish, regardless of life circumstances.
That said, along with the glory comes anxiety, feelings of inadequacy, frustration, grief, and even anger. Teaching is a never-ending continuum of emotions that can confuse or overwhelm even the most seasoned among us.
The Matrix of Healing with Action
My approach to working with clients is to first listen deeply to clients' experiences and desires, and mirroring back to them what I hear and see before moving forward with any strategy or suggestion. Teachers are complex beings who have stories to tell, needs to meet, dreams to fulfill. Sometimes I offer a quick fix for a tough situation; at other times, I delve more deeply into the "why" of a situation that is holding a client back.
For 40 years, I've taught thousands of students from high school through late adulthood, listening carefully to each person's joys as well as their "pain points," and helping them carve out the best path forward, one step at a time.
I am here to show you ways to get grounded in your craft, and grow resilient in being able to direct your work with others so that you feel energized, clear, and fulfilled.
Do you love teaching others, even when it drives you crazy? Relax: You're in the right place.
my first teaching job
That's me, bottom and center! Location? Shishmaref, Alaska
That's 30 miles south of the Arctic Circle. I taught English, Math, Graphic Communications, and cross-country skiing. On ICE.
• In Shishmaref, I learned that teaching is 5% content, 15% skills, and 100% about developing relationships.
• I know that doesn't add up quite right, but it's TRUE.
I also learned that those relationships were only as healthy as the relationship I had with myself. Which wasn't great. There was also SO MUCH to learn during my first year, yet a serious lack of guidance and support for everything I was going through: feelings of inadequacy, lack of content knowledge, and no road map for creating connections with students whose lives were so different from my own.
Disheartened and confused, I moved to Juneau, Alaska, and began a 7-year hiatus from formal teaching. But "the call" kept tapping me on the shoulder, pulling me into tutoring gigs and coaching sports.
I fell right into the lap of teacher education at Minnesota State University in Mankato, then moved to Boulder, Colorado, for PhD. I was invited to help create the Masters in Contemplative Education program at Naropa University, and taught courses there for 13 years. That experience showed me how vital our "inner teacher" is. It's what helps us choose the right strategy at just the right moment, finding the Sweet Spot of our craft.
That's why I've dubbed myself "The Teacher Doctor," because I know that teaching and training others requires more than just a handful of strategies; it requires the proper ALIGNMENT of the person who's trying to implement them.
This is my own path every day, especially since having returned to teaching high school in Seattle, Washington. My role is Career Connect Learning Coordinator at Ingraham High School. My mission is providing opportunities for teens to engage in meaningful work, wherever that may be.
"Teaching in the Dark" is now on sale!
PUBLISHED BY BALBOA PRESS
My memoir about my first year as a teacher in Shishmaref is now available. The tales might be over three decades old, but the lessons are timeless.