May 12, 2022: Series 04
"And now to see students working as hard as they do, and to see how clever they are, and how creative they are. Just to be surrounded by that kind of inspiring environment is wonderful."
How has the transition back to in-person affected you? Has it been mostly positive or negative?
It has been mostly positive. Of course, there are some downsides. I think students forgot what it was like to be in class. And so there were some maybe growing pains with how does one conduct themselves in class. They're no longer sitting in front of their computer in their bedroom. And they were, perhaps, not as aware of their surroundings as we would have liked. But just being able to connect with students and actually see them as opposed to just a Google icon was leaps and bounds better than online learning.
How has COVID affected your teaching style? Have you needed to make any accommodations or changes?
I and we as a department, on the whole, have been more cognizant of the amount of homework that we give, because we realize just the challenges that students face, and even though we're not locked down anymore, I think there's still sort of some lasting effects. Both just logistically and emotionally to COVID, we're all kind of dealing with a lot. And so we don't want to overburden students with a workload. There's that and then I think, knowing how difficult it is to focus during remote online learning, I think we were trying to pull out all the stops in keeping students entertained and engaged. And I think some of that spilled over into the class, some of that we've resorted back to the way we used to do things, but I think some of the lessons that we created specifically just because we thought they were fun or students would like them, we retain those because the classroom should be fun. And anytime opportunity we have to implement that we should.
Why did you become a teacher and why did you choose Sage Creek?
I didn't choose Sage Creek, Sage Creek chose me. I decided to become a teacher after college. I hadn't figured out what I wanted to do yet. And I knew I wanted to travel, and I had a feeling I would enjoy teaching, but I definitely hadn't landed on it. It was just one thing I was sort of feeling out. And I had made a friend in college who actually was from Spain, who was studying abroad. And he told me there's this, lots of countries do it, but a lot of governments have programs where you can come and teach English immersion to students, and it's typically decent pay, and it's limited hours so you have time to travel and explore. And he said the Spanish program is particularly good, and I applied, and I got in, and I got placed in Madrid, and my then girlfriend, now wife, at the time, did the same thing. And so we both went to Spain and taught English and I fell in love with it. I pretty much knew that when I got back to the States, I was gonna start working towards a teaching credential. So I would say that was a spark, just being able to teach. And it was just little niños and niñas. It was a third and fourth grade. And I loved it but I knew I would rather teach older kids. And then your second question was Sage Creek. So, I didn't know much about sage Creek. I'm not from Carlsbad. I'm from Northern California. But my wife had some input. And some fellow teachers I knew had some input, and I knew there was an opening and I actually applied to two different schools. I applied to Calavera and here, and I was actually quite happy I didn't get the Calavera job. Not because it's not a good school, but because I wanted to work at a high school. And that interview went horribly. But that, it broke the ice. I felt more comfortable with this, I still was pretty nervous but I kind of had worked out the things to say and not say. So the more I learned about sage Creek, the more I realized how amazing it was. I did some of my student teaching at Carlsbad high and there's some great teachers there. I enjoyed the students I worked with but seeing that in comparison to Sage Creek, I knew sage Creek is where I wanted to be. And so I was elated to get the job offer. Yeah, I couldn't imagine working anywhere else.
How do you manage a balance between your work and personal life?
I don't. I mean, it's a constant struggle. I think with the schedule that we have now the 8:30 to 3:30, I have to be home by 4:15 or 4:30. And before I’d have time to grade and plan, and now I'm doing that after my kids go to bed, and I'm staying up later than I should. So it's a challenge, yeah, I don't have an answer. Beyond that. It's hard to find that balance. It's a lot of hours. I rationalize it with we have summers off, so I get lots of quality time with the family. It's just seasonal. Yeah, yeah.
What are your favorite parts of being a teacher?
I was one of those students who I think I wouldn't like now as a teacher. Where I took the path of least resistance, I'd find the easiest way to get the A. And that's not something I'm proud of. It's just my kind of short sighted outlook when I was a student. And now to see students working as hard as they do, and to see how clever they are, and how creative they are. Just to be surrounded by that kind of inspiring environment is wonderful. That and teenagers have, while sometimes way too immature for my taste, they have such an amazing sense of humor. I just love seeing their interactions and how witty they are and just how much charisma they have. It's one thing about Carlsbad high as there are certain departments I won't say which one's the average age is pretty high and you can tell they're just burnt out and there's just not it doesn't feel lively. I'm being melodramatic but here we have a really young staff and we have students who just seem to really embrace school and the culture. And I think it's just like, once again, it just comes back to it's really inspiring.
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