My First Teaching Job

I landed my first teaching job by going through an interesting, roundabout journey.

My mom was a high school English teacher, and I always thought that I would also like to be a teacher, perhaps in the field of special education. But during my senior year at UCLA I decided that I was not quite ready to enter the "real world" upon graduation. I decided to spend a year doing volunteer work.

I became acquainted with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC), a domestic Peace Corps-type organization. Through the JVC I was able to secure a position as an assistant in a workshop for developmentally disabled adults. I figured this would give me experience with special needs people, although not in a school situation. For one year I lived in Spokane, WA, just down the street from Gonzaga University, where I worked with a group of developmentally disabled adults in a woodshop and garden. As the year developed I decided that working with a special population was very rewarding work, but there were other underserved people that I could also help.

I decided to pursue my interest in teaching, and I ended up doing another volunteer year, but this time in a rough neighborhood in East Los Angeles, where I was hired to teach 4th grade in a parochial school. All the interviews were conducted over the telephone because I was living in Spokane, and I was not financially able to make the trip down to East LA. Thus began my teaching career.

I did not yet have a teaching credential, but at that time the Archdiocese did not require teachers to be fully credentialed. I was basically thrown into the fire. I figured that I was receiving on the job training. Luckily I had a small class of about 18 students. I survived that year and stayed another year, but in a salaried position as a P.E. teacher/Computer Lab teacher.

From there I decided to make the switch to the public schools, and I began working for the Los Angeles Unified School District. This is my 20th year in LA Unified, the last 18 years at the same school in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

As I write this entry, I can't believe that I'm in my 22nd year of teaching. What started out as an idea to teach special ed led to two years in parochial school, and finally to 20 years teaching in public school. Where have all the years gone? I wish I knew.

View my Complete Profile to learn more about me. You can follow my classroom activities by visiting my class website: school.gerarddypiangco.com

This post is part of the Teaching Jobs Portal: “How to land a Teacher Job”. What was your journey like to become a teacher? If you’d like to share your experience with other aspiring teachers please see this post for more information