My First Teaching Job

2010-02-17T21:42:00.000-08:00

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

Hope for the Future of Education

2009-12-29T14:10:00.000-08:00

This past school year my entire school participated in a school-wide project, a project which gives me hope for the future of education. Working in groups of two classes, each student participated in a song writing workshop led by two teachers, a classroom teacher and a music teacher. Once the songs were written the students rehearsed and then recorded the songs. The result was an actual CD, "Soaring High"composed of 12 songs written and sung by the kids of Monte Vista Elementary School in Los Angeles.

http://www.harmonicconversionmusic.com/

All students received copies of the CD to share and play at home with their families. The CD was also put up for sale on iTunes, Amazon.com and CDBaby. Students were so proud to be able to go through this process and sing on a "real" CD.

Many people were responsible for this group effort, from the students to the classroom teachers, the music teacher, and ultimately the principal. This project showed me that anything is possible when a school works together to achieve its dreams.

This post is part of the MAT@USC: Masters in Teaching Hope for the holidays event. Did you have an experience or witness something in 2009 which gave you hope for the future of American education? If so, please see this post for more information on how to share it.

Mr. D's Blog

My First Teaching Job

Hope for the Future of Education