52 Stories

My First Taste of Teaching

~ marestales

I love it when teachers find creative ways to challenge their students. Having been on the receiving end of that during my school days, I did my best to be creative and challenging as I planned how to present curriculum in my classroom every year. One of my most memorable experiences as a student came during my senior year of high school.

I was in my fourth year of math and was at the top of the class. Yes, I was one of those girls who kept believing that she was smart enough to learn anything she wanted, even when society told her, “No. That’s just for boys.” I guess having a mechanic for a father , one who loved to challenge me with thinking/problem-solving puzzles during my childhood, had something to do with that attitude.

Our teacher let a handful of us, who caught onto ideas quickly, work ahead of the others in the class. We completed the curriculum by the spring of that school year. Now, he had to figure out what to do with us for the next month or two. So, he made us peer teachers/teacher’s aides. We were given the opportunity to prepare and present math lessons to the class, always under his watchful eye and occasional intervention. We became classroom aides, helping our peers one-on-one to understand concepts they found difficult. We helped with grading papers, and more. I found that by  teaching, my knowledge and understanding grew. An unexpected outcome of a new and novel experience.

Applying to college earlier that year was another interesting experience. I decided to start at a nearby junior college. When it came time to fill out the application, there was a list of majors one could choose. I didn’t know at the time what I wanted to study, but I felt I had to choose something. So, I started down the alphabetical list. Many were definitely out, but there were some maybes, as well. When I got to the “M” section of the list, mathematics stared me in the face, and I couldn’t help but stare right back. I was good at math. I enjoyed the challenge and the problem solving. I had transcribed pages and pages of math problems from my 6th-grade math book to do over the summer, since I was moving away with my parents to Northern California and knew I would have lots of free time. Yes, I could major in math. I wasn’t sure what I would do with a math degree, but that wasn’t too important to me at that point. Check! I majored in mathematics and minored in English, both subjects I enjoyed then and still do today. An uncommon pairing, for sure, but one which served me well over the years.

Skipping ahead to forty years later…

I came across an old fill-in-the-blanks sort of book, Senior Memories, while trying to find some high school pictures and memorabilia to share with some of my students. One of the last pages was about goals, short-term and long-term. Next to the word “Career” I had written these words: “Mathematics teacher in a high school.”  Next to the words “Where You Will Be Living”, I wrote, “Somewhere in a rural town.” I was amazed to read those thoughts after boxing them away so long ago. Even more amazing, those long-term goals, written down at the age of 17, were realized. I spent the last 10-12 years of my career teaching high school mathematics in a rural Northern California community. I even served as Math Department Chair most of that time.

Maybe the elementary school PTA and my high school math teacher knew something I didn’t know. Maybe I knew it all along, deep inside, but was too young to know it consciously for myself. Becoming a teacher was certainly my destiny, for whatever reason.

What about you? Do you have a story about how you chose your career path? I bet your kids and grandkids would love to hear about it. Share Your Tale!!

 

 

An Early Omen

~ marestales

It is interesting how we end up in a career. Some people know from an early age what it is they want to be when they grow up–doctor, Olympic athlete, lawyer, president of the United States, dentist, computer wiz, fashion designer, and on and on. Some lucky people get a dream for their future and set goals that will make that dream a reality. Some people find out that their career choice wasn’t all they thought it would be, and they end up doing something else, maybe even something they love even more. How about you? How did you get started on your career path?

My career spanned 37 years as a teacher in California public schools. I have always loved school and learning, but when I started college, becoming a teacher was not on my list of things to do with my life. It wasn’t until my junior year of college, after dropping out for a few months and becoming a nanny, that I realized the path I should take. The funny thing was that the parents of my sixth-grade class knew I would be a teacher fourteen years before I did!

I went to school at Garden Grove Elementary (K-6) in Reseda, California. I had wonderful teachers. I loved school. I loved learning for learning’s sake. Today I would probably be labeled “nerdy,” or “a geek,” in fact. I still remember  my teachers at that school. Each one gave me the gift of knowledge and inspired me to become the best I could be. Special memories surround my relationship with each teacher. I wanted to be like them when I was little. I even idolized a few of them, as some small children are wont to do.

Back in the day the parents of sixth-graders at Garden Grove Elementary would host what was called a “Culmination.” It was a celebration of promotion–moving on from elementary school to junior high school. The day’s festivities ended in a luncheon. At every student’s place there was a small scroll. The scroll contained a fortune, a fun prediction for our possible futures. Each one was written with that particular student in mind. Mine went something like this… You will be the mother of 27 children. Oh, pardon me. You will be a teacher at Garden Gulch School.

I know these little fortunes were not meant to be anything more than a fun little memento, but I can’t help wondering how many of them actually came true. As for me, I guess I was fated to become a teacher. My career was unusual, compared to most, I think. And even though I didn’t actually teach at Garden Gulch School, I did spend most of my career teaching in a rural community.

TO BE CONTINUED

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Shall We Dance?

~ marestales

Just the other day, I told one of my nieces about watching my parents learn how to do “the twist.” Chubby Checker’s version of the song by the same name, coupled with his appearance on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand in 1960, created a dance craze that became popular among young and old alike. Mom and Dad were both in their forties, Dad probably closer to fifty, when this incident occurred.

They had just finished a night of bowling for their league and were getting a couple drinks with friends at the bar. (I was only about 10-12 years old, but I was the team’s scorekeeper.) I remember the adults demonstrating “the twist” by pretending to hold a bath towel across their backsides, then pulling it to the right, then the left, back and forth, while twisting their body, pretending to dry off. Looked right to me, but maybe they were just mocking the teenagers. Nah, they would never…

My father loved to dance. He had music in his soul, just like me. When he left home in 1930-31, at the beginning of the Great Depression, he headed west with a friend. The two young men ended up in Las Vegas. They enjoyed going clubbing and dancing with the women they would meet. Maybe that’s when he learned to dance so well, and to play blackjack (but I digress). Later, as he told it, he worked as a dancer for Lawrence Welk, getting the audience “warmed up” before the show. Haven’t completely verified these tales, but I can imagine them happening.

I am not sure Mom loved to dance as much as Dad did, but she seemed happy when she danced with him. They were the perfect partners. He guided her across many a dance floor, and she followed him step by step. They were smooth dancers, gliding or bopping to the music depending on the beat, and made it look so easy. What fun it was to watch them on the dance floor! It was even more fun whenever Dad took this little daughter of his onto the floor and let me dance on his toes. I felt like a princess at the ball!

Dancing is a special part of my parents’ tale, but it is also a huge part of mine. I went to my first school dance 52 years ago, seventh grade, met my first boyfriend, and we danced almost every dance, at almost every school dance after that, for six years! (That’s a whole nother story.) Then, there were the years of dancing with my husband when we were dating and in the early years of our marriage. Later on were the years of putting on school dances as Club Live advisor for middle schoolers, or as Activities Director at our local high school, showing off some moves of my own on occasion, or chaperoning church dances. The music is still in me and finds ways to express itself–tapping a foot, the occasional dancing for exercise, or moving to the beat while cooking and cleaning.

Dancing may not be a part of your tale, but it is just another example of how we can show our tale or that of our ancestors. Do you enjoy dancing, or do you think you can’t dance? Have you or any of your family members learned a cultural dance from the land of your ancestors? What dances were popular as you grew up? Was square dancing a part of your P.E. program in school? Think about how dancing has been a part of your life, and don’t be afraid to show your tale.

Holiday Traditions

~ marestales

Just one more day before the holiday season is officially begun. For most of us, at least in the United States, Thanksgiving Day is to the winter holiday season as Memorial Day is to the summer vacation season. That is, the traditional “opening day.” What are your family’s Thanksgiving traditions? Is it a time for feasting yourself into a food coma? (That happened a lot in our family over the years.)  Do you get together or reconnect somehow with family? Do you put up your Christmas decorations?  Do you gather around the TV to watch football, or some other favorite show? Do you carry on traditions passed down through generations? Do you know how they began, or by whom? How have your celebrations changed as your family has grown? Is it time to begin a new tradition?

For many years growing up, then as a mother myself, Thanksgiving was always about family and feasting. I have so many wonderful memories of those special days. Even though our family doesn’t get together as often, and the Thanksgiving feast has become much smaller, I have kept my most favorite traditions to bring in the holiday spirit. They include, making a special holiday breakfast and dinner, watching Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, listening to Christmas music, calling to speak with as many family members as possible, and watching my copy of the original Miracle on 34th Street. One of my favorite quotes from that movie is, “Yeah, there’s a lot of bad ‘isms’ floatin’ around this world, but one of the worst is commercialism. Make a buck, make a buck. Even in Brooklyn it’s the same – don’t care what Christmas stands for, just make a buck, make a buck.”  Some things never change.

Since family doesn’t come to our house for Christmas, I have stopped putting up a Christmas tree. A door wreath is decorated with a few select ornaments, instead. Then,  I begin setting out my collection of nativity sets, about forty now, I think. They remind me of the true meaning of Christmas and fill our home with hope, beauty, love, and peace. Each one has its own story to tell of how and why I acquired it, or where it came from, bringing back memories of events and people in my life. I am filled with the same mixed feelings of reverence and excitement that I used to get putting up our tree. Different, yet the same.

We all have Thanksgiving tales. Listen to the elders in your family tell some of theirs. Record their stories, as well as your own. Show your tale to the younger generation around you. Help them understand that while some things may change, many things stay the same.