BACKGROUND
JOANNE
PAYLING
First-Year Eighth Grade Teacher
Pleasanton (CA) Middle School
"Kids Come First"
This is my school district's motto. And how perfect it feels to me, a new teacher. I love the philosophy that this thing we call teaching is all about the kids. Not the red tape, not the meetings, not the tests, not the teachers or the parents, not the rules, not the report cards. The kids. All the rest will follow and get done if we remember why we signed that employment contract. I will officially begin my new career as an 8th grade Language Arts teacher at Pleasanton Middle School on August 23. The students arrive on August 28th. I am excited, nervous, and raring to get started. From the moment I was hired two months ago I have been working on unit and lesson plans. I still have so much more to do, but I am enjoying every minute of it. To understand my school it helps to understand our setting and history. The city of Pleasanton is in the Amador Valley, in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area, 30 miles southeast of San Francisco and 30 miles east northeast of the Santa Clara Valley (aka Silicon Valley.) Originally home to the Ohlone Indians, Pleasanton has had several incarnations. The Spanish settled here and nearby Mission San Jose used the area as pastureland for their cattle herds. Next the California Gold Rush turned the small community into an important mercantile stopover for the 49'ers as they rushed to the gold-laden Sierra Nevada foothills about 100 miles due east. Ranching and farming continued to expand in this valley and by the turn of the 20th century, Pleasanton was the definition of Small Town America and it has managed to retain that feeling at the beginning of the 21st century. With a population of 66,000, Pleasanton is now home to Northern California's largest business park. Many people commute from Pleasanton to jobs in the surrounding Bay Area, but just as many commute into our community. Home prices here are some of the highest in the nation, and as a result, our school population is mostly upper middle class. Education is a priority for most families and our district is well supported with monies and volunteers. When I was subbing one day, a teacher whispered to me that in this district teachers have less trouble with the students but more pressure from parents who expect Michael and Sarah to get straight A's so they can win entrance to the prestigious universities like Stanford, Berkeley and Smith. About my school and myself Pleasanton Middle School has almost 1100 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Of that number 235 are minority students, or about 20%. Asians are the greatest percentage among the minorities, followed by Hispanics/Latinos. Fifty students are designated as English Language Learners or Fluent English Proficient. Compared to most of California, this is an exceptionally low number. When I substituted at PMS in the spring, I had one child from Romania, one from Russia, several from India, China, and Japan. This diversity excites me and I am planning activities to include learning about all the countries represented in my classes. I come to teaching via a circuitous route. I earned my B.S. in Education in 1975. From my earliest memories, I had always wanted to be a teacher. Then I did my student teaching. I quickly realized that I didn't feel old enough or wise enough to teach these children, and to deal with their out-of-school problems, which, naturally, had an enormous impact on their school life. I will never forget the children in that class who came from the "orphanage" up the hill. These were the last days of group homes, and I saw the sad results of abandoned children with no hope. I'll never forget the little boy in that class whose father had been murdered. He seemed fine on the surface, but his handwriting was so tiny, so infinitesimal, that I practically needed a magnifying glass to read it. I felt I was nowhere near ready to cope with such situations. Since I wasn't prepared to do anything else, I decided to go to graduate school at the University of Illinois and earn an M.S. in Library Science. This accomplished, I spent the next 24 years working at a variety of full or part-time librarian positions while I followed my husband on his career path and raised two children. My years as a librarian expanded my love of learning. I was raised in the Air Force by two parents who loved to travel and who loved to read. We lived in Germany and England in my youth, as well as in six states. We camped all over Europe and the United States, learning to love all the places we experienced and always with a book in our hands. My traveling and reading continue today as well as a love of research and the added bonus of a love of young people. Raising a son and daughter (now 18 and 12) and getting to know and love their friends, I finally realized I was old enough and wise enough to teach. Not only that but I seemed to wake up one morning and hear a clarion call to the teaching profession. I still love librarianship, but I felt the need to explore teaching. Middle school seemed right for me With a divorce imminent, I decided to substitute last year and I joined the Middleweb listserv. My experiences convinced me that teaching middle schoolers might well be the passion I was looking for. I didn't seem to click with high school or elementary students. The days spent subbing in the middle schools were by far my favorite. I haven't analyzed the chemistry yet, but I know it exists. Perhaps as I become an experienced teacher I will understand why these kids capture my imagination and my heart. But the why isn't really important. It simply is. In the upcoming year my primary goal is to do no damage. (Hearty guffaw here.) Beyond that I want to discover if this calling I believe I hear is true. It has certainly been fun and exciting so far working up lesson plans for The Call of the Wild and The Diary of Anne Frank and thinking of ways to approach spelling and grammar teaching. However, I recognize that the reality of facing six classes of 30 students every day will be the most challenging thing I have ever done. Will I be an effective teacher? Will the kids like me? What happens if they don't??? Will I be able to hold my temper on those days when the sinus headache is pounding?So many worries and concerns. Yet through all that, mostly I am hoping to make a great connection with a great group of students and to teach with an infectious enthusiasm so that they will choose to own their learning and even enjoy it! If I can remember that Kids Come First, I believe this will be a great year.
Read
Joanne Payling's first diary entry
