TEACHING

Teacher Training

I earned a secondary teaching credential in 1971 through the B-2 intern program at John Adams High School in Portland, Oregon. Designed by seven doctoral students at Harvard, the program’s stated goal was to attract minority teachers. To be admitted, applicants had to either have a college degree or be within 15 hours of graduation.

I ended up interning for one year at John Adams High, while also attending a three-hour seminar each week with other interns. We were paid three-quarters of a starting teacher’s salary, and “compensated” with 45 hours of graduate credit. Upon completion, we were awarded a teaching certificate from Oregon State University.

1973-76 John Adams High School

The first few years of my new life as a teacher were spent in the Quincy School, which was a school within a school. I taught language arts and critical thinking classes, which ranged from “Sports and Society” to “Personality and Language Skills”. Additionally, I was tasked with monitoring the academic progress of 20 students per year as a counselor.

1979-80 Substitute Teacher, Portland Public Schools

1994-95 Grant High School

1994 brought me to Grant High School, which just so happened to be my eldest daughter’s alma mater. I committed myself -albeit as a volunteer- completely to them; teaching two senior English classes by day, and a writing class by night.

1997-2010 Community of Writers

For what would become a baker’s decade, I taught 40-hour professional development workshops to teachers (worth four credits) with the goal to improve classroom writing instruction. The workshops were accredited by Portland State University, Oregon State University and University of Oregon. 1,700 teachers ended up completing the program, coming from Portland, Tigard Tualatin, North Clackamas, Beaverton, Evergreen and Candy School Districts.