Next year The Stoppels Show will be moving from Brookfield High School to Woodroffe High School to teach in their General Learning Program and Dual Support Program classes.
My department headship in math/science and computer science at Brookfield is ending this year and so because of that I decided to try to see what other teaching jobs were out there for me.
The last post I wrote on this blog mentioned that my class is a punk show. Well it was at that punk show that I decided I wanted to work with students who were tough to serve. I wanted to work with students who might be considered underdogs.
I spent the first six yeras of my full time permantent teaching career working with students with special needs in a Developmental Disabilities Program, and then I spent the next six years of my career teaching grade nine and ten science, and in these last six years in science I learned that I want to teach Speical Education. I think I did a really good job in my position as a teacher in a Developmental Disabilities Program and I want to get abck to having that kind of impact on my studetns. I think I did a good job as a science teacher, but I'm a really good Special Education Teacher.
It's not so much me leaving Brookfield as it is me going to Woodroffe. There weren't any spec ed classes for me to teach at Brookfield, so I had to look elsewhere. But it's going to be really hard for me to leave Brookfield. I love that school. It's a really speacial place to work. The number one thing to me that makes it so special is that the teachers all support each other. There isn't a lot of catiness, or drama. Sure, it happens, but generally speaking there is not much "teacher tea" and if there is, it gets sorted out.
While I was only at Brookfield for two short years, I'll be forever grateful for the opportunity to work there, and to have gained some experience as a department head. I loved being a leader, and learning about myself as a person and as a professional. I'm so thankful to my department for all their support, and for letting me support them. I really felt like I was part of a team, and that we were all rooting for each other. I took the job at Brookfield to get out of a really toxic environment at my previous school and ended up falling in love with that place.
Before going to Brookfield I did a lot of work with my therapist so that I wouldn't repeat the same mistakes I made at my last school. I realized that I was just as responsible for the toxic work environment as my colleagues over there, and I had to work hard to reign in my ego so that I could be an effective leader and to build lasting positive relationships. And I did it, I made a lot of friends at Brookfield.
I'm forever thankful for my time at Brookfield!
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