Actually, I’m new to the teaching profession but I have been a coach / mentor / executive / supervisor in the business world for many years. All what I would consider good training ground for teaching. Thanks for the encouragement. I will treat every child with respect, teaching the same in return.

Since you aren’t, I *really* hope you will take a job in our district. We need more experienced teachers.

I wish I had permission to refer you to some of the best teachers my sons have had – many with decades of teaching OUSD. They could tell you, much better than I can, how rewarding they find their work, and how they cope with the difficulties and challenges.

Best of luck to you and your students, wherever you go.

I appreciate the input from all of you. My primary goal in teaching is to give back. I understand the environment many of the children I would be working with come from: broken, dysfunctional homes, a lack of the basics many of us come to expect, like positive, encouraging influences, safe and clean neighborhoods, etc. I’m learning more about the issues with OUSD. I’m not naïve and I’m not fresh out of college — I’m aware of the challenges ahead.

You should teach in Oakland because, overall, the students are good to work with (at least at my site). And, if you happen to be a social studies teacher, there are good things happening at the district level.

PS: Hey, Katy, how come you’ve never done a story on the OUSD history writing assessment? See newsletters here: http://teachingamericanhistory.us/resources/assessments/assessment11_3.html

If you decided to become a teacher because you thought it would be easy, Oakland isn’t going to make you happy. You’ll get through your first year, and you’ll take off to another district. As a parent of two OUSD students, I’ve seen it happen over and over.

If you want to teach because you want to change the world, or if you have other sorts of lofty goals about what you can give to your students, and if you’re willing to work *hard*, you’ll find that in OUSD. You’ll also find many students (like my sons) who will fill you with joy as they succeed in your class, and parents like my husband and me who will praise you and thank you, and do everything in our power to support you.

What OUSD needs, desperately, is the teachers who chose a teaching career because they wanted to make a difference. What we don’t need is the continued high turn-over of teachers who found our district too difficult. You’ll have to decide for yourself which category you belong in.

You may think now that you’re in the first category, and in a year’s time decide you’re not. That’s how it goes. But if you decide to give this district your best shot, whatever the ultimate outcome, you’ll know yourself better in a year’s time. You’ll absolutely know what *really* matters to you in a teaching career.