Friday, March 14, 2008

The Beginning

This blog is in response to my younger sister and mother's request. It is also a good place for me to record the stories I have accumulated over the years of teaching and that I plan to gather in the future. So where to begin is the question...

I guess in the beginning. After I received my education degree, I set out for New Mexico. I taught on the Navajo Reservation for 7 years. It was quite an eye opener. I had done my student teaching at school in which most of the students were either children of the local doctors or the professors at the university. The majority of the students at that school wanted to learn and their parents surely wanted them to be engaged in the learning process. Although I had had a great experience at my training school and my cooperative teacher was quite excellent, as well as job offers from two schools that would have had me working with middle class students. I felt called to the Dine of the Navajo Reservation.

So my parent's, two good friends and I set off to move me to the Northwest Corner of New Mexico. That it in itself is another story that I may tell some time as my parents and I found out that one of my friends was quite a drama queen. Not at all what we had expected. But back to the beginning, I finally arrived at the school. We unloaded the trailer and found that the house that was provided for me had some items that I had brought with me already in it. So I sent my kitchen table, couch and lazy boy back with my folks. The school was a mission school they provided housing and two meals a day at the school. Although it was just cafeteria food. I was quite thankful for this though, as my salary for my first year of teaching in 2000 was going to be $5000 before taxes.

This was my beginning... my love for the Navajo children... and it will be part of the stories I tell here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Stacy,
I love the blog!! Thank you so much for sending me this link. But mostly I am just very happy to hear from you. Thought you might have fallen off the face of the earth for a while...then I find out you're in Cananda, so I guess I was right! Ha! You know, uh, I've never posted on someone's blog before....I don't know the rules. Are there any? Well, anyway, I'm sending a big hug from me to you. That goes for Cindy as well. Let a guy know how you're doin' sometimes, jeesh!!
tyler

Unknown said...

I'm waiting for a new post!! Hint, Hint.......