My teaching partner is a slender, red-headed vegan, originally from San Francisco, but most recently from Reno. She had a rough year last school year, so she wanted to get away and escape to some place less stressful.
She has six K-2 students. That's the age that I'm usually most comfortable with. My partner, on the other hand, has never worked in an early childhood classroom. Most of her experience has been with secondary students. Each of us is working outside our comfort area. We talked about trading jobs, but we both had reasons for wanting to do the exact job we're doing. And since each of us has expertise the other lacks, we have built-in mentors!
We are about the same age (50-something), and both come from a special education background. She is teaching P.E. to all the students, while I teach them fine/cultural arts. Neither of us teaches our subjects in the way the kids expected. I teach Art, for example, with a heavy dose of Art History mixed in. My partner's P.E. classes include yoga, meditation, and martial arts.
Sam is her dog. His body is kind of houndish, but his face looks Labby. He's a very active dog, so he and Shadow get along pretty well. He's also a bigger dog, so he and Cody get along, too. He even gets along with Monster Cat, the kitten that I had to give back to my partner when Shadow wouldn't stop barking at him. The first day Sam and MC were together, the cat was playing with Sam's tail. This morning, I saw Sam staring out the window at some of the kids as they passed by on their way to school. He wasn't barking, just watching the kids. Sometimes he walks into my house to see the dogs. Sometimes my dogs go to Sam's house and "ask" if Sam can come out to play. It's a nice dynamic.
I'm lucky to have such a great partner to share this experience. The dogs are all lucky, too!
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