Is it possible to love a job? I knew I wanted to go back to school, and I knew that I would need a year to de-stress from eight years of directing a preschool. I needed to get my “ducks in a row” for a teaching credential. And somehow, I found my dream job…or we found each other.
Craigslist had a posting for a shadow aide for a child with Prader-Willi Syndrome at a small independent school near downtown Berkeley. Quickly, I googled PWS; it was not a pretty picture. A defect of the 15th chromosome causes, among other things, constant hunger, food-seeking behavior, and behavior problems, including tantrums. This was right up my alley.
The school was my favorite independent school in the world, a small 60 year old progressive constructivist elementary school, where I had taught in the after school program many years ago. Some of the teachers were friends of mine; I admired all of them and could not wait to be given the chance to jump into their classrooms and learn.
I fell in love with the family who had placed the ad, and I fell in love with their kid. I now had a mentor teacher in a classroom of twenty students. The school values diversity, and is generous with scholarships. I was in the perfect place to learn.
