Gilroy
– Former mechanical engineer William Parton seems to have found
his calling.
The engineering lifestyle just wasn’t for him, the new teacher
said, particularly when 10 people were sharing office space not
much larger than a cubicle.
Instead, the 24-year-old prefers to be in control of his Gilroy
middle school classroom, interacting with students all da
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Former mechanical engineer William Parton seems to have found his calling.
The engineering lifestyle just wasn’t for him, the new teacher said, particularly when 10 people were sharing office space not much larger than a cubicle.
Instead, the 24-year-old prefers to be in control of his Gilroy middle school classroom, interacting with students all day.
With engineering, “the work day is so difficult, the days go by so slowly,” Parton said. “Here, the days just fly by: It seems like I’m barely here and the final bell rings.”
This is Parton’s first year as a full-time classroom teacher. And although a rookie, he started teaching electives at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School this fall with some valuable experience under his belt: He spent last year substitute teaching in various schools in Gilroy Unified School District.
“As a substitute, I learned a lot,” Parton said. “I wouldn’t want to go into this any other way.”
Parton expected that stepping into a classroom full of teen-age students for the first time last year would be more difficult than it turned out to be.
“It actually makes it pretty easy because you’re not really worried about things you think might happen,” Parton said. “You just go with the flow.
“You have to build a relationship with the students from the very beginning, you have to let the student know you’re there not just for a job, but because you want to be there.”
After a few months of substitute teaching, Parton enrolled in a joint credential and masters degree program. He expects to be credentialed by next June to begin teaching middle school math next fall.
After one full month of teaching life skills to sixth-graders and an introductory computer class to seventh-graders, Parton said being with the same students day in and day out means he can ask more of them. Being a substitute made it hard to leave at the end of the day, he said. The consistency that students need is difficult to establish in only one day.
“Here, from the very beginning, I can communicate to them what I need and what they have to do,” Parton said. “And they can get used to it, and get used to my expectations.”
Parton was drawn to the classroom much like he and his wife, Holly, were drawn to Gilroy from Michigan, where they both grew up. The couple were married in summer 2003, just after William was laid off from his engineering job. Two months later, they were getting ready to move to Gilroy, where Holly had accepted her first teaching job at Brownell Academy Middle School.
They decided to leave their home state of Michigan behind, mostly because they wanted to escape the winters there. When Holly received a response within a half-hour of submitting her GUSD application, it seemed like a sign. Actually visiting the town sealed the deal.
“We came here for a weekend, just so my wife could sign some papers,” Parton said. “We stayed in the Leavesley Inn and smelled garlic every morning and that was it – we knew we had to come here.”
He sees himself continuing to teach middle school students because they are just becoming more involved in their own education.
The most surprising thing about being a new teacher, Parton says, is the continuing training he receives, something he says would never happen in the engineering world. But more important is the support he gets from his fellow teachers – beginning teachers are mentored by veterans – and the district.
“It’s, ‘Do you need this?’ or, ‘What can we do to help you?’,” he said, “which actually translates to, ‘What can we do for students?'”
The support of his wife helps, too.
“If I’m struggling with lesson plans or with ideas, … she’ll smooth all the rough edges, so it’s a big help,” he said.
The two are in the process of purchasing their first home in the La Maestra development through a teacher housing program offered by South County Housing, GUSD and the city. Coming from Michigan, and a higher paying career, Gilroy’s home prices were a shock.
“We came out here and realized we could afford to buy somebody’s garage,” Parton said.
– This is the first in a series of articles focused on first-year teacher William Parton
