New Brook Knoll Teacher Hopes to Bring Community Into the Classroom

Adam Wolff is the new third-grade teacher at . Receiving both his BA in community studies and his master's from the , this 29-year-old has a truck load of teaching techniques and community-inspired ideals he hopes to incorporate into the classroom.

Patch had a chance to chat with Wolff and can say with certainty that this new teacher is going to make some valuable contributions at Brook Knoll.

Patch: What's your background in education?

Wolff: My background in education consists of my student teaching through the University of Santa Cruz program where I taught kindergarten at Westlake Elementary and taught at . Overall I did 150 hours of substitute teaching across the county, and six months of teaching in the alternative education department, where I student-taught for three schools. I've pretty much taught all over the county.

Patch: What excites you about teaching in general?

Wolff: Teaching excites me because I feel like it's integral to the community. I see education as the driving force of our community and I hope that I can work with students and the community to strengthen ties of mutual respect, cooperation, and individual responsibility. These ideas are kind of descriptive of a lot of goals related to class rules and interaction, and I feel like they kind of encompass the whole classroom-management strategy.

Patch: Why did you want to become a teacher?

Wolff: There are a lot of reasons that I chose the teaching route that have evolved over the years, but what has stayed constant is my desire to serve my local community.

I wanted to become a teacher because I had a lot of good teachers growing up and admired them and wanted a life like they did where I was making an impact in the community. I realized that teachers aren't only good for inside the classroom, but they're key to the community outside the classroom as well, because they're educating the kids that are going to be the next generation.

Around 2006, when I was at Cabrillo, I made the decision to become a teacher. I had thought about doing PE but decided that teaching elementary school was ultimately what I wanted to do and I've been on that track ever since.

Patch: What do you like about teaching your selected grade level?

Wolff: I am elated about teaching third-grade because I see it as the perfect age, developmentally, to foster important ideals. Between the ages of 7 and 10 we all make the conceptual leap of realizing who we are in relation to our environment, and I see this as fertile grounds to empower or even emancipate our roles from ties of separation that are so entrenched in our society.

Patch: What do you hope to bring to the classroom?

Wolff: I hope to bring a fresh perspective to the classroom. I want to engender structures of cooperation instead of competition, and responsibility in place of compliance and apathy. I definitely think there's a systemic problem with the larger society in whole focusing on competition, when it should be based more on cooperation and social-skills building. I also want to encourage students to have authentic respect in place of tolerance to differences.

I follow the conceptual framework of positive discipline, which focuses on a character-building model that provides the foundation for effective academics. My desire is to sustain a safe environment for all my students’ varied wants and needs.

I want to be someone who can be steady and be known as a good educator in the area. I also think it's really important to bring the community back to school by bringing people from outside the classroom inside the classroom.

Patch: What interests you in Brook Knoll?

Wolff: I'm from the San Lorenzo Valley and it's where the majority of my family and friends live. Brook Knoll was one of the top schools on my list because of the proximity to where I hope to live, the community support and resources allotted and the veteran-teacher base it hosts.

Coming into a school like Brook Knoll you know that the support of the community is already with you. I'm the youngest by 12 or 14 years of experience, so we definitely have a real mentoring group up here that makes me feel like I'm coming into a wealth of knowledge.