Ms. Dachowski used to be a Special Education teacher, but this year she moved into Marketing and Business. The switch was not easy at all; she already had her teaching license in Special Education, so she had to take the difficult Praxis test in order to get approved to teach Marketing and Business. She now has a lot more variety and flexibility in what she can teach every day, allowing her to explore exciting new lesson plans and creative project ideas with her classes.
Before Ms. Dachowski became a teacher, she was out in the business world working in marketing. After doing that for 13 years, she moved here and started volunteering right away at the school to get involved with the community. She really wanted to continue to work in marketing, but there were just not a lot of openings available at the time. Because of this, she worked in Special Education as an assistant for three years before she actually started teaching it. Ms. Dachowski then taught Special Education for seven years. She loved being a Special Education teacher and forming strong bonds with her students, but she still really wanted to be a Marketing teacher. Eventually, a spot finally opened up in the business department, and she finally got her wish. Ms. Dachowski is still co-teaching, but now she gets to do what she is truly passionate about every single day.
Ms. Dachowski is now a Marketing and Business teacher here at Kettle Run. Her background as a Special Education teacher has made this adjustment a lot easier because she knows how to meet her students’ individual needs and adapt to all different learning styles; as she explained, it helps her meet students where they are. Ms. Dachowski believes that making a personal connection with her students is the most important part of the job. When it comes to instructing in front of the classroom, there isn’t anything different about her dedication, but the same can’t be said for the rest of her duties. She now has a completely new curriculum to prepare, fresh assignments to grade, and different classroom responsibilities to manage every single day.
Teaching Marketing and Business is a big switch, but it’s not more or less difficult, just different. When asked what advice Ms. Dachowski would give to a teacher who would like to move subjects or divisions in the school, she said, “Try to come to school passionate, if you are happy to be there then it makes the kids more happy to be there. If you find yourself losing the spark that you used to have for what you are teaching, don’t do it anymore.”
