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Greetings,
My name is Michael Berwald and I am very excited to be teaching here at Bret Harte Middle School for my 7th school year. My experiences in middle and high school and throughout college were shaped by influential teachers and coaches and I feel honored to have the opportunity to be this positive influence in other students' lives.
I graduated from Los Gatos High School in 1998, relishing my teachers and aquatics coaches there, while beginning my own coaching career over summers as a cabana club level (5-18 year olds) assistant swim coach. After graduating, I continued my education at University of California - Santa Barbara and graduated from there in 2002 with a BS in Geologic Sciences. Every summer of college, I returned to my hometown to continue coaching, earning important finances for my school year but, more importantly, realizing my love for education and coaching and my appreciation of the schools, teachers and community that provided the foundations for successes in my own life.
Following college, I found an entry level position in environmental consulting and moved up to Oakland to begin my career as a geologist. Even while in Oakland, I would return daily during the fall season to coach the JV Girls water polo team at Los Gatos with a former teammate. The opportunity to transfer to Sydney, Australia arose and I leapt at the chance to see the other side of the world and live in another culture for a two year period. I loved my experiences "down under" and cherished the people I was able to meet and the places I was able to see. My overseas experience also crystalized my appreciation of "home" and what it means to be part of a community.
After returning from my travels abroad, I continued my consulting career at a small company in Los Gatos and also was presented with the opportunity to return to coaching at my former alma mater. I began coaching the combined Boys and Girls swim teams in 2008 with one of my most influential mentors, my high school freshman year English teacher. I had the added incentive to see children I had taught to swim when they were 5, now young adults swimming in high school. The two of us, along with a third coach, a science teacher at the high school, had a somewhat hectic but truly rewarding and inspirational first season. Over the last eleven years, we have continued to coach together, growing and learning ourselves, as coaches. Working alongside these high school teachers and also with high school age athletes, I have realized that I have a natural talent for working with and educating students. My passion for the sciences and my realization that many students are uninterested in them further stoked the fire in me to pursue a teaching profession.
This will be my seventh year here at Bret Harte and I have been a 6th Grade Science teacher here for five years, along with four years as an 8th Grade teacher. This will be me first year in the 6th Grade Wheel program; an opportunity for an introduction to science in the real world. I feel well-positioned to implement the new NGSS Standards, given my background as a working geologist; these are new national standards aimed at improving scientific thinkers, not create Jeopardy champions through memorization of facts and figures.
I enter this year excited to work with you, the parents of my students. Please feel free to reach out to me at any time to discuss your child's experience in our science class. Thank you in advance for your help with and participation in our school community.
Sincerely,
Michael Berwald
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