MEET THE TEACHER by Sigrid Toye, Ph.D. Ms Toye is a former L.A. Unified School District teacher and has worked as an educational-behavior therapist in private practice since 1979.
A Taste of Adventure
I
n a town where pets are prized as much as their human counterparts, it wasn’t out of the ordinary that my first introduction to Jesse Wooten, Santa Barbara Middle School’s dean of the eighth grade, English teacher, and wilderness coach, was his dog, Elko. Resting comfortably in the shade under a table outside a Mesa coffee house, head on his huge paws, Elko’s soulful eyes and soft coat were impossible to resist. As I reached down to pet the dog, Jesse said, “See? Now you know why Elko’s my teaching assistant; comes to school with me every day. Kids love him! He’s a rescue dog; my neighbor actually found him wandering in the desert lost and alone. Been with me ever since.” It was a fitting introduction to Jesse’s world on a high summer morning, and with Elko settled in the shade, Wooten and I pulled our chairs up to the table. What a surprise it was to discover that Jesse is not only a teacher at Santa Barbara Middle School (SBMS) but was also a student back in the day. A local boy from the neighborhood, he also attended Montecito Union School (MUS) through sixth grade. “I rode my bicycle to school every day, at both MUS and at middle school,” he says and adds, “I’ve always loved being outdoors and in the open air; it’s freeing,” And it’s quite a ride up a steep hill to the Riviera from the relative flat of Montecito. Preparation for today’s arduous wilderness rides at SBMS, perhaps? Jesse’s mother, born on the island of Kauai, possessed an independent streak and fostered that independence in her children. Of strong Norwegian stock, she encouraged Jesse to do for himself and find his path from the time he was young. High school at Thacher in the Ojai Valley was a perfect fit. “I’ve always loved meeting new people, never got homesick like some of the kids,” he recalls.
Thacher students come from all over and because of that, he says he had “plenty of opportunity to learn about places other than my hometown.” During the summers, he worked construction jobs in Reno and Napa and notes he “just loved the outdoor work/ play and the idea of new adventures.”
A Roundabout Career Path
Apparently, Jesse’s experience in high school extended his horizons considerably. After graduation from Thacher, he was accepted to Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, a long, long way from home. As a history major, he wanted to become a teacher and took the required courses in education but didn’t make it to the credentialing process because “the education courses were tedious.” In his senior year, Wooten decided to try corporate recruiting but realized the corporate world wasn’t for him. Jesse raises his eyes skyward and laughs, remembering the brand-new suit he’d bought at Joseph A. Bank. “It simply didn’t fit,” he says before breaking out into another laugh. He decided to return to the idea of teaching, but his goal was to teach somewhere overseas. “At twenty-one, I wanted to travel,” he says, “so I applied to several international schools, but couldn’t land a job because of my lack of experience. My mom suggested that as long as I was on a job search, I might just want to send my resumé to Santa Barbara Middle School, so I just dropped it off in the mailbox never thinking it would amount to anything.” Jesse’s plan to teach in faraway places actually began with the surprise call from the middle school offering him a job as a teaching intern. He wasn’t the only “rookie” at school that year. Two others came aboard with him, Brian McWilliams, now head of SBMS, and
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Erin Finnegan, present director of the Outdoor Program. The internship led him to his first full-time teaching position at Dunn Middle School in Santa Ynez Valley. Mentored by renowned history teacher and director Ben Wheeler and Mark Kummel, a knowledgeable naturalist and philosopher, Wooten was introduced to ideas that inspired his teaching. “From my mentors at Dunn,” Jesse relates, “I discovered that teaching is the ability to ‘facilitate’ – to help students process and convey complex ideas and problem-solve, to develop their own thoughts and express them verbally and in writing. Dunn was a great experience,” he adds, “and set me on my journey.” Jesse went on to teach in the Los Angeles area, in Van Nuys, and eventually the inner city, gaining experience along the way with a mix of student populations. He then traveled internationally and taught in locations as far away as Bali, Indonesia. “I taught online English classes to Japanese housewives” he quipped. As much as he loved the challenges and adventures, he eventually felt the pull of home and found himself ready to return to his roots in Santa Barbara. The Jesse Wooten who returned home was not the same as the one that had left. His enthusiasm for teaching and the knowledge he’d gained from his varied teaching opportunities led directly to UCSB, where he obtained his California teaching credential and a master’s degree in education.
The Family Business
He’d come full circle and returned to Santa Barbara Middle School as an English teacher, the position he holds today. “When I started again at SBMS over ten years ago, it was like coming home,” he says. “Some of my best friends are the people I work with. We are a big family – I feel at home and loved (most of the time)!” When speaking of family, Jesse mentions that teaching has become part of his own family’s DNA. He and his wife, Lara, also a teacher of fourth- and fifth-graders at Cold Spring School, have two children, Luke (4) and Wyatt (2). Now happily settled in Santa Barbara, Jesse knows that he had needed to explore the world and experience
Santa Barbara Middle School teacher Jesse Wooten and Elko, his constant companion and adventurer-in-common soulmate
many of the things he did to gain a sense of contentment. He quickly added, “I loved all the travel and fun, but now I’m on another adventure – somewhere I haven’t been before – the adventure of fatherhood!” The SBMS philosophy is akin to Jesse’s own. “The middle school years are so important and fun because the kids are going through such a formative transformation,” he observes. At SBMS, the programs from sixth to ninth vary, built around the neurological, emotional, and physical traits of that specific age. “The ability to think and feel is vital to a successful transition from one rite of passage to the next,” Jesse proffers. “At middle school,” he continues, “children learn how they learn in a challenging academic program, and to persevere and serve one another through the outdoor program. Whether it’s in class, or in nature, we get them out of their comfort zone to find out who they really are and what they really think and believe. Being part of this process as a teacher is inspirational and continues to drive my own education and growth.” As our time draws to a close, Jesse asks how he came to my attention. I assured him that he had been highly recommended from the most credible source possible: one of his students, who described Mr. Wooten thusly: “He’s accessible. I can talk to him. He understands... and he’s fun!” What better words could warm the heart of a hard-working and committed teacher? •MJ
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1 – 8 September 2016