New year, new class, new teacher: Ryan Yamauchi is a returning Kalani alumni, now teaching ninth- and eleventh-grade English in resources. Though he is now a teacher, he used to be a student there and has returned to give back to his community.
“For me, having graduated from Kalani back in 2010, it’s really nice being back here and a part of the community contributing to the school,” he says.
Although he is somewhat new to the teaching scene, he has experience working one-on-one with students for three years as an educational assistant.
“I was actually working here as an EA for a couple years mostly doing one on one work with students,” Yamauchi says. “The teacher from last year left to pursue a career in journalism, I believe, so there was an opening, and they asked me if I was willing to work for this year, and I said it would be a good experience, so things just kind of lined up.”
Yamauchi says resource classes are for students with an IEP or 504, meaning that they require “extra accommodations” to complete the general education curriculum.
He likes teaching students in this resource setting because it’s more flexible than most other classes. Because of this flexibility, his classes are mainly based on the students’ opinions rather than his own rules.
“We’ve talked about creating a class constitution where students are allowed to provide feedback on how they feel their learning should be going or what improvements could be made to the overall class,” Yamauchi says.
To add to that, he prioritizes having a good relationship and strong communication with his students.
He tries to create conversation with each and every one of his students, “tailoring” their conversations and discussions to where it strengthens their individual relationships, allowing Yamauchi to create “rapport” and mutual understanding between student and teacher.
Although he is currently teaching at Kalani, he is considering continuing his career elsewhere.
One of his goals is to teach in a university in Japan, he shares.
Having graduated with a master’s degree in English, his main focus and aspiration was creative writing. So far, he has published a book review and is in the process of publishing a short story.
“I realized in my writing that I don’t have enough experience being out there in the world, and I think it’s very important for people in general, but very specifically to have a wealth of experiences and events to pull from for writing,” Yamauchi says.
