Robert Doss
Dear Sixth-Grade Families,
Welcome to a new academic year! My name is Robert Doss, and I am your child’s sixth-grade Language Arts and Social Studies teacher. I am very excited to be joining the great staff at La Entrada, and I am really excited to get to know all of you! La Entrada Middle School is an amazing school, and I am honored to be part of it.
Before we begin this grand journey, I wanted to take a moment and provide you and your child with a little information about myself. Currently I live in Redwood City with my beautiful wife, Amy, and my two amazing children. My children have two teachers for parents. (Which means they are getting homework for sure!) My daughter, Dakota, is a very talented seventh-grader with a flare for the dramatic, and my son, Hunter, is a very active third-grader who loves Minecraft and Roblox. In our family we have three cats, two hamsters, and a new puppy. (What did we get ourselves into?) Life at our house is definitely not a calm Norman Rockwell painting, but I love it!
My teaching career started in 1998 when I received my B.A. in Elementary Education with a History Minor from the University of Anchorage Alaska. After teaching in Anchorage, my dream of living in the Bay Area presented itself. Seizing the opportunity, I left Alaska in January 2000, and I moved here to California. Alaska is an fantastic place, but winters in the Bay Area cannot be beat!
The last 18 years of my teaching career have been terrific. I have had the privilege to work with students from all around the Bay Area. I have taught second-grade through sixth-grade in many different configurations. I have worked with many gifted and talented students over the years, and through the years I have really enjoyed getting to know each family. As a teacher, I have had the privilege of watching students that I taught come back to visit with me after they have gone off to college. (Some of them are now much taller than I am.) Each year has been different, but also very special. This year I am very excited to have the opportunity to return to my favorite grade, sixth- grade! I absolutely love working with sixth-graders. I especially enjoy that they love learning, and that they understand my jokes most of the time.
My first years of teaching in the Bay Area were adventurous and full of learning! Teaching fifth-grade through sixth-grade students in San Jose and Hayward taught me the value of creating positive relationships with my students. I learned very quickly that my role as a teacher is to inspire, encourage and motivate. When students are explicitly taught the skills they need, and are given the support they need when they need it, they can all really shine.
During these last years 18 years, I have rigorously taught the California content standards to my students. My goal has been to make the learning meaningful, inspiring and most of all fun. I accomplish this through exciting reading and writing assignments along with many hands-on projects. As I am sure you already know, engaging lessons really bring learning to life. I am thrilled when students take off like a rocket ship, grabbing on with both hands to what we are learning, making it their own. Great passion and power can be created when students take charge of their learning.
After teaching in Hayward and Palo Alto, I returned to teach in San Jose in 2008. Throughout my last 12 years in San Jose, I worked with students from third-grade to sixth-grade. During my career in San Jose, I served in various leadership positions including working as the Principal Designee when asked. I helped develop, implement and launch the addition of a new middle school program to an existing elementary program. As a community, my students and I explored all subjects areas. We built, and launched water rockets, gravity racers, and created stink mobiles in science. We researched and explored high student interest topics in reading and writing. We even spent warm nights in the Redwoods camping together. To this day I consider it a true victory that all of my students returned to their families without any cases of Poison Oak! I look back on those years with great joy.
My time teaching has provided me with the training, tools and the experience to propel students of all academic abilities. I have worked with students who are very talented and gifted, students who are still developing as English Learners, and students with various disabilities, but who are equally gifted and amazing.
Currently I am working with teachers from Teachers College, so I can add even more new tools to my belt. One of the ways I stay passionate about teaching is by learning new practices. It’s invigorating to watch what I am learning impact students positively. Even after all of these years, teaching still makes me smile.
What else can I tell you about myself? In addition to teaching, I live an active life in Redwood City. I love spending time with my family and friends. I chauffer my children around dictated by their active social calendars, drink lots of coffee, plan as many dates with my wife as possible, take care of our many pets, and pursue my love of photography. I am really fortunate to lead such a rich life.
How do I sum up all of my years in the classroom, well it’s quite simple, “I truly love what I do.”
Warmly,
Rob Doss
