About me

I love teaching. I feel lucky to have found my passion and calling in life and consider it a high honor to be entrusted with educating the next generation.

I am particularly strong in math and science and at Lake Elementary am known as “the Science Guy.” Science projects I have developed include growing and analyzing crystals, building full-scale hot air balloons, and learning electronics by having the students build a Jeopardy machine. I also very much enjoy social studies. To teach the age of exploration, I developed a board game where students roll play and incorporate strategies and tactics to “reveal” the new world. (The game involves moving ships to spots on the board that are covered with cardboard. The students then lift cardboard pieces to reveal something new about the world they are “discovering.”)

Most of all, I love developing thematic units that tie the curriculum together. For example, for the science of flight unit, I incorporate science (the science behind flight, building rockets), math (graphs, bar charts, mean, mode, range), writing (science write-ups), and social studies (history of flight, report writing).

I enjoy collaborating with my colleagues and involving parents and students from other classes in school-wide projects. I invited an astronomer from Amateur Astronomers of the Pacific to bring telescopes to the school to look at the stars and even the sun. Two years ago, my class built a Jeopardy machine, and we organized a Jeopardy tournament at Lake Elementary

I believe in taking the initiative and filling in where necessary. Since art and music funding has been cut, I have taught night photography, photojournalism, and world music appreciation.

I have a CLAD credential and have taught for the last four years at Lake Elementary in San Pablo. The school is culturally diverse, and each year one-third to one-half of my students has been English learners. As a result, I have learned to effectively use small groups to remediate and differentiate instruction.

Contact Me

If you are interested in my work or want to learn more, email me at eswabeck@yahoo.com.