Taya Wyatt

Mills College was an all-women's, private, liberal arts college located in Oakland, CA. I was the last graduating class before the institution was bought by Northeastern College as their West Coast campus. I attended Mills College for four years and obtained two degrees. One in studio art with a focus on analog photography and one in art history with a focus on the influence of East Asian and North African Art on Western Artists.

First Job: working in Classrooms to support and fill in for teachers.
I helped organize and distribute the curriculum to classrooms, with the responsibility to understand the difference in age groups and what their focus/ academic goals should be.

This was a seasonal summer job that I returned to on my summer break between College years.
In 2019 I was hired to join teachers in their classes in whatever way needed. I put together crafts and activities and helped students with coursework. I worked to create mutual trust and understanding with students so they were comfortable asking me for help and saw me as a mentor.
In my last year at OES in 2021, I was offered a higher position. My new role came with a new job title and responsibilities. I was officially a lead teacher, I had a co-teacher and rotating assistants. We had a different group of students in the morning and afternoon each week for 7 weeks, the group numbers varied between 5-20 students ranging from 6-13 years old. I faced multiple challenges, these included working cohesively with another teacher and making sure we were balancing work and communicating well. We organize activities and volunteer opportunities for the students to give back to their community. We often worked after hours to make sure our daily schedule fit the individual groups accordingly.
Outside school hours I took a course to get certified to drive school buses. I was recertified in First Aid/CPR and took a course to understand and recognize workplace harassment and discrimination. I was a mandatory reporter for students I had reasonable belief a student was trying to harm themselves, a danger to others, or being abused.

Worked 1-on-1 with students who needed extra support on the subjects and homework assigned. I was hired by the program to help mainly with grammar, reading, and general writing for students between the ages of 6-9 years old.