WELCOME: Mr. James Patterson is the new head of the Poly credit recovery program.
By Caleb Gonzales, Staff Writer
For the past two years, Mr. Israel Leon has run the credit recovery course at Poly. However, this year these responsibilities have shifted over to Mr. James Patterson. Patterson came to Poly with a degree in English and is credentialed to teach elementary school children, but he could not be suited more perfectly to handle high school students in a similar environment.
Credit recovery is a course in which students are able to make up any previous course they may have struggled with or failed. For the instructor, this demands a great deal of general knowledge of all subjects – from English to Economics to Astronomy – in order to handle the individual needs of students and the wide spectrum of classes available. “I’m really enjoying getting to know the students and having to adjust to this different form of teaching. It’s very different from how I’ve taught classes in the past,” Patterson said.
Patterson’s first teaching position came with the Clemmie Gill School of Science and Conservation (SCICON), where he taught Outdoor Education to school children in fifth to sixth grade. “I’d teach ecology [and] forestry; I taught about birds […] And then, of course, the enthusiasm of working with students also started at that time,” Patterson explained. He finished his teaching credentials afterwards, with Point Loma University, in the summer of 2007. When he began to apply for teaching positions the next week, he received a call for a job about an hour after submitting one of his applications. Since then, Patterson has taught in the Edison School District, McFarland School District and Semitropic Elementary before he came to Riverside Unified School District.
Since his job with SCICON, Patterson has not lost enjoyment of the great outdoors. He hopes to one day be afforded the chance to photograph them; he looks forward to a day when both a camera and abundant time are available.
The students in Credit Recovery this year are in the hands of someone who is well-equipped and hopeful to see every student taking the course to succeed. Welcome, Mr. Patterson, to both Riverside and Poly!