New Yaak teacher excited to start

The Yaak’s newest school teacher, Sabre Alderete, is very excited to start her dream job at the start of the school year.

Alderete’s first day teaching will be Wednesday, August 21.

“When this job came open, oh my goodness. It was awesome. It was a dream come true,” she said.

People are so friendly up in the Yaak, she said. Alderete is originally from Texas, but has been coming to the Yaak to visit friends for the past four years.

At this point, Alderete’s plan is to come into the school year following how Rose Wilson, the previous school teacher, had been working with students. Then, up to a certain point, change the teaching style a little to align better with her own personality.

In the military, when new commanders come in, they observe to see what was working well, she said. That is because change is not needed if something is already working well, “you want to just tweak it.”

A couple years ago, a Yaak student got 100 percent on the state’s math test, which means that the instruction, curriculum, teacher and student all flowed well together to get to that point, she said.

After 23 years in the Air Force, Alderete said she retired to become a teacher. She has a masters degree in teaching special education, and a degree to teach kindergarten to 8th grade.

Now, her biggest goal is to see her incoming kindergarten students progress all the way through 8th grade.

Alderete said she values having individual, one-on-one time with students.

Alderete said when she teaches in a small school room environment she both breaks students into small groups and groups people together because students learn from each other. There is a lot of collaboration among students, she said.

Alderete appreciates the opportunities a one-room schoolhouse offers. One of the benefits of a small school is that students can progress at their own pace and not be held back if they are excelling, she said.

In big city schools, students are stuck at a learning pace which they have to stay at, she said. The curriculum the Yaak school currently is using is fabulous.

Wilson, who is helping Alderete learn the new school curriculum, said Alderete’s experience working with special education students directly correlates to the individual work Alderete will be doing at the Yaak School.

“Our goal is to have the children learn at their own speed and pace -- we want what’s best for them,” she said.

Alderete has become a good friend since her hiring in December, she said. Adding, that they share a similar teaching philosophy and that Alderete “is very caring.”

There can be some difficulties working in a small teaching environment, such as not having enough students to play games like baseball, she said. And with reading it can be challenging “when they say turn and talk to your partner, and there’s no partner.”

But, “she’s been in the field and knows her stuff,” she said.

Wilson said she is excited for Alderete to start. This is Alderete’s dream job and where she has wanted to come.

“I am very excited,” Alderete said. “I just thank the parents for trusting their kids’ education with me.”