Background on this blog and Project Promise.

I am Paul Burkhard, a guy who wants to be a teacher. I have wanted to be a teacher for a long time, but got sidetracked early in life and went into another career. Now, some 20 years later, I have decided that teaching is what I must do.

To further this goal, I applied for and was accepted into Project Promise, a program specifically designed for transitional professionals who wish to become teachers. The program is based at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO.

Our program, Project Promise 16, began on August 2, 2004. In the first couple of weeks, we have developed a "cohort," a cohesive and supportive group that is in it for the long haul. There are 19 students in the program and four instructors. Since beginning, we have engaged in many team building activities, such as participation in the CSU ropes course, which pushed many of us beyond our comfort limits, yet challenged us to succeed where we did not feel that we could.

We are now about to begin the first "teaching" phase of our program. We are all about to enter our classrooms, beginning on August 16th. Project Promise starts its students out as observers in local Middle or Junior High Schools. I have been placed in Cache La Poudre Junior High School in LaPorte, CO and I start in a day and a half.