By Greta Nerad
Executive News Editor
Costa’s administration hired English teacher Taylor DiBernardo from Manhattan Beach Middle School to teach English, starting at the beginning of this school year.
A committee of Costa teachers and administrators selected DiBernardo for the position after interviewing a pool of candidates. DiBernardo started at the beginning of this school year teaching College Preparatory English 9 and 10.
“She got an interview, and she came in and crushed it,” Costa Principal Dr. Ben Dale said. “She was by far our number-one candidate in that pool.”
Before coming to work at Costa, DiBernardo taught eighth grade English at MBMS for five years. Her position at the middle school was her first teaching job.
“Naturally, I was a little nervous about starting a new job in a new place with new co-workers, but I have a lot of past students,” DiBernardo said. “Seeing them in my class really set me at ease because the hardest part of the beginning of the school year is not knowing the students.”
As a student-teacher, DiBernardo taught grades 8 and 10 and decided that she liked working with eighth graders the best, she said. She then got the offer to work at MBMS and decided to take it.
“I was lucky enough to be able to get a job teaching 8th grade English, and I loved it,” DiBernardo said. “My kids were inquisitive and engaged and silly, which I really enjoyed.”
According to DiBernardo, she told herself that when the middle-schoolers were no longer funny to her, she would try to move up to teaching high school. While she still thinks middle schoolers are funny, she took the job because the opportunity arose, she said.
“I felt like I would regret it if I didn’t go for it [because] I always wanted to teach high school,” DiBernardo said.
From a young age, DiBernardo always enjoyed teaching her three younger siblings. Then, her sophomore English teacher inspired her to become one herself because he made her feel like she mattered, DiBernardo said.
“The thing I enjoyed the most in school was talking about the books, and English class was a cool place to do that and to hear new perspectives,” DiBernardo said. “I was a kid that loved math because I was good at it, but to me it was boring; English was always a new feeling every single day.”
According to DiBernardo, her college journey was not very linear. She left a university that she did not like for community college. Then she attended the University of California, Los Angeles to earn her degree in English and returned home for graduate school to attain her teaching credentials.
“I always knew what I wanted and just had to figure out how to get there along the way,” DiBernardo said.
According to DiBernardo, her biggest adjustment has been the curriculum, though she notes that the skills she teaches are the same. Overall, it has been a smooth transition, she said.
“I’m so comforted by how supportive the English Department has been so far, how supportive a bunch of my past students have been so far; it feels like a really warm welcome here,” DiBernardo said. “I definitely am where I’m supposed to be.”
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