Good Day everyone! My name is Rafael A. Recto Jr. and I will probably be a teacher until the day I die. After all, I am 65 years of age with over 25 years of teaching experience behind me but by no means do I consider myself an expert in the field and therefore, I look ever onward to grow as an educator. I am a graduate of Chapman University; today known as Brandman. As a student, I never thought that I would be teaching special ed; let alone dual diagnosed students in a residential facility. I have been in this service for almost ten years and I teach 7th grade through 4th year high school. The most simple statement I can make about myself is that I just love to teach! 
(I even ran a school out of my home for 5 years.) A new teacher might ask, "How one would keep one's teaching enthusiasm through the years." After all, it is estimated that the average life expectancy of a public school teacher in the United states is 5 years. Not a very encouraging statistic. In fact, if that were true for all teachers, that would mean that as an educator, I am living on "borrowed time". In my case, the answer to longevity is "constant movement." The following things: Wishing to stay in touch with the latest in teaching techniques i.e. keeping in mind that teaching is a dynamic process, staying in constant contact with fellow teachers, holding in my heart the reasons why I became a teacher in the first place, and keeping in mind that the most satisfying thing of all is to see that look of "Hey! I got it!" in my students faces, will keep me motivated to the very end. 