Bobbie van Schaik-Louis
(Mrs. Louis)
2023-24 is my 15th year at PCE as a Special Education Learning Specialist. WOW - time flies when you're having fun! This is my second career (my first career was Nursing), and I can't think of a better place to be teaching than at PCE!
I was born in California, then lived in Iran and India until middle school. My family moved to Virginia, then to Southern California, then to Central California for high school. I attended San Francisco State University for my BS, Nursing, and then fulfilled my dream of joining Peace Corps. I worked in the Amazon jungle region of Ecuador, and learned Quechua, in addition to Spanish. I returned to San Francisco to work at the University of California Medical Center. I met my husband (still happily married for 36 years) in the Bay Area.
Chris and I moved to Colorado, wanting to raise our kids in a family-centered environment. We have four daughters, and four grandkids. I became interested in learning disabilities as my own kids entered school. I went to Metro State University to earn my licensure in Special Education, and ... here I am!
Outside of school, I love reading, swimming, jogging, and some biking with my husband. The best time of any day is time spent with my family! This summer included lots of early morning swimming (even my hubby joined me in the pool), not-so-early morning runs with my dog, and best of all, morning coffee with my husband! One of my annual summer goals is to read a new ‘my favorite book’; this summer it was definitely Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese! Also, this summer we had a wedding; my third daughter got married June 3; it was an incredible way to kick off the summer, despite the cold and rain of the event!
I love being a special education teacher. Your kids become my kids; there are truly very few limits to what I'll do in the name of the success and happiness of your child. I believe that as kids get older, there are many strategies to share that will help them be successful in school and in life. Some of those strategies are purely academic, but many are survival strategies (how to skim a reading assignment instead of reading it word for word, how to make an intelligent guess in multiple choice, keeping your eyes on a particular student in class who always seems to know what to do and when to do it...). I strive to get to know my kids on a personal level, including getting to know their siblings at school, their friends in class, and a bit about their home life. This personal investment increases the chances of our students wanting to do well for me, and for themselves!
I’m looking forward to another terrific year at PCE! For some of my students and families in kindergarten, it will be their first year at PCE, and for my sixth graders and families, their last. Either of those bookends, and anything in between - it’ll be a great year!
Here's to a fabulous school year 2023-2024!
~Bobbie