Hi I'm Mr. Lindahl, but my students always seem to call me Mr. Bill.  I really enjoy getting involved with my students in their "world".  Sometimes we work inside a tent or on the floor, or even inside a box.  In our class, we do whatever it takes to create a positive learning environment.  The kids really seem to take to our hands-on approach.

 

     I love the environment at Manatee Elementary.  Infact, my two daughters have already passed through Manatee, one is in the 10th grade at Park Vista High School, while the other is in the 7th grade at Christa McAuliffe middle school.  I also have a son currently enrolled at Manatee.  He is in the 3rd grade.

 

     I am a native of Chicago, Illinois but I have lived here in Lake Worth, Florida for 15 years.  I graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelors Degree in Applied Computer Science, with minors in Business Administration and Economics.  I am teaching on temporary teacher certification while I am taking classes at night to pursue my Teacher Certification here in the State of Florida.  I have four more classes to take and I have already taken and passed 7 different certification exams required by the state of Florida.

 

     My love for teaching stems from my love of working with kids.  I have been coaching both of my daughter's competitive travel softball teams for the last 8 years.  My daughter's teams have been in the final four in national tournaments 3 times, and they have been Florida State champions twice.  We have managed to keep many of the girls together through the years and recently one of the parents asked me if I had ever considered teaching since she thought I was so good with kids. 

 

     After an involuntary seperation from my job as a software engineer at Motorola for 19 years - I looked into teaching.  I started off by "subbing" at Manatee Elementary.   I subbed every grade from Pre-K through 5th.  I subbed for the PE coach and the school guidance counselor one day.  But when I was asked to sub in an Autistic class one day, I felt something special about working with these special children.  I continued to inquire about subbing more and more in the Autistic classes at Manatee.  At the end of that school year I took the classes I needed and the certification exams required to earn my temporary teaching certification. Upon earning that certification I was hired full at Manatee Elementary.  That is how I arrived where I am today.

 

Bill Lindahl