When the bell rings on the first day of school there is a wave of new teachers that will be teaching here for the first time. Some of these teachers are coming into Millard West with a decade of experience and some of them are brand new to teaching.
From STS to English and science to world language, 14 new teachers can be found in classrooms and hallways in every corner of the building. Their goal is to help students grow and learn.
“I wanted to become a teacher because there is nothing better than talking about books and trying to get people engaged with reading again,” English teacher Macaulay Montague-Loeffler said. “There’s nothing better than helping people find books they actually enjoy and want to read. I wanted to come to MW because I taught at Beadle for four years and as my former students and athletes started feeding into here and really excelling it felt like the right next step. Plus, I always wanted to teach high school.”
Each teacher has different reasons for wanting to become a teacher. STS teacher Anothony Anderson became a teacher because his high school teacher was so influential on him and made him want to pursue teaching. He has had eight years of teaching experience, all of them at Omaha Bryan High School.
“My teaching philosophy is I try to build relationships with my students,” Anderson said. “I’m a big relationships teacher. I like to get to know students and figure out what sports they play, what clubs they do, what activities they’re a part of, what they like to do outside of school. I feel like if you can really make a strong connection with a kid, that it just makes teaching them that much easier so relationships are a big thing for me.”
The new teachers believe every student has a chance to grow and succeed. English teacher Abby Karloff knew she wanted to become a teacher in the second grade because of her love for learning. After graduating from Millard West she is back in the building as a teacher.
“I took a class in college, called intro to literature class and fell in love with it,” Karloff said. “I realized that I liked to teach the bigger books and higher level thinking and I also found out that I just really like the age, I like working with teenagers, they’re super fun. Working with students brings a smile to my face every day. They are so fun to be around and I love the energy and I love getting to approach each day as something new.”
All the teachers are excited and ambitious about teaching. They are learning the new curriculum, the new schedule and the new building.
