Laura Jones

I actually never wanted to teach.  It was a total accident that turned into my absolute passion in life.  When I was in undergraduate I just loved ideas, I loved learning, I loved the arts.  But I thought teaching was- I just thought it wasn’t for me.  I was really shy, I liked being behind a closed door reading, or talking to friends.  I couldn’t imagine being in front of a class.  But then I just sort of happened into high school teaching and quickly found out it was the best thing I’d ever experienced, and the hardest, but I very quickly found that it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  So. I feel really lucky.

I didn’t have an original plan.  I mean. I feel like most undergrads are like, “I don’t know! This is fun! I don’t know what comes next.” So after I graduated from undergrad I worked.  I was a cheese girl.  I worked in a cheese shop where I chopped these gigantic wheels of cheese into smaller slices.  Worked in coffee shops, worked in bookstores.  Just slacked off for a few years until I figured out what I wanted to do.

I actually like high school and college equally for very different reasons.  I like the material in college.  A lot.  We can go deeper; we can be more “intellectual” about things.  It’s more challenging.  In high school though, students seem to be, for whatever reason, more funny, and irreverent, and sassier, and I love that.  Students in college are so respectful and I appreciate it.  But I love the smart asses, and there just aren’t very many smart asses in college.

 

 As Told To: betwitchingbrielle