Job title: 7th/8th Grade English Teacher, Standardized Testing Coordinator (Grades 3-8)
Years teaching at Prep: Six (10th overall)
Family: Married to Dexter, a pharmacist; two children (Morgan and Reagan)
Background: Jones grew up in Germany (just outside of Stuttgart); her father retired from the military and married a German woman. Jones attended college at Tübingen in southwest Germany, majoring in Catholic theology and teaching English as a second language.
While Jones attended college, she attended the wedding of a family friend in Augusta. At the wedding, she met her future husband, a friend of the bride. Jones returned to Germany to complete her college degree, but she soon returned to Augusta to further her relationship with her new friend she met at the wedding. Her parents gave her an ultimatum: Find a job within six months or return to Germany. She soon found one teaching at the Kumon Math and Reading Center. The following year, she got a teaching position at Immaculate Conception Catholic School.
How she found Prep: When Jones moved to Augusta, Dexter lived in an apartment close to the Augusta Prep campus. From time to time, she would pass by Prep, thinking it would be a good place to work. So she applied for a job, any position that related to teaching English. Then, she applied again. And again. And again. And again. And again. The seventh time proved to be the charm - even if it was just for a part-time position teaching preschool.
“I was just really intrigued,” she said. “Prep just seemed like a really good school. It had a really good reputation in the community.”
While she began her Prep career in a part-time role, Jones went back to school for her master’s degree. She did her teaching observations in Monica Messner’s English classroom in the Middle School. When Messner became Head of Middle School in the summer of 2018, a full-time English teaching position finally became available for Jones.
What she enjoys about Prep: Jones said three things she enjoys about Prep are teaching with her back-hall, co-workers (seventh and eighth grade teachers), the school’s Honor Code and the academic rigor. And there's one more thing.
“I have a lot of creative freedom when it comes to teaching,” she said. “It makes it a lot of fun when your bosses trust you enough to teach the way you think that is the best way.”
Hobbies: Yoga (She is a certified yoga instructor), Cooking (Her favorite dishes to cook are a traditional Bolognese and a German dish (Linsen mit Spätzle) and Reading (Her all-time favorite series is the Harry Potter series, while her favorite book this year is Bel Canto.)
Original source can be found here.
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