By Zoey B. and Elena, B., Grade 9
Ms. Jones, the beloved English teacher, recently disappeared from MIS for two years on maternity leave. Some of you might have had her as a teacher before, but a lot of you are either new, or weren’t old enough to have her when she taught here. So for those of you that may be new, let’s get reacquainted!
Ms. Jones has been teaching English at MIS since 2015, but she began teaching long before that. Her teaching career started in 2004, in Wales, where she’s from, ‘I am from a family of teachers so you could say it is in the genes! Ms. Jones, says of her decision to pursue a career in teaching, ‘I was also passionate about my subject and wanted a meaningful career with the opportunity to work in a dynamic environment. No two days of teaching are the same and I relish the many interactions with students of all ages and backgrounds.’
After a stint as a marketing assistant in the theatre and teaching english in Wales, she travelled to New Zealand where she taught at a high school in Auckland before working as an education journalist for the New Zealand Herald. In New Zealand, she did a lot of traveling and discovered how much she loved visiting new places and seeing different cultures. This led her to pursue a career teaching in IB International Schools and after four years in Singapore, she finally found her way to MIS and has been here ever since! Thus began the first little disappearance! She took one break in 2018 to have her daughter, who started school at MIS this year, then came back in the beginning of 2019 before taking 18 months off to have her son, “When you’re at home raising a baby, it’s such a wonderful time to cherish, but of course I also missed the community at MIS and it is great to be back again. A class of twenty teenage students is a lot easier to handle than one determined and busy toddler!” laughs Ms. Jones.
Since August this year, Ms Jones has returned to MIS to teach middle and senior school English classes and reflected on getting used to the changes in technology and the curriculum since leaving in 2020. Of course since then much has changed with the demands that Covid brought, however, she thinks it’s far easier to settle back in, than starting afresh at a new school, saying “every school has its own systems and philosophy of learning, and that’s an adjustment when you first come in. It is easier to return than to start in a new school. I am determinedly getting better each week juggling TEAMS, OneNote and the other exciting new learning platforms. My colleagues have been wonderful with sharing their fantastic lesson ideas and helping me readjust” She has also enjoyed coming back to see students she taught before, reacquainting herself with colleagues, meeting new colleagues and settling back into the community that is MIS, “I think MIS has such nice teachers and students; I’ve made a lot of friends here. When you live away [from home] your friends become like family a little bit, so it’s been great to see everyone again.”
We wish Ms Jones all the best for her ‘first’ year back again at MIS!