Teacher Spotlight: Stephanie Jones

An Amazing Teacher 

by Amber Moses

This year I met an amazing teacher that raised my interest in writing. She has hounded me about writing about every little event that occurs within our school building. Even though I complained, I didn't really mind doing it. Mrs. Jones is a new teacher here at University, but not really that new because she's a University High School alum who's back to teach  a subject she’s always loved most--
English. I have the privilege of being in her only Senior class, Journalism. Her other classes consists of eighth graders.

As the year is soon to be coming to an end, Mrs. Jones gave us an assignment to shout-out each teacher or staff member at University that teaches a senior class. I was more than happy to choose Mrs. Jones. Truthfully I was curious about her career and I wanted to know how she really felt about the Class of 2018.

Teachers are driven to teach for many different reasons. Mrs. Jones says, “having great teachers” inspired her to become a teacher. Even though Mrs. Jones didn’t become a teacher directly after college, eventually, she made the switch. It's no secret that Newark has had a bad reputation when it comes to academics. However, that was not the experience that Mrs. Jones or her childhood friends had. Many of them all became successful with even with Newark’s "bad education” reputation. How do I know this? She's had us highlight many of them in our Alumni Spotlight Feature. In fact, she said that their accomplishments inspired her to create that feature to showcase the greatness that has come out of Newark, specifically University.

Since Mrs. Jones knew that Newark Public Schools was more than the narrative being spread across the nation. With that being said, Mrs. Jones admits that she was fed up with saying, “If I was a teacher I’d…” So she took a chance and switched careers. She followed her passion for learning and brought her creative energy to the children in her home city. Mrs. Jones has been a teaching in Newark for eight years now. She started her teaching career at Peshine Ave. School from there she taught at BRICK Avon Academy and now she's with us at University. Before she was hired to be a classroom teacher she was a substitute teacher in Newark for two years.

Mrs. Jones admits that working at University High School is like a dream come true. She said, "When I came to Newark to teach I either wanted to teach at Harriet Tubman, my elementary school or University. The teachers I had at these two schools had such an impact on me. I will never forget my elementary teachers Ms. Bishop, Ms. Williams & Ms. Graves. In high school i had my first male Black teachers like Mr. Davis, Mr. Hankerson. Both of whom taught my least favorite subject but they wouldn't let me quit on myself. They challenged me and pushed me in totally different ways, to be my best.  Each school was like a small knit community and family. I am still in touch with many of my teachers and friends today!"

Some teachers may think working with seniors is bad. They may think certain seniors will not be dedicated to their schoolwork because they're graduating. So they may have a year long case of “Senioritis." Mrs. Jones, on the other hand, admits that it is “a gift and a curse” working with seniors. She enjoys teaching students within this age group and believes we’ve given her a warm welcome  her first year of teaching high school. Mrs. Jones pushes us to our full potential. When it comes to writing, she critiques our work until it is as good as we can get it. This is what I love most. She truly believes that us seniors will do great things once we enter the next step after high school. Even though she loves us, Mrs. Jones admits that it's hard to motivate us. She says, if grade-book doesn’t show that we have a “0” for an assignment -- we won’t even bother to do it. This is somewhat true, under the circumstances of us having assignment we don’t even know we have until we see a “0” in the grade-book. In addition to lowering our grade severely (but only until we complete the assignment), Mrs. Jones does her best to connect with us. I say she does a pretty good job at that. She finds it best to teach students once she gets to know who they are, and what they're into.”

This is an important because none of my peers will comply with just anything being taught unless we feel its relevant or interesting and we know the teacher actually cares. Anyone looking forward to taking Mrs. Jones Journalism class in the upcoming years you should know this, she expects you to work. That’s it. Students basically run the class and we all work at our own pace. The thing is, you have to complete the work by the due date. Mrs. Jones claims the good thing about her class is that “you get to work on things that interest you.” I agree, this is definitely the best part of her class. It never gets boring.

Having Mrs. Jones as a teacher this year, has been an honor. I would like to thank her for her motivating my peers and I this year as well as connecting with us and making us feel welcomed.

Thank you, Mrs. Jones, for your patience with the seniors. We hope your upcoming years at University High School will be everything you hope it will be!