With less than four weeks of experience with San Benito High
School under her belt, English teacher Robin Worthy made it through
her first day of school Monday
– her first day of teaching ever.
”
It went really well. Everyone kept trying to prepare me for the
worst,
”
Worthy said.
”
I was prepared for the worst, and I was very much surprised. It
(Monday) flew right by.
”
With less than four weeks of experience with San Benito High School under her belt, English teacher Robin Worthy made it through her first day of school Monday – her first day of teaching ever.
“It went really well. Everyone kept trying to prepare me for the worst,” Worthy said. “I was prepared for the worst, and I was very much surprised. It (Monday) flew right by.”
While Worthy worked as a student teacher to earn her credential, this was the first time she was on her own, teaching high school students by herself.
“I’m so incredibly thrilled to be here. Nothing so far has been as bad as people have tried to warn me about,” she said.
New to teaching, Worthy is also new to California. She grew up in Spokane, Wash., and earned a bachelor’s of arts in English from Western Washington University in Birmingham and a teaching degree from Eastern Washington University in Cheney. Because Washington graduates so many teachers, Worthy had a feeling she would have to leave her home state, she said.
“I knew I needed to leave Washington. It was the only way I was going to get a job,” the 26-year-old said. “Who wouldn’t want to move to California? I thought ‘It’ll be an adventure.’ I was looking for a small town. Big towns intimidate me.”
Worthy was contacted by SBHS personnel employees and interviewed during the summer. Although she didn’t think she’d get the job, she interviewed on a Friday and was offered the job the following Monday.
SBHS District Superintendent Jean Burns Slater walked through Worthy’s class Monday and was impressed with how she handled the students.
“She had the students totally silent and standing up trying to line up alphabetically without saying a word,” she said. “The purpose is for the students to work through ideas without verbalizing. She had the students organized and in her attention. She clearly had the class under control.”
Even though Worthy’s first day went smoothly, she said she will have to make sure each class’ lesson plan fits the block schedule and get the timing right, she said. She also wants to get better at pronouncing students’ names, she said.
As an English teacher, Worthy wants to get students excited about English, reading and writing. She teaches Reading 9, English 9 and English 12. Knowing high school students can have a lack of motivation, Worthy plans on using games in her classroom. She’s used versions of Hollywood Squares, Taboo and Jeopardy.
“I like to play games. The students get into it and don’t realize they’re learning,” she said. “They think of (learning) as work and they don’t like to do a lot of work.”
Writing is what Worthy loves teaching the most, she said, because it allows her to see the students’ points of view.
Worthy originally wanted to be an elementary school teacher, but realized she “didn’t want to work with little kids. I didn’t want to be a baby sitter.” She set her goals on high school because she wanted to reach students who didn’t read or write very often.
“All these people don’t like to read and they don’t like to write. Hopefully, I can pass on my love of reading and writing,” Worthy said. “This community, I’ve been told, is not a big reading community, which is obvious by the fact that there is no book store in town.”
Worthy likes the idea of small class sizes, even though the state’s budget is faltering. In the past, the state has helped fund 20:1 ratios in kindergarten through third grade and in ninth grade in English and math. Worthy currently has between 27 and 35 students in each class. With smaller class sizes, Worthy would have an opportunity to know each of her students better and control the classroom more, while students could get to know each other and get along better.
Although Worthy was excited about moving to California, there are some adjustments to make. The state’s diversity really stood out. According to Worthy, Spokane is 90 percent white with the other 10 percent composed of blacks, Chinese and Russian. While she gets used to so much racial diversity, Worthy plans on learning some Spanish via audio tapes.
California’s high cost of living is also an issue. Worthy said her car insurance is three times higher and that rent is twice as high as in Washington.
“It’s just so high,” she said.
