There are a few new teachers at the school this year, and one of those is in the English department. Natalie Page has just been hired as an AP English Language teacher.

Page taught and student-taught for four years at McKinney Boyd High School before she came here. She teaches 6 periods, with approximately 130 students in her classes.

“We really focus on writing and how to analyze an argument, then take that analysis and hopefully use those techniques in our own writing,” Page said. “This class is really about how to be a good writer.”

Many teachers apply to teach at the school each year, and only the best are hired. Going through the interview process to teach in the district can be very strenuous.

“I received an email from somebody on campus here who said ‘Hey, we have an open AP position,” Page said.  “It was the most in-depth interview I’ve ever been through.  I first had a phone interview and then there was a round robin with somebody from my previous school.”

A round robin is where there are multiple tables set up in a room. Each table has either an administrator or a teacher from the applicant’s previous school or the school he/she is interviewing at, and each person asks the interviewee questions about classroom situations.

“We had three different tables set up, Mr. Goodrich at one, Mrs. Pabst at another, and the superintendent at another,” Page said. “They just asked me these hypothetical questions and we had to answer them without knowing what they were beforehand.”

Despite the intimidating interview, Principal Goodrich was impressed with Page.

“One factor that went into our decision was that she taught a couple of different sections of AP Lang for kids who didn’t necessarily want to be in AP,” Goodrich said. “So she had experience working with different kinds of kids. In the end, of the kids she had in that class, over half of them passed the AP test, and they didn’t want to be in the class to begin with.”

The fact that she was able to motivate the kids and make them want to succeed was a good indicator that she would be a great fit for our school.

There was another factor that went into the school’s decision to hire her.

“I think that she brings some diversity to the English department in terms of her age,” Goodrich said. “It’s always good to have some diversity.”

Page is very satisfied with her new job.

“I really love the kids, especially juniors, because they’re little mini adults, so they have such great insightful questions and thoughts,” Page said. “Just being able to interact with them on a more academic and mature level really makes teaching the class interesting.”