Ms. Palgon is an amazing teacher. She is dedicated to teaching her students to the best of her ability. Whether it be field trips to a library or walking around outside just ‘noticing things,’ Ms. Palgon always tries to make learning interesting for her students. But how did she turn into this amazing teacher we all know and love today?
Ms. Palgon was always interested in writing stories as a kid. She would love to write only the most suspenseful part of each story. When discussing this with Ms. Palgon she said, “I played a lot with this idea of building suspense. And so I would write these little snippets almost what might be a excerpt from a mystery or something. I would give it to my friends to read and they’d be like ‘What happened next! You can’t stop right there!’ and I would feel so fulfilled if they had that reaction. I felt like I did right.”
Ms. Palgon also didn’t have the best English classes at school. She would go on and off from having a good teacher to an extremely bad one. Her love for the subject was not getting reflected in the class, and it made her feel like she was wasting her time. Luckily, halfway through 11th grade, Ms Palgon got a new teacher. This teacher led interesting discussions in class, and made Ms. Palgon enjoy English class. “And that was the first time that it occurred to me that maybe I could do this.” This experience follows Ms. Palgon through today. “That teacher, her name was Mrs. Friedman, that was the first time that I consciously thought that maybe I can be like her. Maybe one day I can make sure that kids sitting in English class can have this kind of English experience, instead of what I had for the past 5 years.”
Years later, Ms. Palgon is wildly successful at this. Her class is entertaining; using class discussions, group activities, and she engages students with the material. “She is so fun and I can tell she actually wants to be here and teach us,” Abby Worshofky, a ninth grader, says. One of these examples was when she assigned a project on the book Purple Hibiscus. She made students create art, poetry, or interpretive dances on the book. “It was a great learning experience,” 9th grade Menucha Woznicha reminisces. Another example is the recent field trip to the library. On this trip, students toured a library and wrote poems on their experiences. “Being in such a cozy and interesting place helped me write better. The history of the library inspired me,” Ayla Banin, a ninth grader reflects on. One final example is harknesses in class. According to Teacher.org, a harkness discussion is “an active, discussion-based learning style that requires students to take the lead and manage the lesson and discussions that follow.” This allows students to engage with the book, asking questions to their peers and bringing new ideas to the table. “I think harknesses are a very engaging way of learning. It helps me learn new perspectives and helps me learn the books more in depth,” ninth grade Ariella Cohen Woiler says.
Ms. Palgon is an amazing addition to the school. She is passionate about the topic she teaches and gets students to engage in a way they haven’t before. I can say that as a student of Ms. Palgon, I am grateful for the opportunity to learn under such an amazing teacher.
