An Apple for a Teacher

Rachel Apple was a new teacher at Woodstock who started in the fall as a long term sub for Ms.Sullivan-Justice as an English teacher for the sophomores.

While she enjoyed her time here, she left October 8. “I've enjoyed the students...It was really fun to meet all of you,” Ms. Apple said.

Ms. Apple has been teaching for 16 years and has had opportunities to teach History and English. When she took the English position, she was happy to meet the students. She says the masks did make it hard for her to remember their names though.

When she met Mrs.SJ back in August, she wanted to keep a lot of her curriculum. “I think if I could do it over, I would have started planning before I met her,” Ms. Apple said. She admires how a majority of the students help each other and how they are engaged in class. In the Bronx she had a lot of freedom in teaching, while here she is careful with the work that she gives the students to fit WUHS guidelines.

She used to work at a public school in the Bronx, NY. The school was built in the mid-1900’s and it has five schools in one building. It is about the size of WUHS. She had mostly students of color including those of Cuban, African, and Central American descent. The school was based around advisories. A group of students would have the same advisor for the four years of high school. Instead of an end of year test, the students would have to make a presentation for each core class: History, Science, English, and Math.

She hopes to find a full time job in Woodstock in the future, but if she can't she has 1 year left on her 4 year plan back in New York. She is hesitant to go back considering she now has a family here.

In addition to being a teacher, she would also like to be a part of a biking program. In her old school, they would ride almost the distance of Ohio. “I think it would be amazing to do this trip with Bronx and Woodstock students,” Ms. Apple said.