Soddy Daisy High School’s new English teacher, Rebecca Mendez says “There is so much you can do with words and we can reshape how we all thought about English in the classroom.”
Ms.Mendez got her undergraduate at Vanderbilt, then received her Masters at Lipscomb, followed by three years of teaching with this being her first year at Soddy Daisy. She shared how her time at Soddy has been so far and how she feels about teaching here, “It’s been so fun, I really like my students and the whole culture here. I taught at another school before this and it wasn’t as connected between students and staff.” Ms.Mendez said one of the many things that led her to Soddy was the community and connection, last year she toured Soddy Daisy and observed a student casually walk up to the principal and have a relaxed conversation displaying a close relationship between student and staff at our school.
When asked why she wanted to become a teacher, she said “In high school, I loved helping people with their work and I had the best teachers that helped me push through high school.” Ms. Mendez stated that she has always loved math, but in high school got into writing and fell in love with it. Her goal is to show students that writing doesn’t have to be boring, but that it can be creative and fun.
Ms.Mendez left us with her best advice to everyone, “Learn to fail, be okay with failing, and grow from it.”
