Sarah Smalley, a special education teacher at West Chicago Community High School, is navigating her first year with enthusiasm and adapting to the new environment. As she becomes more immersed in the school culture and events like Homecoming, Smalley is enjoying working with different students and teachers.
Since she started in January, Smalley has drawn inspiration from her own high school experiences to become a better educator.
“I had a math teacher that I really learned a lot from, and my band teacher, I was in band, and those adults had a really positive influence in my life, and the way that I perceived different people’s opinions and you know kind of really helped me mature and grow as a person,” Smalley said.
She finds navigating the building challenging since the classrooms she teaches in are on opposite sides of the building, but she has discovered “secret” stairways to make her commute easier. Even more challenging has been adjusting to the school’s established routines.
“The trickiest was like, I gotta figure everything else out and everyone already knows what they’re doing, right? So that’s been a little tricky, but overall, I think I’m doing a good job learning it,” Smalley said.
But now that she is hitting her stride, Smalley is enjoying learning more about her students.
“My favorite part is just getting to teach all different student groups, and West Chicago has a lot of them right? I would say each of the grades have a very different personality and I think that’s super easy for me,” Smalley said.
Smalley is passionate about nature and exploring new places outside of school. She enjoys going to the gym, traveling, and hiking, with a recent trips to Barbados, Puerto Rico, and Wyoming.
“Everybody was super friendly in Puerto Rico. I really liked that. And then Wyoming, two summers ago, I did a road trip of all the national parks up west. So I went through South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, and then I went into Montana and Wyoming. And [I] knocked seven of the National Parks off of my bucket list. So it was super nice,” Smalley said.
