Some alumni of the Program in Teaching discover their passion for education late in college; others, like Alex Jones, knew they wanted to teach long before coming to Williams. In fact, Alex said, she had that realization far earlier than most. “I had been interested in teaching since I was in elementary school,” she said. “Once I got to Williams, I had done a lot of volunteering at summer camps and things like that, and was very sure that teaching was what I wanted to do.”
When it came time to apply to colleges, Alex said the opportunities offered by the Program in Teaching—as well as its faculty—helped Williams stand out. “One of the reasons I chose Williams was Professor Engel,” she said. “I’d read a couple of New York Times articles by Professor Engel and was really inspired by her, so I met with her when I visited campus. I was really excited by the flexibility of the Program [in Teaching] and the ability to get involved in volunteer opportunities on campus.”
Despite her strong sense of what she wanted to do after graduation, Alex said she went into college hoping to explore what the liberal arts have to offer. “I was looking for a school that wasn’t necessarily going to give me licensure at the end of college,” she said. “I still wanted a liberal arts degree, and to get a really good education that would have opportunities for me to get involved in the education field.”
Alex said she found her classes in the Program in Teaching vital in helping her think critically about teaching and the world of education more broadly. “I loved the classes at Williams. It was such a nice space to think about education from a bigger picture: the goals of education, and why we’re doing this,” she said. “Williams was good about not saying, ‘this is how you should teach, this is what you should do,’ but really analyzing how things are done, questioning the status quo and critiquing systems.”
Those classes gave her a framework that she still draws on as a teacher today. “Having some of those conversations in classes at Williams helps me even now to have that lens,” she said. “When I give an assignment, I think, ‘Why am I doing this? What’s the point? Is it because people before me have done it?’ I find that really helpful.”
Outside the college classroom, she made the most of routes into teaching at local schools. “The thing that was most helpful to me at Williams, knowing already that I wanted to teach, was how many opportunities there were to get involved with schools in the community,” she said. “There are a lot of ways to get involved. Even if it’s just a small sample of what it’s like to be in the classroom once a week, or more intensive, once you start to tap into those resources, people are really excited to partner with you.”
After graduating, Alex spent a year in a teaching apprenticeship program at the Park School in Brookline, Mass., an opportunity that allowed her to get some real-world experience before fully committing herself to a career in teaching. “I thought a lot about whether I wanted to do something like Teach For America, or go straight to graduate school, or teach at a private school,” she said. “I wanted to try to build up some more full-time experience before entering the classroom, and it was a great opportunity to get that.”
In that same vein, she then went to Tufts, where she got her master’s degree in teaching with a STEM focus. She then got a job at The Advent School, a private school in downtown Boston, where she is now in her fourth year as a 6th grade teacher. “I always knew I wanted to teach at the upper-elementary age,” she said. “When I was at Williams I did a lot of work in 4th grade classrooms, but then, when I was at the Park School, I worked in 5th and 6th grade classrooms and found that I liked that level even more than I thought I would.”
At The Advent School, she’s been able to confirm that the upper-elementary level is right for her. “The 6th graders are still with their classroom teachers for all of their core subjects, but they’re a bit older,” she said. “That felt like a great fit, where I’m able to build that relationship with older students.”
All in all, Alex said she often finds teaching fulfilling in ways she hadn’t entirely anticipated. “There’s never a boring moment, which can be a good thing and a bad thing,” she said. “It feels really engaging all day: I’m constantly thinking, I’m constantly problem solving, and I’m always on my toes. That feels really stimulating to me intellectually.”
Her favorite thing about teaching, she said, are “these rewarding moments where you’ve been working really hard with a student on something and they finally start to feel more confident. It’s not just that they get the concept, but that they feel like they understand it, and carry themselves a little bit higher— that’s really amazing to see.”
When it comes to advice for current Williams students, Alex said she would encourage those interested in teaching to consider the wide range of ways to get involved in education. “There’s not just one or two paths into teaching,” she said. “When I was getting ready to graduate, I talked with Professor Engel about graduate school versus Teach For America, and wasn’t really aware that there was this whole realm of private school teaching apprenticeship positions or other ways into teaching, and that really opened up a lot of possibilities for me.”
And on that note, Alex said she hopes to be a resource for current students who have questions about her experience as a teacher. “I am always happy to talk to any Williams students, current or former, who are interested in teaching,” she said. “I really do feel like it’s the most exciting and interesting and challenging job you can have. It’s really frustrating and hard sometimes, but it truly does feel worth it.”
_____
By Nigel Jaffe
Megamenu Social