Teacher Profile: Ms. Lloyd

When I walked into Ms. Lloyd’s class on the first day of school, I immediately knew I was going to enjoy her class – not only because of the reassurance of having inspirational quotes everywhere or the Christmas lights that made me smile. It was having Ms. Lloyd telling us that we were going to have a great year and telling us that even though English wasn’t something that everyone enjoys she wanted to let us know that she was going to help us and push us to do our best. Even though she has only been teaching for four and a half years at Forest Grove High School, it seems like she’s been teaching for much longer than that. This is because of the way she interacts with,  students in a way where you don’t feel intimidated and is always willing to help them with a smile on her face. Mrs. Lloyd knew she wanted to be a teacher because she wanted to impact people in a positive way and she wanted to help people. She considered being a doctor but couldn’t stand blood. She had really kind and eye-opening teachers that helped her want to learn because of how much they cared about their students and teaching in a passionate way. She had strong female teachers who cared more about students as people rather than their scores. She knew that some students didn’t like English and wanted to help them feel like English was more than just a hard subject and wanted to help them explore the different topics of English. It was in high school where she felt like she was meant for the job. Being a teacher has challenged everything that she thought about what it means to be good because there are so many different students that each has different learning styles. It has also forced her to find joy in things that she does.  She knew that didn’t want to teach elementary because the kids were too young even though they are super sweet, and as for middle schoolers she really enjoyed the 7th graders but if she taught other grades she felt as though they didn’t care as much. She felt as though teaching high school was the best fit for her because she could explore different and serious subjects and watch kids become adults.

     When I asked what she would have hoped to have achieved as a teacher she said: “I would have hoped to have helped kids become good human beings and to respect other people and sparked curiosity from what they have learned.”  When she was a student teacher, she taught Musical Theatre and would consider teaching that if English wasn’t an option. She loved chemistry a lot in high school, so teaching science would be a subject she would seriously consider as well. I also asked what other careers she would consider if she wasn’t a teacher and she said, “I switched what I thought I wanted to be in high school about a million times but the main careers I wanted were to be an Interior designer, Singer, Doctor, Record label person, or a writer.”

 I asked about what her favorite thing about teaching was and she explained that she enjoys the little moment’s that she has with students where they just laugh with each other or when they are having a class discussion about something that is not related to English. Another thing she loves about teaching is when the material is very difficult and it’s confusing and then when she explains it differently and all of her students understand the material and it clicks for them and seeing them succeed.

         When I asked what she disliked about teaching, she responded, “Grading!  If I could do the job without grading I would be doing it for free because I love teaching so much.” Her college experience was very pleasant – she loved college and it was the best 4 years of her life in many ways. She met important people in life and had great professors that helped her a lot. She explained that it was very hard being a student-athlete and trying to balance school work practice. Studying was particularly difficult because she didn’t have specific study methods or study groups that she could have used so she struggled through it, although she pushed through. She found deep passions from great professors in what they were teaching and getting great examples. She met friends and just had a great time exploring a new independent life. Now, in her off time, she coaches the girl’s soccer team at FGHS and plays soccer. In the winter, she snowboards and whenever she’s not busy she writes. Being in Ms. Lloyd’s class is always enjoyable and it’s inspiring for me because of the way she teaches in such a positive attitude, it makes me want to learn and live up to my full potential. So if you ever see her in the hall smile and wave because she will always do the same back.