Lisle High School Alumna Returns to Teach and is reminded of ‘why [she] wanted to be a high school teacher’

New teacher at Lisle High School, Ms. Fujiwara, returns this year to teach math after being offered a job opportunity at the school.

Fujiwara said, “I’ve never really felt sure about anything in the way that I felt sure about this.”

Ms.Fujiwara attended Lisle High School. She was an undergraduate student at Roosevelt University.

She didn’t choose to teach math at first; it came naturally to her throughout college, and she was always good at it and always enjoyed it.

Although a job change can be challenging, she enjoys her colleagues and students and has no regrets about the move.

Prior to this, she taught younger students and enjoyed it; however, coming back to teach high school kids is something she also enjoys.

Fujiwara said, “It reminded me of why I wanted to be a high school teacher.”

She enjoys being involved in activities like Homecoming Week, spirit days, Blue Lion, and similar events. 

An unexpected discovery that Fujiwara appreciates is the level of independence among the high school students. 

She explains that when she teaches, she likes to structure her classroom around questions. 

Fujiwara wants everyone to be curious learners and to have building blocks for new opportunities to learn things. She wants questions to be strategies that help make connections and build new meaning.

“Anyway that I can get people to ask questions is my preferred way [of teaching].”

In addition to connecting with her students, she enjoys connecting with her colleagues and feeling a part of the ONEPRIDE community.