“I came from a Chinese public school with an international program. It was in Nanchang city, Jiangxi province. It’s very different from this school. Because I could go home when I wasn’t teaching at my previous school, and because the international department was quite small, there wasn’t a big sense of community. Here, there is so much community help, community support, parent involvement, student involvement, staff, teachers – everybody is involved together. So even though it was overwhelming at first, it was overwhelmingly helpful. People wanted to show me new things make sure that I was settled ok. There is support where I can go ask the other teachers, “Hey, I’ve never taught 7th grade before — how do I do this? What do I do? What are we doing next?” And that has been very different. 

I haven’t been able to do much around Tokyo because it’s been too hot and humid. I am really particular about my weather. I like being comfortable and being sweaty is very uncomfortable for me. I have plans to go to Disneyland and Disney sea. It is really close, so how could I not. I think it’s great that I can see Tokyo Tower from my apartment. So I want to go see that. People have been suggesting other places in Tokyo, in particular, Harajuku. Isn’t it a fashion place? I don’t know what I would do there, so I’ll just have to research. I’m especially excited to go on the excursion and seeing more of Japan.

I think math is fun. I enjoy math. I especially enjoy calculus. I have discovered the joy of stats. I want to encourage students to stop saying that they’re bad at math. It’s not that you are bad at math. It’s just that you need a little bit more time. And that’s ok. It doesn’t have to fall from the sky for you and be super easy. Not everyone works that way. And that’s ok.” — Ms. Economou