Ms. Allen is the newest addition to the science department at DPHS and excited to work with her peers in teaching a subject she is interested in.
She teaches physical science and biology classes. She graduated from St. Norbert with a bachelor in the sciences, majoring in biology along with a degree in secondary education.
Coming all the way from Denmark, WI, she begins her first year of teaching at DPHS. Given her background in teaching middle school students, she feels it has been a natural transition for her to move into a more challenging position as a high school teacher.
Her ambition is to create a fun working environment for her students to learn in, while also teaching critical thinking skills in lab demonstrations.
“My teaching style is structured notes wise,” said Ms. Allen, “but then that gradual release of them doing hands-on work in labs or other activities where they can take structured notes and then apply it and look at larger concepts and try to break it down in order to understand something that’s bigger than just a clear cut answer.”
Her goals as a teacher are to build good relationships with her students, so that even after they leave the classroom, she is still a person they can rely on if they need help.
“That’s a big priority also — just creating those relationships, and just establishing an environment where students are going to feel welcome to come into my classroom,” she said.
Her students are what keep bringing her back to work each day, they make it worthwhile for her.
Something interesting about Ms. Allen is that she has still not seen every part of the school, despite being here for two months, at the time of writing.
