The problem of overpopulation at Dripping Springs High School has created another change this semester, as a new English II teacher was hired half-way through the year, due to the large number of students in that course.
Heather Dickens is the new Honors English II teacher at DSHS. Her classes are on the smaller side with the smallest having 15 students and the largest having 21 students. She is grateful for the administration here and appreciates the decisions that they make regarding the well-being of students and staff.
“Dripping Springs is so amazing,” Dickens said. “The classes were too full and this district is committed to making sure the students are getting the best experience and the teachers are getting the best experience.”
Because this change happened halfway through the school year, there weren’t any classrooms available inside the school. Luckily, there were portables available in order for a welcoming classroom environment to be created for the students switching into her class.
“I love [being in the portables],” Dickens said. “One of my options was to float, so I would have been in other teachers’ classrooms, but it is extremely important to me to have my own environment. All of the other teachers’ environments are wonderful but they’re theirs. This lets students see my personality and give me input on what they’d like here. So [the portables] gave me that permanence. I also love being able to get my steps in.”
Dickens is taking advantage of the help that the other teachers here have offered. She uses the same curriculum as all of the other English II teachers to ensure a consistent curriculum for all of the students.
“The department is tight,” Dickens said. “We meet every week, we share resources, we share things we make within our classes. We teach the very same TEKS and we teach the same content, we just bring our art to it.”
Even though Dickens came in halfway through the year, she doesn’t feel like it was that hard to adjust. To her, the worst part about this change is learning everybody’s names.
“It’s crazy, really nothing has been difficult,” Dickens said. “I was extremely prepared by my team. If I had to pick something, I would say getting to know all of the teachers’ names. That’s the worst, because for the kids, we did an exercise where we paired adjectives with their names so I’m getting them down. But getting everyone’s names down all at once is hard.”
Something that Dickens loves about teaching here is how respectful and polite her students are. This is a change for her, as students have not been this polite anywhere else she has taught.
“One thing that has absolutely blown me away about who the students at Dripping Springs are is how polite students are,” Dickens said. “I pass out papers and [after] every person I am thanked. I really don’t think I’ve ever had that before. It’s just the genuine well-raised politeness of students that’s been impressive.”