By: Sarah Gustofson
Boone High School has a new teacher in the social studies department, and she’s ready for everything this school has to offer. With lots of experience and knowledge under her belt, Ms. Alicen Morley is excited about her move from New York to Boone, Iowa to pursue her new job as an educator.
Morley was born in a small town called Lisbon located in New York. “There wasn’t even a stoplight in the town.” She mentioned. “It’s a super, super small town.” She went to college at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, recieived Bachelor’s Degrees in accounting and political science, with two minors in law and economics. Then she went to SUNY (State University of New York) Potsdam to get her Master’s Degree in teaching social studies. Morley knew she wanted to teach, but decided to go for her PhD at Syracuse University, before realizing k-12 teaching was the perfect fit for her.
This isn’t Morley’s first time teaching though, if fact, she’s been teaching for about six years. This is her first full-time k-12 teaching job, but Morley taught at the college level for four years, she was also student teacher and substitute teacher. “Its fulfilling.” She confessed. “It’s a daily reward, coming to school everyday, because at least one of my students makes my day no matter what and it helps me to forget about my problems and worries.” Morley loves teaching because she likes students opening up to her and being able to help. When she was in high school, teachers were only willing to help the people they thought needed it, the kids that weren’t working hard or didn’t get good grades. “There was no support for the brighter kids that wanted to be challenged.” “I want to teach the kids here successful college-level skills they can use.” She feels everyone deserves support and new challenges.
Morley was offered the job here on August 6th, right before school started. She also got an offer from Ballard two days before hand. “I realized, why would I even consider Ballard? I’d subbed at the middle school and loved all the teachers and students. Boone has been so good to me. So I cancelled with Ballard and accepted the job here at Boone.”
When asked what her favorite part about working at the Boone High School is, Morley answered, “The students.” She’s observed that the students are comfortable with the adults here and that there isn’t a barrier between students and teachers. She likes that students can talk to her about serious topics and be trusting which is her teaching style. “The students here are approachable and welcoming.” She states. Her biggest challenge so far is the logistics of teaching. Time management, loading the apps onto the iPads, and ordering books for class.
This year, Morley is looking forward to understanding football. That includes all the rules, and why it’s so popular here in Boone. “Up in northern New York football isn’t really a big thing.” She explains. “Soccer is the most important thing up there, no one really plays football.” She’s excited to go to football games, experience our Homecoming game and Spirit Week, and have a great first year teaching American History, Psychology and AP Psychology at BHS.
Morley was born in a small town called Lisbon located in New York. “There wasn’t even a stoplight in the town.” She mentioned. “It’s a super, super small town.” She went to college at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, recieived Bachelor’s Degrees in accounting and political science, with two minors in law and economics. Then she went to SUNY (State University of New York) Potsdam to get her Master’s Degree in teaching social studies. Morley knew she wanted to teach, but decided to go for her PhD at Syracuse University, before realizing k-12 teaching was the perfect fit for her.
This isn’t Morley’s first time teaching though, if fact, she’s been teaching for about six years. This is her first full-time k-12 teaching job, but Morley taught at the college level for four years, she was also student teacher and substitute teacher. “Its fulfilling.” She confessed. “It’s a daily reward, coming to school everyday, because at least one of my students makes my day no matter what and it helps me to forget about my problems and worries.” Morley loves teaching because she likes students opening up to her and being able to help. When she was in high school, teachers were only willing to help the people they thought needed it, the kids that weren’t working hard or didn’t get good grades. “There was no support for the brighter kids that wanted to be challenged.” “I want to teach the kids here successful college-level skills they can use.” She feels everyone deserves support and new challenges.
Morley was offered the job here on August 6th, right before school started. She also got an offer from Ballard two days before hand. “I realized, why would I even consider Ballard? I’d subbed at the middle school and loved all the teachers and students. Boone has been so good to me. So I cancelled with Ballard and accepted the job here at Boone.”
When asked what her favorite part about working at the Boone High School is, Morley answered, “The students.” She’s observed that the students are comfortable with the adults here and that there isn’t a barrier between students and teachers. She likes that students can talk to her about serious topics and be trusting which is her teaching style. “The students here are approachable and welcoming.” She states. Her biggest challenge so far is the logistics of teaching. Time management, loading the apps onto the iPads, and ordering books for class.
This year, Morley is looking forward to understanding football. That includes all the rules, and why it’s so popular here in Boone. “Up in northern New York football isn’t really a big thing.” She explains. “Soccer is the most important thing up there, no one really plays football.” She’s excited to go to football games, experience our Homecoming game and Spirit Week, and have a great first year teaching American History, Psychology and AP Psychology at BHS.
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