Photo Taken By Chloe Marazzani
Jennifer Cobb teaches French II and has taught at South for the past 3 years. She previously taught French at a high school in Chicago. While in Chicago, she also used to teach various types of dance. She became a teacher because she loves speaking and learning new languages, and wanted to share that feeling with her students.
I enjoy getting to know my students and seeing them excited about learning about new things and accomplishing their goals,
Cobb said.
Competing With Attention Spans
While she likes to help students learn and try new things within her class, she finds it difficult to compete for students’ attention with one thing: phones.
“It is really discouraging to spend time planning a lesson and then have the people you created it for be distracted by something else,” Cobb said.
Building Relationships With Students
Students can have trouble within their classes, but Cobb is always willing to work with students, and help them in any way that they need.
“Some students are willing to talk, others open up through writing, others need time to build a relationship with an adult staff member before they will open up,” Cobb said.
Cobb tries to build relationships with students to get to know them, and help them throughout her class. She talks to students about a bunch of different things, just because she wants to know more about them.
“I try to ask students about their interests in and out of school. I start with family, food, soccer, or music, usually we can strike up a conversation about one of those topics,” Cobb said.
Inspiration
Someone who makes her push harder for her goals and dreams Cobb, is her son, Mateo.
“My 1 year old son, Mateo, becoming a parent for the first time was scary and exciting all at once, and he makes me want to be the best I can be,” Cobb said.
Life Outside School
Cobb likes to spend time with her family when outside of the classroom. She does yoga, likes to cook, read and just spend time outdoors. She also likes to travel.
“Studying abroad in France when I was a junior in college – it was the first trip I ever took alone, and I learned so much about myself while exploring a new place in the world and practicing my French,” Cobb said.
She also likes to go to Door County, Wisconsin, as she went there a lot when she was younger, and it brings her a lot of peace as an adult. While she has her interests, there are also some things that she wants to learn to do.
“I would love to learn how to ski and rock climb. I am getting better at learning Spanish, but also hope to learn a fourth language!” Cobb said.
