Mrs. Faulkenberry
When you hear the term English teacher you think about a person who likes to read and write; however, Mrs. Faulkenberry is more than that. She tells fascinating stories from working at Lee’s Summit Taco Bell, studying abroad in Spain, and teaching at Lafayette High School. She has many entertaining stories and relates them to teaching. The life stories help make classes exciting.
She left Lafayette High School located in Saint Joseph last year, after her sixth year teaching, and began year seven here at Dekalb High School. She left because she wanted a less stressful job with a small town community. She has wanted to be a teacher for a long time, so she left Taco Bell at age 23 to get her first teaching job.
She knew she wanted to teach from a young age. She had tutored in high school and loves to share knowledge. She was teaching grammar in elementary school and enjoyed it. She thought about becoming a band director but changed her mind. She said, “We had gotten a new band director, who had pushed me to follow his footsteps, and that freaked me out, so I just went with teaching.” She has enjoyed teaching so she doesn't regret it.
This year she is the student council advisor. She has learned many things due to student council. She learned to organize people and events, and she learned about the leadership something like that takes. One of the challenges of student council is that it’s hard to get everyone to participate. Faulkenberry said, “When the students participate and work together they have amazing ideas.” She likes being the advisor because it's a challenge, but not super challenging due to the traditions we have been doing for years.
Some of the best stories that she tells are about her time at Taco Bell in Lee’s Summit. She started working there during her sophomore year of high school and left after college when she got her first teaching job. She once almost had to give CPR to a coworker who passed out. She enjoyed her time at Taco Bell and almost became an assistant manager. But if she had the option to switch careers, she would most likely stay in teaching, or be a physical trainer.
Although she has started here just recently, she has already formed bonds with her students. Junior Katalina Jones says, “ I enjoy her sarcastic response to everything, I like the interesting stories she has, and I like the quiet class and how it is easy to work in there.” Students like her for many reasons. She is good at her job and is a fun teacher. Students are excited to keep learning from her.