When Garen Murray is in her classroom she’s happy and eager to teach. As one of the students in her class, it is calm. It’s usually quiet and everybody is working on what they have to do for her class. The experience in the classroom is peaceful and she usually gives us some extra class time to get the work done.
She shared her journey on how she became a teacher. She explained how she was ready to be one after being in college for some time.
Ms. G., or Ms. Murray (she goes by either), started teaching in 2005. She’s been teaching high school for four years and even taught college for seven years before teaching high school.
Ms. G. went to college in order to get a teaching credential, but she instead earned two Master’s degrees. She went to Mills College in Oakland and also Columbia University which is in New York. She also went to UC Berkeley and, last but not least, SF State University.
Ms. G. wasn’t a big fan of being a student. She explains, “But not in an ‘I don’t care about my education’ way but in more of a ‘I can’t wait to be where I want to be in life’ type of way.”
She was most excited to go to school in New York. However, once she arrived in New York, she missed home in California. She does not miss being in school, instead she likes more of what she learned to do and that’s teaching.
She has four siblings and she’s the second oldest.
Something she does out of school is reading mainly because she’s an English teacher. She also spends time with family and friends. Most of all she travels when she gets the chance. The farthest she’s traveled was Japan and an interesting fact is she has family rooted out there.
If the opportunity to teach in Japan was available she would do it, but “only for a little while because I would miss home.” She just loves doing what she loves in her home state and that is teaching.
It’s good to have her for my last class of the day because it’s where students get to listen to music and work. Her class never really has a problem with doing the work. She doesn’t have to remind us multiple times. Even if you put the loudest students in her class, it might be the most quiet class in the school. The quiet is something I like.
