Guided Studies and Advanced Placement English Language and Composition teacher Jennifer Wei has been involved in the Aragon community since 1994, when she attended the school as a freshman. However, she has decided to leave Aragon to continue her teaching career at Hillsdale.
After graduating in 1998, Wei decided to be a teacher in 2004. She began her teaching career by volunteering as a student teacher at Hillsdale and Burlingame high schools. One aspect of Hillsdale that differs from Aragon is its small learning community system, where a teacher works with three other teachers from different departments to teach 120 students.
“You’re sharing some of that teaching with another teacher, which is something I’ve always wanted to get better at,” Wei said. “[It’s] something that I’ve always wanted to explore and just never structurally had the chance to at Aragon, [and] something that I just remember being so interested and inspired by.”
After student teaching for a year and volunteering for two, Wei taught as a long-term substitute at Burlingame High School after acquiring a teaching credential. In 2007, Wei began teaching at Aragon as an English teacher.
“I think that part of what I’m hoping to do is get a new perspective,” Wei said. “I think it’s so important to when we’re comfortable, and then when we feel discomfort in that, to sort of lean into that discomfort and examine it and sort of hold it up. I think my discomfort is that I’ve been comfortable for a really long time. That’s a signal to me that the air that I breathe and the water that I drink has to be examined.”
“I think my discomfort is that I’ve been comfortable for a really long time”
In her time as a teacher at Aragon, Wei created the Guided Studies program based on the advisory model she observed at Hillsdale. Guided Studies allows students in the class to connect with teachers or adults on campus and stay on track with their school and home life balance.
“I think what I’ve left is partially the Guided Studies program, and what we are able to do for students as part of a couple of wraparound services at our school,” Wei said. “I’m really proud of that work.”
Wei also brought Toni Morrison’s Beloved to AP English Language students, which touches on topics of race and slavery.
Currently, Wei teaches AP English classes and Guided Studies, but her students don’t all take the same history, science or elective classes. Because of this, it is harder to do projects that connect different subjects and challenge students. Despite this challenge, Wei has appreciated her time at Aragon.
“One of the things about leaving Aragon is that it feels like I’m leaving home in some ways,” Wei said. “I’ve been so lucky to be really nurtured, and Aragon has been such a good place for me.”
“I’ve been so lucky to be really nurtured, and Aragon has been such a good place for me”
Wei will begin teaching at Hillsdale during the 2022-23 school year. With over 20 college flags on her classroom walls and over 500 senior pictures, Wei has had lasting impacts on many students throughout her years as a teacher.
“I will miss Aragon,” Wei said. “I’m looking at my wall of pictures of students who are now volunteering or even working at Aragon in some capacity. That’s not going to have any meaning at Hillsdale, so the question for me is, ‘Where do these students live so that I remember them? What is that legacy?’”
Because other staff members are changing positions, both at Hillsdale and Aragon, Wei may not be teaching AP English Language at Hillsdale. The next AP English teacher at Aragon is also yet to be announced, but the course will still be offered to students in the 2022-23 school year.
“Ms. Wei is one of those teachers who you can tell just genuinely cares about her students’ well-being so much and she is such a helpful English teacher and reviewer,” said senior Erica Lin.
“Ms. Wei is one of those teachers who you can tell just genuinely cares about her students’ well-being”
Still, past students won’t forget the impact that Wei has had at Aragon.
“[She is] a teacher that you can kind of just walk into her classroom during Flex or brunch and just talk to her because she’s such an amazing person who really connects well with students,” said senior Rowan Cary-Clark. “I think that connection is going to be missed.”
While Wei will be leaving Aragon, she will still be a part of the San Mateo Union High School District, beginning her teaching at Hillsdale in the 2022-23 school year.
