Lincoln welcomes Ms. Dobbins! Ms. Dobbins is a new English teacher for the 2019-2020 school year. This year she will be teaching freshmen for their English class and seniors for ERWC (Expository Reading and Writing Course).  However, more exciting news, this is actually her first full year as an official teacher. Ms. Dobbins was a student teacher last year at Woodside High School and the year before she was a substitute teacher at Menlo Atherton High School. Ms. Dobbins grew up in Redwood City and currently still lives there. During her free time she enjoys playing with her great dane puppy, hiking, and traveling, so she’s always up for an exciting adventure. Nonetheless, she always likes to engulf herself in a lovely book to relax, since she’s now a full-time teacher, there really isn’t much free time for her, but when she does she uses that time to rest. 

Ms. Dobbins attended Whitworth College, a private Christian liberal arts college, located in a small town in Washington called Spokane. She majored in psychology and art while attending Whitworth College, which to her was quite random since she ended up becoming an English teacher. She was inspired to become a teacher because of how well she worked with high school age students, and thought this was an interesting time period in their lives. Ms. Dobbins added on that, “high school students tend to have an idea of who they are and what they want, but at the same time they are still growing and figuring that out.” 

This year one of her goals is to get familiar with her new teaching material, so she can understand what is best suited for her students and what they need to learn, and hopes to keep improving as a teacher. When it comes to her students, a goal she has for them is to meet them wherever they’re at and also help them improve in their reading and writing, and of course keep them ahead before they leave. Some advice she gives to her students this year is that practice is very important, especially with both reading and writing, because it’s a process in which students can improve on. Ms. Dobbins finished the interview question by saying that, “students should refrain from becoming frustrated when things are initially hard because it will get better, and advice for English classes in general, for some people they hate it or like it, but what is important is acknowledging that reading and writing is all around us so it definitely has a use for it.”