Ms. Jennifer Novogoratz sits in front of her students on her ChromeBook as she displays geometry lessons for her students to view on her black outlined whiteboard that is placed in the front and center of her classroom . The coolness of her room keeps her students awake as she explains to them how to make quadrilaterals with circles and line segments. The students slowly turn their silver compasses to the left, constructing an almost perfect circle just as Ms. Novogoratz does on her whiteboard. Her pink-framed, yellow-hinged, round glasses fit themselves up almost touching her nose. She explains the differences of the mathematical transformations, always taking a break in the middle of her lesson to be sure that her students are able to comprehend. 

Seven new teachers were added to the school, one of which was the algebra/geometry teacher, Ms. Novogoratz (also referred to as Ms.N or Ms.Novo). She can be found teaching near the Spanish hallway in room 40. She has taught at seven schools, providing her with a high quality of a teaching experience. Ms. Novogoratz feels that Fort Osage gives a comfortable feeling that she could relate to when she was in high school.

“I’ve had a lot of experience teaching in private schools, church schools, inner city schools and I felt that I was missing the community feeling that I had when I went to high school. Ms. Novogoratz said. “So, that made me excited when the position opened up at Fort for the opportunity to experience the community feeling I was missing.” 

Ms.Novogoratz has put in all of her hard work and effort into teaching her students and she helps push students towards limits they wouldn’t have attempted to reach themselves. She makes sure that when students are confused, that they consult her for guidance and she never skims or goes through a lesson without making sure that all students have a full understanding of the lesson. Courtney Huffner believes that Ms. Novogoratz is helpful and wants to help students go beyond their basic capability of learning.

“I definitely think that she helps us understand geometry better,” Huffner said. “ I already have a good knowledge of math. She pushes me past my boundaries and helps me to expand my knowledge.”

Ms. Novogoratz works towards building a friendly and funny relationship with her students, as she tends to insert jokes in her lessons and amuse the students. She always makes sure to greet her students kindly, and treat them in a respectful manner just as she would want students to do the same towards her. Holly Gouldsmith believes that the jokes are a positive way to connect with the students.

“She’ll build a funny relationship with us students for sure,” Gouldsmith said. “She’s sarcastic sometimes and students like to play along with her. I tend to like her and her jokes a lot, along with other students in my geometry class.”

Overall, Ms. Novogoratz has made a compelling impact on her students socially and academically and she will continue to strive for excellence from her students.

“When I was in high school I had an amazing teacher for calculus and the way she worked with students made me want to go into teaching,” Novogoratz stated.

Ms. Novogoratz has made a special impact on her students and she continuously makes sure that her students are well prepared and well comprehended during each lesson and task given for the day. She scans the 4×5 desk rowed classroom making sure to find those with their hands raised in order to get help. She equally surveys the back of the classroom to examine the other students sitting at the brown, round table, ready to open their minds to the world of math.