The first week of school at Chamblee High School has definitely been an adjustment for everyone. The new metal detectors, schedules, and classes are enough to make students fall into a stress-induced coma, though the new teachers at Chamblee have even more to adjust to. One of these individuals is Ms. Bailey Kirk, a gifted Geometry and Algebra teacher. Before she became a part of the Chamblee High School team, she worked at Arabia Mountain High School teaching accelerated and on-level math.
One of the main factors that Kirk has had to adjust to is the contrasting interests of her new students compared to her Arabia Mountain students.
“[The gifted-magnet students] were much more stressed about [assignments and grades] right off the bat than my old students,” said Kirk.
Though she is having to adjust, the diversity of the student body is Kirk’s favorite thing about Chamblee.
“I had students super excited to go to the Dungeons and Dragons club, which is a club I didn’t expect. It was such a shock that people showed up to math team and were excited! That seems crazy to me, but in a good way. I was captain of the math team in high school, but the team was literally just friends [that] I decided were good enough at math to compete in a competition with me. Also, I have loved seeing that there is a puzzle club because I do speed puzzle competitions […] and seeing a crochet club is really cool,” said Kirk.
Another difference that Kirk has been challenged with is that she doesn’t have an official classroom, but instead floats around. The plus side to this is that she has been able to hang out with other teachers, such as Ms. Mallory Clark, who inhabits one of the rooms that Kirk teaches in.
“Ms. Clark and I went to grad school together! Just like high school students, we bonded over struggling with assignments and how annoying some of our professors were. It was trauma bonding at its finest,” said Kirk.
Unlike most who have gone back-and-forth on their possible future careers, Kirk has always wanted to be a math teacher.
“When I hit high school and saw my high school math teachers, I thought, this is what I need to do,” said Kirk.
Though she has had many helpful math teachers, she was particularly inspired by her high school AP Calculus teacher.
“He was crazy hard. In some ways, I am trying to imitate the pressure that he put on us, but I am also trying to have more personality and fun things,” said Kirk
Ms. Kirk’s favorite math topic is calculus, though she enjoys algebra and geometry as well, with the exception of circles.
“I feel like everything else in geometry flows better, while circles just feel confusing, and I am always double checking the rules [to see] if I remembered them correctly. ‘The spinning circle of death’ doesn’t just apply to computers not loading,” said Kirk.
When she is not teaching math and complaining about circles, she is watching soccer games with her Atlanta United Season tickets, knitting, watching Criminal Minds, or trying to block out her roommate’s noisy cat.
“She’s just weird. She’ll growl when she thinks someone’s at the door [because] she thinks she’s a dog,” said Ms. Kirk.
Though she has had a lot to adjust to, Ms. Kirk was relieved to say that her first couple of weeks at Chamblee have mostly been pretty relaxed.
“There’s a lot going on, but everything’s been pretty smooth and organized,” said Kirk.
Overall, Kirk has a positive outlook on this school year at Chamblee.
“I feel like I have the support, and students [are] able to push themselves further than I have been able to do with some of my past students,” said Kirk, “There are a lot of hands-on activities that I am hopeful to be able to do this year.”
