You can always count on seeing Upper School French teacher Jen Weeks and Middle School history teacher Jim Weeks’ bright smiles around campus or in their classrooms: at least, you can for the next few remaining days of the year. Mr. and Mrs. Weeks will be embarking on a permanent move to Canada after this school year finishes.
Mr. and Mrs. Weeks have been teaching at KO for nine years, each one filled with new friendships, memories, and lesson plans. Mr. Weeks has been part of both the Upper School and Middle School, teaching courses such as U.S. history, world history, and geography. Meanwhile, Mrs. Weeks has taught various levels of French in the Upper School, and she is also the Site Director for Global Online Academy as well as an Academic Technology Coordinator.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Weeks have greatly contributed to athletics at KO as well. Mrs. Weeks is the Head Coach for JV girls volleyball and, when it existed, was the girls ice hockey coach. Mr. Weeks has been a football, basketball, and baseball coach.
Mr. Weeks said that he enjoyed teaching here because of the freedom he had with the curriculum. “KO gave me a lot of opportunities and support to try new things, and there’s a lot of flexibility with how I teach,” he said. “For example, when I teach Constitutional amendments to the Middle Schoolers, I have them learn the amendments, then play this online game, do some skits, and eventually take a test. There’s freedom in the curriculum to use a wide range of activities to help students learn the material.” He also said that he appreciated being able to teach students to build upon their skills instead of having to teach towards a test.
Mrs. Weeks said she had a similar point of view. “I’ve appreciated getting the chance to be creative and design my own curriculum for students based on certain required topics,” she said. She also said she really liked the two June term trips she organized, one to Paris and one to Quebec, because they were such enriching experiences.
Sophomore Jenna Blocher said she has really enjoyed taking Mrs. Weeks’ French classes. “Mrs. Weeks is one of the kindest and most understanding teachers I’ve ever had,” she said. “You can tell that she genuinely wants her students to do well and understand the concepts; she is always trying new things with us to make class engaging and interesting.”
Sophomore Ishaa Sohail, who is in one of Mrs. Weeks’ GOA classes, also said she was happy to have Mrs. Weeks as a teacher. “Ms. Weeks is one of the sweetest teachers at KO,” she said. “She has helped me so much and I wish the best of luck to them in Canada.”
Mr. and Mrs. Weeks both said that their favorite part of KO was all the relationships they were able to make. “The people are what make KO so great, and I’m very fortunate to have met so many awesome people,” Mrs. Weeks said. Mr. Weeks agreed and said that he’ll miss all the friends he’s made as well. “I made a lot of friends here and I’ll miss seeing them everyday, but I’ll definitely keep in touch with them,” he said.
While Mr. and Mrs. Weeks said they are sad to be leaving such a great community, they said they are also excited to begin a new adventure up North and spend a lot more time with their extended family. “Our son will be able to play with about 10 cousins, so that’ll be really nice,” Mr. Weeks said. He also said that he hopes to use the skills he learned at KO to continue teaching in Canada, while Mrs. Weeks said she is looking forward to applying her technological skills working for a member of Parliament.
