Stephenson-Steele cannot help but be happy when she’s surrounded by literature. photo by Sony Calhoun
TJ has been a welcoming home to Jennifer Stephenson-Steele for over a decade.
Jennifer Stephenson-Steele, a part of Thomas Jefferson High School’s English Department, has been a key member of the school’s staff for 11 years. Through teaching English, Stephenson-Steele understands what it means to teach core literacy skills to the next generation of adults.
Stephenson-Steele is a Colorado native, born and raised “just down the street” in Englewood, Colorado. She attended Englewood High School and found herself moving to a couple different schools throughout college. “I started at University of Denver (DU), and I was there for a year, then I transferred to Metropolitan State University (Metro), where I got my Bachelor’s, and then I got my Master’s from Regis,” she explained. Her initial pursuit of creative writing did not work out, as Metropolitan State did not have a related program. Instead, Stephenson-Steele settled on pursuing an English degree, and there she proceeded to earn her teaching license. Regis, however, did have a creative writing program, so Stephenson-Steele then earned a Master’s in Creative Writing.
Along with teaching English 1 Honors, she teaches Creative Writing to seniors. She said that she has “always been a writer” and now gets to teach her passion every day to her students. If not for teaching at TJ, Stephenson-Steele said that she would have pursued writing full time; “That’s been my other dream, writing books and having them published.” Stephenson-Steele completed her student teaching at TJ before becoming a full-time teacher here. Ending up at TJ was not a conscious effort at first, as Stephenson-Steele said she “was just placed here,” but soon she found that she really liked being here. “When a job opened up, I applied, and was lucky enough to get it,” she explained. Stephenson-Steele claims that she does not see herself leaving TJ anytime soon, saying “I always tell people, if I ever leave TJ, it’s because I’m either leaving teaching altogether or leaving the state.” Her experience and service has not gone unnoticed, and she has left a positive impression on the students who she has taught. Stephenson-Steele notes that the students are her favorite part of TJ and that they make every day fun and interesting. The lesson content within her classes is also a notable part of what Stephenson-Steele likes about TJ. “I just really love books, nerding out, writing, reading, and I have fun planning the lessons too,” she said.
Switching between teaching freshmen and seniors is not an easy task; Stephenson-Steele has to bounce between different energy and maturity levels every day. She says that teaching freshmen involves more than teaching them the basics of English (though that is a significant part), but it also includes teaching them “how high school works” and correcting behavior along with helping them understand the foundations of high school English like building paragraphs and analyzing texts. Within her senior class, however, Stephenson-Steele states that the seniors have a bit more room to experiment “because they already learned the foundational stuff.” Both groups come with a variety of students, but, in Stephenson-Steele’s opinion, a similarity is that both classes come in with a diverse group of students, and that “figuring out where students are” is a consistent part of teaching any age group.
English is something that consumes Stephenson-Steele’s time both inside and outside of school. In her free time, she likes to read and write, spending considerable amounts of time engrossed in literature. Besides reading, she enjoys the outdoors and activities that Colorado has to offer, “I love to hike and go to concerts.” She also shared that playing with her young son is a sizable part of her day as well, “He’s a wild man, I just chase him around all day.” From teaching students about her favorite subject to coming home to things that make her happy, Stephenson-Steele surrounds herself with joy.
High school is a big jump for students with a flood of new people, responsibilities, and surroundings. Stephenson-Steele urges current and future students to “enjoy high school, because it really does go fast.” From an academic standpoint, she also urges students to seek out help when they need it, no matter how intimidating it may seem at first because, “we will not fail you if you truly try and seek out help.” She concludes with a last part of advice, “It is the people that give up that are the ones that don’t succeed.” Taking on such a responsibility of instilling vital values within students is no easy task, yet, for the past 11 years, Stephenson-Steele has carried this responsibility with pride and has brought forth irreplaceable knowledge to her students.
