Amador prepares all of her lessons and class work with care and accuracy for what her students need in the real world. photo by Sony Calhoun
Social Studies and Ethnic Studies are an integral part of the curriculum at Thomas Jefferson High School.
Jessica Amador teaches History of Power, Conflict, and Healing, Latin American History, and Personal Financial Literacy here at TJ. She has taught for 21 years, three of which have been at TJ. Amador has wanted to be a teacher since the sixth grade, but she started working at 14. Her first job was filing parts tickets for a car dealership. She is bilingual, speaking both English and Spanish. She learned Spanish through taking classes in school and speaking with her Hispanic husband.
Amador loves her community and is a quick and adaptable learner. In 2024, she stepped up to be the assistant swim coach with math teacher and coach Suzanne Meyer and the team had a fantastic season. She always does what she can for her students and her fellow staff members, even if it makes her life harder than it was before. That is who Amador is: someone who adapts to her surroundings for the benefit of the people around her. When the requirements for graduation changed, Amador quickly adopted the two new classes (History of Power, Conflict, and Healing and Personal Financial Literacy) into her schedule and found the best way for her to teach them.
Before her future students join her class next year, she wants them to know some things about her and how she runs her classroom. She wants everyone to be “curious about the world outside of themselves and to ask questions to challenge the way they think about each other and themselves.” The curiosity of students and seeing the “proverbial lightbulb” above her students’ heads when they figure something out, as well as watching her students grow over time, is what motivates her to teach. Knowing her students are thinking about what they’re learning is her favorite part of her classes. In her classroom, the passion behind each of her classes and getting to teach what she genuinely loves and thinks is important, guides her every step of the way.
There is always something to learn in her classes, whether it’s in the lesson plan or not. Taking notes and the ability to research things are a very necessary skill for all of her classes, especially History of Power, Conflict, and Healing and Latino American Studies.
Because of this, students need to learn how to decipher what information is accurate or necessary, and she teaches that skill well. Her courses have something for everyone to benefit from. Amador loves when students advocate for things that they enjoy, and when their genuine interests about what they are learning creates community. She also loves discovering the character of her students through their writing. Amador believes that students need to get used to improvement taking time. There will always be something to rewrite, work on, or struggle with. Amador said she aligns herself with the quote, “We are not our best intentions, we are what we do” by Amy Dickinson, an advice columnist, which she followed with, “It’s not about what you hope to achieve, or how this semester is going to be different… it’s, ‘how are you going to execute that plan? So it is not our best intention, it is what we actually do.”
Amador encourages everyone to go out and explore the world, to not be afraid to go to new places even if they don’t know the language or culture of wherever they may be, and to participate in the world. She believes everyone should see what’s out there and what inspires them. Even if all individuals gain is experience, the experience can be something anyone can learn from. To her, life is about exploring the options and learning about the world as much as physically possible, even if there are no plans on expanding outside of personal interest.
