With the temporary absence of our Modern and Middle World History teacher Stephanie Kelley, Atlantic High School has welcomed a new long-term substitute, Ben Andersen, to fill her role during her recovery. Throughout the school year, Kelley has been clear about the implications of her cancer diagnosis and has received unwavering support. For example, in October AHS Volleyball and Football hosted Pink Out Games to raise momey to support Kelley, and in November a group of boys in the sophomore class shaved their heads to show support for Kelley.
Kelley will be out of the classroom from Feb. 27 through March 21 for surgery and recovery. After a short return for a couple of weeks, she will leave again in April for radiation treatment. During this time away, Andersen will take charge of the classroom, writing and teaching his own lessons which he has been planning for a while now.
To prepare for her time away, Kelley went over specific units with her students to make sure they’d be all caught up when Andersen began teaching. Although her lessons have already changed since her cancer diagnosis, they are expected to change more based on Andersen’s decisions. “You’ll still have nearly the same assignments, but he may veer more towards discussions and writing.”
Kelley said she’ll “hate” being away from her students for so long. “I love coming to work. Teaching isn’t a stressful job to me. There is something likable about every single student that comes through my door,” said Kelley. In her time away from teaching, she plans to focus a lot on working on building a curriculum for her new class next fall.
Andersen “really enjoys” his position as a substitute teacher for Kelley so far. “I got my education in history teaching so I get to teach the subject I love,” Andersen said. He stepped into this role shortly after graduating from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). Andersen was interested in this job specifically because he wanted something more consistent than regular substitute teaching. He’s been a substitute teacher for roughly two months now and has subbed at the middle school as well as the high school.
Students have enjoyed being taught by Andersen. “He’s really outgoing. He puts all his efforts in to make it a good class period,” said sophomore Jailynne Castillo. Castillo said Andersen was eager to “get into things” and “passionate about his job.” Sophomore Dane Wiederstein said Andersen “respects students” in the same way as Kelley does, “allowing all students to share their ideas.”
In the future, Andersen plans on using this experience to become an educator with classes of his own. He hopes to have a full-time teaching position next school year. He wants to use the planning, instruction, and class management practice that he has acquired while subbing for his own future classroom.
“I would like to give a shoutout to all of the students in Mrs. Kelley’s classes. They have been very responsive to me as a new teacher and have been great to work with. I am looking forward to a couple more weeks with y’all,” Andersen said.
