About Ms. Marshall

Petting a tiger in Thailand. Yes, it's real!

Hello Great Student!

My name is Ms. Marshall, and I am thrilled to be here at BLA and have the honor of teaching you.  Before coming to BLA in 2010, I taught for 6 years in other Boston Public Schools: 5 years (and two summer schools!) at Charlestown High School, and one year at Codman Academy Charter School.  Do any of you know students who go to either school?

From 2009-2010 I did something a bit unusual: I took a leave of absence to travel around the world.  The first stop was Japan, then Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam), then 3 months teaching in the wonderful West African country of Ghana, and finally to Portugal and Spain.  It was an absolutely wonderful year, and I learned so much!  Most recently, I visited China in the summer of 2011, to lead up to the student trip to China I am leading in February of 2012. If you want to read all about my journey and see photos, check out my website, www.AroundTheWorldL.com . If you want to go straight to the story about PETTING THAT HUGE TIGER (!) click here.

One of the best parts of traveling, however, is this: it really makes you appreciate your home when you come back.  Because of this, I am so in love with Boston and with teaching now, so you have a very happy teacher on your hands this year!

I am from the Boston area, and went to college just one hour away in Providence, RI, at Brown University.  My best friend in college is from Boston, and can you guess which high school she and her sister attended?

Besides teaching, I love eating (everything, but especially chocolate and avocados), writing and reading (I just finished The Lightning Thief, which I loved), music (Alicia Keys, the Beatles, and more), exercise (I was a high jumper in high school and college), hablando espanol, drawing, travel, and spending time with my friends and family.  My “little” brother is one of my best friends, and I put “little” in quote marks because he is 6 feet, 6.5 inches tall!

Now let’s talk about you, because I am eager to get to know you.  What’s your story?  What are your hobbies and talents?  What are your academic interests?  What is your family like, and were you born in Boston or elsewhere?  What have you enjoyed learning in school in the past, and what do you hope to learn and practice this year?  What should your teachers know about how to best teach you?

I look forward to learning about you!

Sincerely,

Ms. Marshall, your Humanities 7 teacher

MsMarshallBLA@gmail.com