Several great new teachers were hired to work at NPHS during the summer. Three of the new teachers agreed to give some information about themselves.

Mitsuru Noguchi is the new Japanese teacher. She teaches Japanese 1, 2, and 3 as well as AP Japanese. This means that she covers every grade in high school. She is from Tokyo, Japan and now lives in Hudson County, New Jersey. She is what one would call an alternate route teacher, meaning that she did not take the traditional steps to become a teacher. Before she became a teacher, she used to work in a financial institution in Manhattan, New York City. She was inspired to teach during college.

“I did student teaching of Japanese when I was in college,” Ms. Noguchi said. “I enjoyed helping out with the students there very much.”

Those were normal years, unlike this year, due to the virus. However, despite the difficult times, she is liking the year so far and making it through its challenges.

“It has been great,” Ms. Noguchi said. “Extremely hectic and busy, but I like my students. I enjoy interacting with them very much.”

Brandon Hilf is a teacher from Berkeley Heights. He co-teaches 7th grade science, 8th grade social studies, World Studies, American Lit, and Physics.  Although he had been a substitute teacher,  this is his first full-time teaching job.

This raises the question of how he became interested in co-teaching. “I got interested in teaching when I was in high school and had a teacher who made me feel like I could succeed in anything I put my mind to and never gave up on helping me,” Mr. Hilf said. “After that, I knew I wanted to do that for other people.”

Teaching in both the Middle and High Schools can be tough,  however the year has been good so far for Mr. Hilf.

“Teaching in two different schools presents me some challenges but across both schools, the teachers I work with and students I educate are amazing and such hard workers,” said Mr. Hilf.

“The school environments are both very positive and an absolute pleasure to be a part of,” Mr. Hilf said about the two different schools.

Laina Magnani was born and raised in Edison, New Jersey. She teaches 10th grade Chemistry and Conceptual Chemistry. She started out preferring math over chemistry, but switched.

“In college, I was studying to become a math teacher, and I was taking chemistry courses as a part of the program I was in,” Ms. Magnani said. “While I was taking chemistry courses, I thought it was a lot of fun, and that many of the chemistry concepts were kind of like solving puzzles. It was also interesting to learn everything in the world around us has to do with different aspects of chemistry in some way.”

This is not the first school district she has taught in. She has also taught in Perth Amboy and in Edison. She said that it’s fun to get to teach chemistry while getting to know this school and its students.

“The students here in New Providence really seem to care about their work and everything that they are doing in school and in class. I have had students … take school for granted sometimes.”

On the topic of her teaching at different schools in the past, she has had to make adjustments to her usual teaching.

“The hybrid schedule is definitely a change in pace from my previous teaching experiences; however, I love that we are still able to do some face-to-face learning along with the virtual aspect of school,” said Ms. Magnani. “In a non-coronavirus school year, I typically like to play a lot of games and do more hands-on activities or group work in class, but it is harder to bring some of this into my current classes.”

Welcome to all of our new teachers!