Mrs. Tiffany Malagari is a social studies teacher at Oakdale, who also manages the Leadership Program. She has been teaching for a total of 16 years with half of this time being spent teaching at Monocacy Middle School and Windsor-Knolls Middle School. “I enjoyed my experience in school and I really wanted to carry that experience forward. I did have a rough middle school experience, so for 3 years middle school was really challenging for me, not academically, but more socially,” she recalled. She goes on to explain how she had experienced bullying in middle school and expresses the reason she became a teacher. “I wanted to, I think as an adult, have an opportunity to show kids that it really does get better and that you might experience something hard in school or challenging in school, but it does get better,”
Malagaris’s switch from middle to high school teaching came from her wanting to be able to develop deeper connections with students, as high school students’ lives outside of school were much more complex. “I would never hear from them, I would never find out what they were doing in high school or where they went to school or jobs that they had and I really wanted to see kids grow. Coming to high school you might teach a student as a freshman, and you get to see them grow throughout the years.” she refers.
Besides being a general social studies teacher, she is also in charge of the leadership program. This program is a class that spans two years, with one of the classes beginning in the spring and ending in the following fall. When asked, if she notices changes in students in their second semester of leadership, Malagari remarked, “Absolutely. A lot of students, the things they learned about when they’re reflecting, it’s like, ‘oh, now I get it. Now I know why we talked about that.’” Malagari remarked. This program is available only to freshmen and sophomores by application. The benefit of being enrolled in this program is that students write a paper and submit it to Phi Theta Kappa, leading to a certification if their service project and paper demonstrate learned leadership skills.
This year, Malagari does not run any school clubs, however, in the past she ran the Junior Class Club alongside Ms. Ehrlich. In this club, she helped with the setup and planning of prom, similar to how other class clubs plan for school sponsored events.
Malagari has described her teaching style as very relaxed, and not focused on following strict agendas. “I want to meet my students where they are. So while that doesn’t mean letting them do whatever they want, it does mean if they wanna spend a little bit more time on a certain topic, let’s do it,” she commented.
William Blair, a junior at Oakdale was asked how Malagari has helped him this semester when he faces a challenge, as well as what he has taken away from her class, to which he responded, “If I need help, and I’m a little bit farther behind from everyone else, she’ll come up to me, tell me what I need to do, and then check in with me periodically. What I’ve taken away from her class is that it’s fine to ask for help, and asking for help is probably the best thing you could do.”
As announced by Malagari, she plans to continue teaching social studies until she retires, although it may not be at Oakdale. She has stated that she has so far enjoyed her experience here, and she wants to continue making an impact on students’ lives.
