Why We Love Ms. Arnold !
As a child Ms. Arnold moved to Alabama when she was 5 years old in 1963. She remembers the tragic look on her parents face when they received the news of Kennedy's assassination on the way down. Growing up in Alabama was tough for Ms. Arnold because her parents were Northern liberals, and believed the schools should be desegregated. Her family received many threatening phone calls and letters from neighbors. Her family moved to Pennsylvania when she was 11 years old. Ms. Arnold also went to Divinity School. There she realized her true calling of teaching. One of her advisors, Nancy Richardson, suggested she take a course about education, and from there Ms. Arnold knew she was destined to be a teacher.
Ms. Arnold is a very influential and generous person. She has done many acts of kindness in her life without need of thanks. During her twenties, Ms. Arnold gave one of her kidneys to a friend who suffered from Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). As she recalls the event, she remembers worrying more about her friend's safety than her own. Suddenly, she would find herself waking up during the night and thinking, “Oh my god! I'm only going to have one kidney!” Nevertheless, she went through with the surgery.
Students here at Boston Latin School enjoy Ms. Arnold's witty sense of humor and fun projects. One her favorite activity to do is The Mock Trial, which is when students stage a trial based on the Peter Zenger case during the 1700s. Students act as real lawyers, witnesses, and jury members. Both the students and Ms. Arnold feel this is one of the most enjoyable projects to do in the 8 th grade.
During her teaching career, Ms. Arnold has been nominated for many awards. Some of those awards include nomination for Teacher of the Year for Boston Public Schools twice, the Mayor's Green Award, and the Crystal Apple Teaching Award 2005. Here at Boston Latin School, Ms. Arnold started the first ever Youth CAN group in 2006. From there, she has led two summits and helped many other schools start their own Youth CAN clubs.
Ms. Arnold attended BrynMawr College in 1995, Divinity School, and Harvard University in 1999. She has received her Undergraduate degree in Philosophy and her Masters degree in Divinity. After college, Ms. Arnold worked a series of odd jobs including a low pay job working with developmentally delayed preschoolers. She also worked as a teacher at an alternative school called the Transitional Learning Academy in Lawrence, where children who have gotten into trouble (possibly with the law) attended. Ms. Arnold remembers one experience where she got two black eyes (accidentally) when breaking up a fight between two students.
Outside of school Ms. Arnold likes to kayak, ski, dance, read, and loves to bike. She owns a blue bike, on which she bikes practically everywhere. She speaks Italian, French, and of course, English. We are so glad to have a teacher like Ms. Arnold, who is inspirational to us everyday.
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