ATRUE MENTOR

SMHS teacher guides colleagues, student teachers, high school students

Keren Jackson embodies what it means to be an effective mentor to colleagues, teachers and students. She welcomes them to her classroom, freely shares her expertise and offers encouragement and unwavering support.

Jackson has spent her entire 18-year career at SMHS, where she teaches English III and AP Language and Composition and serves as a team lead and mentor to colleagues. As a team lead, Jackson guides colleagues in planning lessons for English III.

“I keep the group on track to meet its goals,” Jackson said. “We work as a team to align the skills that we’re teaching in our lessons. We also identify texts and activities to use in our curriculum, and we make decisions about the assessments.”

Because of her mentoring skills, Jackson is frequently asked by Texas State University to work with student teachers. “Ms. Jackson is an incredible, understanding, hard-working and compassionate person,” said student teacher Erika Covey. “I’m so grateful that she was my cooperating teacher this past spring. She models what it means to be an effective teacher. She is constantly reading and learning new teaching techniques.

“She took the lead for the first couple of weeks teaching me how to plan lessons and grade students’ assignments without getting anxious about the process,” Covey continued. “We then reached a point when we started planning together. When I started feeling comfortable, she let me take the lead in planning. As soon as I could do it on my own, she told me to ‘go for it’ and turned over her classes to me. She prepared me well.”

Jackson mentors students as well as teachers. She serves as the faculty sponsor of Junior State of America (JSA), a student-led organization for high school students who are civically minded.

“Students debate the moral, social and political issues of the day,” Jackson said.

Students debate serious topics, such as the presidential candidates, school vouchers and school dress codes as well as light-hearted topics, such as which actor best played Spiderman.

“JSA has chapters all over the country, but Texas has the most,” said Secretary-Elect Lauren Dirkes.

Most chapters in Texas are in Dallas and Houston.

“San Marcos High School has one of the largest chapters compared to others. We have about 30 members,” said JSA member Bella Barrow. “We’ve done a good job recruiting students to join.”

The opportunity to debate appeals to students.

“What I like about JSA is that I get to listen to multiple points of views and hear how people view things politically,” according to President-Elect Farrah Dirkes, Lauren Dirkes’s twin sister. “It’s interesting to hear what other people have to say and then form my own opinions.”

“Teenagers today don’t want to offend anyone,” Lauren Dirkes added. “JSA is a safe place to learn about other people’s perspectives. I have discovered that other people think like me and I’m not the only one who thinks the way that I do. I’m now more open with my opinions.”

JSA holds bi-weekly meetings on Thursday mornings before school in Jackson’s classroom.

“Everyone in JSA respects everyone’s opinion,” Barrow said. “You can say whatever you want without getting canceled. Participating in JSA has allowed me to relax, open up, and talk to other people about my opinions. JSA has helped with my confidence and self-esteem. I can now be calm and speak in public.”

At any given meeting, 10 to 20 students will attend.

“We go over what’s happening in JSA and prepare for our upcoming conventions. We do mock debates to show people what convention will be like,” said Lauren Dirkes.

JSA holds two annual state conventions called Fall State and Spring State. Fall State is held at the Capitol in Austin in November, and Spring State is held at a large hotel in another city, often Houston, in April. Attendance at the state conventions ranges between 100 and 200 members. Both conventions follow the same format with three main events: debates, thought talks and service projects.

Multiple hour-long debates are scheduled throughout the two-day convention.

“For each debate there are two main speakers who take different sides of a topic and debate formally,” said Lauren Dirkes. “After they have debated, subsequential speakers talk. They take whatever side they want and share their opinions.”

When students register, they can sign up to be a debater.

“Each debate room has a moderator,” Farrah Dirkes added. “I served as a moderator at the last convention. The moderator makes sure that nothing gets too crazy in the room. Because people are sharing political opinions, we try to keep the debate neutral so that everyone has an opportunity to speak on what they feel and not be judged for it.

“The moderator guides the speakers through the steps of the debate and tells them how much time they have left,” she said. “The best part of moderating is hitting the gavel. You hit the gavel and tell the speaker they have two minutes left.

“Subsequential speakers come from the audience and get two minutes to talk. They go back and forth until the 45 minutes are up. The moderator gives out a QR code at the end, and people in the audience vote for the best speaker. The winner receives a gavel.”

A second part of Fall State and Spring State are thought talks.

“Thought talks focus on one topic,” said Lauren Dirkes. “Anyone can speak. You can either be pro or con about an issue. Thought talks are more informal than debates.”

A third part of the conventions are service projects.

“For Fall State, we made bags for the homeless,” said Farrah Dirkes. “Local businesses in Austin donated supplies. We put the bags together and then donated them to a nearby shelter.”

The national JSA organization hosts Winter Congress in Washington, DC each February.

“Not all states participate in Winter Congress. Only chapters from Texas, Northern California, and Florida attended this year,” said Connor Cortez, who was elected as Affairs Director.

“The format of Winter Congress is like Fall State and Spring State. The difference is that each school writes and submits a mock legislative bill for the debate. This year, Khushi Patel crafted and successfully defended a bill, ultimately winning best speaker. Khushi is our outgoing JSA president at San Marcos High School.”

During the trip, the group also did some sightseeing and visited several prospective universities, added Cortez. To help pay for the trips, JSA hosts a fundraiser called Battle of the Bands.

“We have a sign-up sheet, and any band, choir, or orchestra can sign up to perform,” said Lauren Dirkes. “This year, we even had someone dance. Four bands signed up, and each performed one or two songs.”

The Battle of the Bands is held in the school auditorium during the last period of a school day in May.

“Students pay $2 to attend the event,” said Lauren Dirkes.

“It was really cool this year because it seemed like the entire school attended,” said Farrah Dirkes. “We really weren’t expecting a lot of people to show up, but I think the whole school was there. Everyone was very supportive.”

Jackson guides the officers and the organization throughout the year.

“We love her because she is the type of person who will do anything for you” said Barrow.

“She is so committed to JSA. It’s her pride and joy. She keeps everyone going,” added Lauren Dirkes.

Keren Jackson is an effective teacher and mentor.

“What I cherish the most about Ms. Jackson is that she loves engaging people in conversations,” Barrow said. “She truly cares about others.”

Nathan Bond is an education professor at Texas State University. Elizabeth Hudson is a retired educator and journalist in Central Texas.