Mrs. Bass

Morgan Bowser
SJHS Staff Writer

SJHS has many amazing teachers. One of them is Mrs. Elizabeth Bass. Mrs. Bass teaches eighth grade English. “I have a passion for ideas, knowledge, and feelings. Words when they are strategically expressed, can make me laugh, bring me to tears, help me see the beauty in the world and the people in it, and help me better understand it,” said Mrs. Bass.

Mrs. Bass has been teaching for eight years now and has taught at Landmark High School as well as SJHS. “She is so nice and she explains everything so well; the assignments are really easy and don’t take up to much time,” said Victoria Ireland, an eighth-grade student. Jace Hartman, a ninth-grade student at SJHS, said, “Mrs. Bass is the coolest teacher at SJHS.”

When Mrs. Bass has free time, she enjoys being with her family, reading, traveling, singing, learning new things, making things, and playing sports. She loves teaching because she loves when she can see understanding or new ideas in students eyes. She loves seeing them take something they learned in class and apply it into their own life.

Spencer Duncan
SJHS Staff Writer

At Springville Junior High, Mrs. Koriane Maughan has come up with something called Friday Incentive.  The incentive occurs every Friday.  For twenty minutes of the period an activity takes place.  The activity is a surprise.

Students earn the activity by accomplishing the task Mrs. Maughan writes on the board every Monday.  If the task is not accomplished the students who did not complete it have to do something else while the other students get to take part in the activity.

Mrs. Maughan said, “Another teacher gave me the idea of Friday Incentive.”  Tyler Oman, an eighth grade student in Mrs. Maughan’s class, said, “It’s a good way to reward students.”  Mrs. Maughan said, “I think it helps students keep a goal in their minds.  If a person knows that they have to complete a certain task to receive a reward, then hopefully they will try their hardest to complete that task.”

Tyler said, “The students who complete the challenge get the Incentive.  Students who don’t, don’t get the reward.”

“I thought the first incentive went really well.  It rewarded and punished students individually, so they knew they couldn’t count on someone else.  If a student didn’t get the incentive then they knew it was their own fault,” said Mrs. Maughan.

Jacob Simmons
SJHS Staff Writer

Over the past few weeks, students in Mrs. Mary Rice’s honors English class have been working hard to create there very own renditions of a “Faustian Bargain.”

In the story Dr. Faustus a very intelligent scholar sells his soul to the devil and in return, the devil grants the man his every wish for a number of years. The students in Mrs. Rice’s class have been making their own versions of this exchange. They are making up stories that involve a character giving up something of long term importance for something of immediate gain. The ideas the students have come up with ideas that vary from a jungle scene to an ocean scene, and they involve all different kinds of characters such as lions, fish, and llamas.

After the students come up with an idea, they ponder on ways to share it. They can do a skit, a puppet show, or pretty much anything else they can come up with. The students create the scenery, the character, and the voices in each scenario.

All of this is in preparation to read the classic novel, Dr. Faustus. After the skits the students of Mrs. Rice’s class read about the real Faustian Bargain. The main purpose of all of this was explained by Mrs. Rice, “I am really aiming for students to understand how sophisticated authors layer stories together. The layering indicts the original story in some ways and affirms it others. Lots of times young people think that they have to come up with an entirely new story, which is not the case. One of the traits of brilliant authors is that they can tell an old story in way that sounds fresh and relevant for modern audiences.”

Jacob Simmons
SJHS Staff Writer

Springville Junior High School is very pleased with their English department. One of the men that helps make the department so successful is Mr. Trent Mikesell, seventh-grade English teacher.

Mr. Mikesell is working on his fourth year as a teacher. He has taught at three schools: Payson Middle School, Pocatello High School, and of course, Springville Junior High. He has taught grades seventh through ninth, as well as eleventh. “I like seventh best of all, especially in a junior high. They are so new and really enjoy coming to school,” he said.

“I really like teaching, it is truly the ideal job for me,” said Mr. Mikesell, “I like that each day is varied, and that I get to work directly with people.”  According to Mr. Mikesell, he chose to teach because both of his parents had taught. “It is in my blood,” he said. Originally he wanted to be a music teacher; however after taking a few music classes in college, he decided to change. He chose another of his favorite hobbies: reading.

Mr. Mikesell also helps out with the school’s “Gifted and Talented” program. The program is for a group advanced students in each grade level, which get to go on various activities throughout the year to places like the Utah Capitol, or museums close to home. “Mr. Mikesell has a great sense of creativity which contributes a lot to the program,” said Ethan Trunnell, a ninth-grade student in the program. While Mr. Mikesell is still new to the program and learning his way around what they do, he says, “it’s fun to see the students outside of the classroom and do fun things with them.”

Outside of school, Mr. Mikesell enjoys playing the piano, reading, and going to his parents’ cabin in Island Park, Idaho. While there, he and his family ride four wheelers, go snowmobiling, and canoeing. Something many people don’t know is that Mr. Mikesell likes skiing, although he claims he is not very good at it. Mr. Mikesell stated, “If I had unlimited money, I would want to travel all over the world in my free time.”

Mr. Robbins reading to his students.

Sarah Jensen
SJHS Staff Writer

Did you ever write an autobiography? The students in Mr. Steven Robbins’ class are writing one right now. Mr. Robbins has been teaching English and doing these autobiographies since 1990.  However, he took eight years off to teach Geography. “My favorite thing about having my students write these essays is watching students get into writing them,” said Mr. Robbins.

Mr. Robbins teaches seventh-grade English. Haylee Duncan, a seventh grader at SJHS in Mr. Robbins’ class, said, “In class we read, do journal entries, he reads to us, and lots more!” There are seven chapters in the autobiography. The first chapter is called “What about Grandma and Grandpa?” The first chapter is about the students’ grandparents. The students have about two to three weeks to write an at least one full page typed or one-half very neatly written single-spaced pages. Mr. Robbins gives the students a guide so they are not writing it all on their own. The guide helps them to make sure they have everything they need.

Chapter two is called “How My Parents Met.” The students in Mr. Robbins’ class have not gotten this assignment yet, however, it will be assigned to them soon. This essay needs to include when and how they became engaged, when and where they were married, who performed the marriage, about the reception and more. “The parents essay will be due sometime in January,” said Mr. Robbins.

Following chapters focus on later parts of the students’ lives.  The last chapter is called “Who am I?”  This essay need to have the students describe themselves and include their feelings about life, values, hopes, goals, things most important to them.

There is another part it is not a whole essay, it is an epilogue. It needs to be hand written and should be addressed to future generations. Include the students’ plans for the future and it needs to be signed and dated at the end. Mr. Robbins’s classes are going to write an interesting autobiography. Mr. Robbins hopes they enjoy writing it.

Bailey Penrose reading War of the Worlds in Mrs. Rice’s 8th grade English class.

Christopher Taylor
SJHS Staff Writer

Out of all the different genres in reading, science fiction is one of the largest. Stories from this genre can contain anything from time travel and stories about the future to alien invaders.  Many of these stories were inspired by the writings of H. G. Wells. Mrs. Mary Rice’s eight-grade English class is reading War of the Worlds, which is a book about invaders from Mars by H.G. Wells. According to Mrs. Rice, the class will be reading and analyzing the many different facts and philosophies used by the author, along with studying its interesting and exciting narrative.

Along with reading the book, the class will be making their own “apocalyptic broadcasts” just like the reading of the book that was broadcast in 1938. After the somewhat realistic broadcast of the book aired, many people were frightened and thought that the books event were real. People contacted neighbors and friends, and widespread panic ensued.  Many English classes only study the radio broadcast when learning about War of the Worlds, but Mrs. Rice’s class is unique because they are studying not only the broadcast, but the actual book as well.

Many of Mrs. Rice’s students are excited to read War of the Worlds. Eric Harrison, a student in the class, said, “It’s really awesome because it’s not an everyday story; it’s very different and exciting.”  According to Zachary Droubay, another student in the class, the book is detailed and interesting.

“One of the most interesting things about science fiction in the late 1800’s is that authors predicted a lot of the technology that we have today. But they did this with literary theory and philosophy instead of science,” said Mrs. Rice. Obviously, we haven’t had any invaders from Mars or time machines, but writers like H.G. Wells predicted other things like people traveling into outer space. Hopefully, reading books by these authors will help students like the ones in Mrs. Rice’s class to think about the future.

Brooke Seaton
SJHS Staff Writer

This year at SJHS a teacher is spending her 41st year educating. This teacher is Mrs. Vonnie Burton. Mrs. Burton teaches English, which most enjoy because of her. Mrs. Burton has fun things planned for her students. “All sorts of ‘PUNishment’.” She joked.

Maddie Joyner, an eighth-grade student, said that Mrs. Burton always has jokes to tell. But it’s not just the students that have nice things to say. “My favorite thing is my students,” Mrs. Burton said. Mrs. Burton said that it is her calling to teach.

Maddie said that her class is “very easy and very fun.” Eighth-grade students are learning about Edger Allan Poe. They have been finding out about his life, and will be reading some of his work.

Ninth graders are reading Romeo and Juliet, the tragic and classic story written by William Shakespeare. After 41 years, students and faculty hope Mrs. Burton will stay at SJHS much longer.

Kenia Martinez
SJHS Staff Writer

Mrs. Vonnie Burton’s eighth and ninth grade English classes have been studying a literary genius: Edgar Allan Poe. According to Mrs. Burton, it was required for them to study a story by him. A story is chosen for each grade based on reading level. As part of their Elements of Suspense study, the eighth graders read “The Black Cat”, and the ninth graders read “The Cask Of Amantillado.”

Ninth graders were studying Poe through his history. They’ve studied theories on his death, how he wrote mysterious stories and had a mysterious life and death. They were to recognize his literary devices and his use of gothic style. They’re reading The Cask of Amantillado, which has a theme of revenge and repression. Poe uses symbolic names and ironic twists.

The eighth graders were looking at Poe by studying the theme and lesson in “The Black Cat,” covering superstitions and looking over the symbolism and the gothic style in the writing. “The Black Cat” is a story of a dynamic character who commits a crime because of alchohol. Poe uses horror to teach temperance.

Mrs. Burton admires how Poe overcame many obstacles such as being orphaned at a young age, and never adopted. He as disowned, he suffered tragic romances and an early death of his wife, plus career disappointments.  She said that Poe writes with eloquence. He used many literary devices. “He has different layers of meaning in his stories and lessons,” said Mrs. Burton, “He had a great knowing of medicine’s and science.” It was after his wife’s death when he started to delve in universal mysteries. In his treatise Eureka, Poe discusses mysteries of the universe, “He was way ahead of his time, I believe him a genius,” Mrs. Burton said.  It bothers Mrs. Burton that Poe doesn’t get worldly recognition for his knowledge and theories in medicine and science. That seems to be overlooked because of his literary contributions. Poe is responsible for bringing back the contemporary mystery story and for inventing the horror genre.

Nikki Drake is a ninth grader in Mrs. Burton’s ninth grade English class. She brags on how she shares the same birthday as Poe; she likes his work, too. “It’s good because you can tell he worked hard.”

“He’s not here to actually interview,” Nikki  explained on the mysteries surrounding Poe’s death, “So people just have to interview different people that have different resources as to where they got their information.” Nikki is excited about learning about Poe. She said, “He’s so interesting and amazing!”

Morgan Bowser
SJHS Staff Writer

Ms. Rachel Neeley is just one of the amazing teachers here at SJHS. Ms. Neeley teaches seventh-grade English, yearbook, and creative writing. This is Ms. Neeley’s sixth year teaching. Ms. Neeley said, “I wanted to be a teacher ever since I was little. I loved reading and writing when I was in school. I was pretty good at it, so I decided to teach English.”

Ms. Neeley loves teaching is because of her students and some of the funny stuff they say.  In creative writing, one of the assignments is a list of 52.  A group of boys is writing “52 Ways to Get Dumped.” Ms. Neeley said, “It was a hilarious list of things boys could do to get dumped.” The students think she is funny to. Ethan Knowlton, a seventh-grade student, said, “she teaches well, but she still knows how to have fun.  She is such a cool and fair teacher; she knows how to talk to us.”

Students agree that her class is really fun. Katy Kendall, a seventh grader, said, “I like the activities.”  Marissa Colson, another seventh grader said, “When something funny comes up we all laugh, it’s one of my favorite classes.” Spencer Duncan, an eighth grader in her yearbook class, said, “Ms. Neeley is so nice and fun to talk to.”

Christopher Taylor
SJHS Staff Writer

Many people feel that one of the great things about English class is that it can incorporate all other subjects.  Students can write a science fiction story or read a book about history.  Mrs. Maughan, an English teacher at SJHS, has been helping her students learn from historical literature.  Students in Mrs. Maughan’s class have recently been reading the play “The Diary of Anne Frank.”  The play is about a Jewish girl who lived during the Second World War. She lived in The Netherlands when the Nazis took over and was forced to go into hiding in a secret room above her father’s business. The students have been reading for a little while, and are now just starting the second act of the play.

But how does learning history help you in English class? According to Mrs. Maughan, not only does it help you learn about something in history, but it helps you become a better reader and thinker as well.  She also said Anne Frank is a great thing to read because “It’s really relatable to kid’s lives, since Anne is the same age as them.”

Most students are really enjoying reading Anne Frank. According to Brock Randall, an eight grader in Mrs. Maughan’s class, it is exciting and fun to read about the history of the Second World War, especially about the Jews that had to go into hiding.

Now that students are really getting into the play, they are starting to understand the characters more.  In the second act of the play, the characters are getting  to know each other and starting to learn things about one another and treat others differently. But it is hard to live in a small area with seven other people. Brock said, “In Act 1, they are just getting used to each other and the place they live in. Now that they know each other they are a lot meaner.”  According to Mrs. Maughan, there is more tension between one another now that they have been living together longer. Most kids in Mrs. Maughan’s class are excited to find out what will happen in the end.

Seventh graders in Ms. Neeley’s English class sharing their poetry.

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

When most students think of English, they think of reading books, writing essays, and doing reports. However, in Ms. Rachel Neeley’s class, poetry is their focus right now.

“I love poetry; it’s like the artistic side to English,” Celeborn Stringham, a seventh grade student in Ms. Neeley’s class, explained.

“I love teaching poetry.” Ms. Neeley explained, “It allows students to be creative, poetry is also lots of fun because it’s a very different type of writing. I hope that students learn how to use figurative language effectively in their writing. I also hope that students gain an appreciation for poetry.”

Students in Ms. Neeley’s class write poetry and then turn it into her for her edit and advice. She explained that reading the poems her students write was her favorite part of the poetry unit. “I’m always so impressed with that my students write,” she explained.

Not everyone is good at the same things. Some students prefer other language arts activities, while others love writing poetry. “Teaching poetry allows some students to shine.” Ms. Neeley said, “It’s fun to try new things, even if you’re not good at them.”

Mrs. Bass and her class discuss “Romeo and Juliet.”

Kara Dunn
SJHS Staff Writer

Mrs. Elizabeth Bass’s ninth-grade English class is taking a step back in time to the late fifteen hundreds, to the time when Shakespeare was the writer of the century.

“We’re starting a unit on the play, ‘Romeo and Juliet.’” Mrs. Bass explained, “Typically all ninth-grade English teachers explore this play; I think it’s fun to study because there are lots of things that students can relate to.”

“It’s fun to learn about this kind of stuff, and about Shakespeare’s life,” Madeline Alishbah, a ninth grade student said.

The class is not only studying the play “Romeo and Juliet” but they are also learning about the time period of Shakespeare. “We’re learning about how they used to speak and are insulting people in that language,” Madeline explained.

“Shakespeare is one of my favorite authors,” Mrs. Bass explained. “I’m really passionate about teaching anything Shakespeare.”

Mrs. Bass’s enthusiasm must be contagious, because her stduents are enjoying the play as well.  “I like learning about Shakespeare,” Madeline explained. “It’s fun to learn about a different culture and how different it used to be.”

The journalism class taking a break from writing articles in the library computer lab.  Left to right:  Spencer Duncan, Jack Setzer, Hayde Blanco, Sarah Jensen, Katya Wagstaff, Ms. Miley, Kaleb Barnum, Cody Woolsey, Andrew Garza, Christopher Taylor and Jacob DeRosia.

Chelsea Ricks
SJHS Staff Writer

Ms. Tiffanie Miley teaches seventh grade Language Arts, Reading for Enjoyment, and the Journalism class at SJHS; she is a very busy teacher! Ms. Miley decided to become teacher because of her good teachers in high school. She enjoyed to reading so decided to teach English. She loves coming to work everyday, and considers herself lucky to have a job she enjoys.

This is Ms. Miley’s eleventh year at SJHS, and she chose to teach here because, “There are so many good kids at the junior high!” Morgan Bowser, a student in Ms. Miley’s class, thinks that she is a nice teacher and is very patient. Max Schreiner, another student that has Ms. Miley, thinks she has “good teaching strategies and she also is very helpful.”

Ms. Miley likes teaching Language Arts because, “We get to read fun books together and the seventh graders are very easy to like.” Ms. Miley helps her students learn reading strategies and better writing techniques.

She enjoys journalism because the students are very “self motivated.” In journalism the students write about things that are going on at our school, Springville Junior High. If the article, meets all of the expectations the students ave the opportunity to be published in the Springville Herald Newspaper.

The Reading for Enjoyment class reads their own books. They then discuss the different books they are reading and what they enjoy about them. Ms. Miley, with all those classes, is a great teacher in all of them!

Mr. Miksell teaching his 7th grade English class.

Christopher Taylor
SJHS Staff Writer

Have you ever found it hard to tell someone that you appreciate them?  Seventh grade students in Mr. Trent Mikesell’s class at Springville Junior High recently did this by writing character sketches.  According to Mr. Mikesell, kids chose someone they admire, usually in their family, and wrote about their “appearance, actions, thoughts and feelings, even their speech.” They typed them in the computer lab. They printed the character sketches out and gave them to the person they wrote about.

Many students enjoyed this activity, and are excited to see the person when they get their character sketch.  Sean Tedrow, a student in Mr. Mikesell’s class, wrote about his brother Chandler. He said, “I wrote about him because he is my favorite brother, and he’s awesome!” He thinks his brother will be very excited to read his character sketch.  According to Caitlin Dinkel, another seventh grade student in Mr. Mikesell’s class, all the people who get character sketches will be happy to see that the authors appreciate them.  As a bonus, the authors will become better at describing people when they write.

Mrs. Rice’s students prepare for a group discussion.

Hayde Blanco
SJHS Staff Writer

Do you remember those essays you had to do when you were in school? Well writing here at Springville Junior High isn’t too hard to find. Especially for those students who would like to have a better understanding and were brave enough to take Honors English.

Honors English here is taught by only one teacher, and that teacher is Mrs. Mary Rice. According to her, in Honors English students have more choices than students in other English classes. Instead of Mrs. Rice choosing what the class will study, it is, “Whatever the students decide to do,” said Mrs. Rice. “Students pick from a reading list and the subject that has the most votes is what they get to work on.”

Ninth-graders Whitney Norman and D.J. Barnes both agree that their favorite thing they have worked on is reading Dracula. Whitney said, “Reading it as a class helps me understand it more than when I read it alone.”

People may think that Honors English is a class where they do nothing but work, but students sure do like this class. Whitney said, “It’s just a lot of fun!”  D.J. also likes the teacher. D.J. said, “She interacts with her students more than any other teacher I have met.”

Mrs. Rice has a lot of fun projects planned out for the students in Honors English. According to Mrs. Rice, these projects will be writing, dramatic and presentational projects. So think again, maybe Honors English is a class that eighth grade students might want to take.