For this issue’s Teacher Feature article we selected Mrs. Sorya Or, who is a Social Studies teacher here at Falls Church High school. I recently had a chance to catch up with Mrs. Or and find out more about her career as a teacher.
How long have you been teaching?
“I have been teaching for 7 years.”
How’d you like to describe your teaching style?
I would express my teaching style as a momma bear/tiger/dragon. I believe in challenging my students like a grandma I want to encourage my kids and also push my kids and hold them up to high expectations. I noticed that if you raise the standards then kids will push and excel more instead of keeping the bar low and having them fall short.”
What made you want to become a high school teacher or just a teacher in general?
I wanted to become a judge for students in law school but with econ I wanted to help with poverty for kids, but then I noticed that even one teacher could influence and help.”
What do you get out of teaching? Do you happiness out of it or do you dread it?
I do teaching teaching for the reward of kids who have struggles and seeing them grow and become their own individual and looking into the light and seeing that it helped them become what they will be their life. I don’t dread teaching I embrace it.”
How was your life before teaching?
I was crazy, I’m from France I moved to the U.S. when i got married, applied for law school didn’t like it, I met and became a teacher through a Zumba class where I met Ms. Jones (Social Studies) and she showed me her job. I was shown also Mr. Payne’s class which was Avid and I saw that his students were captivated by the teacher and that they were really focused and students also helped convince me because of all their unique and individual personalities.
What do you like to do on your free time normally?
I don’t have much free time since I have four kids, but when I did have free time I was a Zumba instructor. I watch TV, I’m a very big hostess as I love to cook. I have a lot of family time as I have a lot of nieces and nephews and I love to travel.
Thanks to Mrs. Or for taking time out of her busy life of teaching and raising her kids to talk to us. I hope you’ll be lucky enough to have her as a teacher at some point during your time at FCHS.