Alas, after many years of dutifully educating her pupils in the French language at PHUHS, the time has come for French teacher, Madam Hern, to retire. In her stead, Madam Arbogast has taken over all of Madam Hern’s old classes for the remainder of the year and will be continuing to teach at PHUHS in the years to follow.
“So far, I really like it,” Arbogast said. “I like the students, I like the campus layout. And I really like the fact that it seems like all the staff works really, really hard.”
Before finding herself at PHUHS, Madam Arbogast taught French in Michigan and Ohio for 30 years. After retiring here in Florida, the dedicated educator has decided to come out of retirement and return to the classroom. But, taking over Madam Hern’s previous classes presents a certain challenge, as she will have to pick up where the old teacher left off right in the middle of the school year.
“I was a little apprehensive,” Arbogast said. “Students get used to the personality and methodology of one teacher and are often resistant to change, but I’ve been happily surprised.”
The teacher then proceeded to explain how, in anticipation of her departure, Madam Hern prepared her students to be aware that she would be replaced by a new teacher, and as a result, Madam Arbogast’s new students have been very cooperative in accepting her arrival and new teaching methods.
“The students seem to be really concerned about learning, and they ask really insightful questions,” Arbogast said.
After teaching for thirty years in Michigan and Ohio, Madam Arbogast is accustomed to having a lot more time for planning her lessons, but is quickly adjusting to having three different types of classes to teach over six periods.
Arbogast said, “I’ve been surprised at how fast I felt like I was able to get into the classroom and feel like part of the student-teacher team.”