Houston teacher reflects on job highlights, lessons: 'This job definitely keeps me on my toes'

Thinking on her feet, learning where to pick her battles, and establishing trusting relationships with her students are all crucial elements that Marjorie Yap has learned as an educator in the Houston Independent School District.

Yap, an eighth-grade English Language Arts teacher, has worked at James D. Ryan Middle School's Baylor College of Medicine Academy for the last seven years. She believes the most surprising thing about her job is the amount of decisions she makes on a daily basis and how much she has to think on her feet.

"There is definitely a sense of 'decision fatigue' with this job," Yap told the Houston Daily. "As a teacher, part of our job is to plan – plan for the unexpected, and at times, plan for any anticipated issues in the classroom. However, there will always be something that happens that you didn't plan for and you have to creatively problem solve. This isn't necessarily a bad thing – you're in a room full of curious students, so sometimes they'll ask or say something that catches me off guard and makes me laugh! This job definitely keeps me on my toes."

Yap didn't originally plan on becoming a teacher, but after becoming a work-study teacher in the education department of her undergraduate university she got hooked. Now, several years into her career, she still gets excited receiving messages from former students.

"I love seeing how much they have grown and learned and hearing their stories and plans for the future, it just makes me smile," she said.

Yap is happy to work in a close-knit, diverse school where the teachers truly care about the children they are teaching, and would like the community to know a teacher's work is never done.

"Teachers are always working outside of school hours, in the evenings, on the weekends and even during holidays," she said.

The Baylor College of Medicine Academy provides a unique curriculum for its students that's based on projects and hands-on learning for children in grades six through eight. 

The school gives students the chance to earn high school credit ours while exploring careers in health and biomedical science, according to the school's website. 

Some of the potential future career paths include medicine, allied health professions, biomedical sciences, pharmacy and biomedical engineering.