Ms. Hickey

Ian Parker

With El Segundo's influx of new teachers, one would not normally stand out in the eyes of the school. Ms. Janice Hickey, however, does, and does it with a flair that more than a few teachers would envy.

As a screenwriter, she says, she worked all over California, particularly in the Northern part, and is glad to be in Southern California. She loves the tight-knit, laid-back attitude in which everyone knows everyone else and someone can just do their own thing. Growing up in France as a child with an Air Force dad, she shuttled around to many different places until she reached high school, where her family settled down a bit. She said that she always hated being the new girl in town and never wants any of her students to feel that way. As a teacher, she hopes to have her students trust her enough that they won't be ashamed of being the only person in class who has a question or the only one who got a problem wrong on a test. She dispenses with the feeling that everyone is looking at you, thinking, "How could you be so stupid as to get this wrong?"

The thing she loves about being a teacher is when she can get in the zone. "I can remember exactly the highs, the lows, the passions and the sorrows. It's like time never slows down when I'm teaching and everyone is in the zone," said Hickey. Obviously, this feeling is enough to make up for grading tests and homework. Her favorite subject is English, especially the part of English that deals with reading and creative writing. She enjoys the part when you can get away and make up your own world, which is completely separate from all the problems of this world. As a screenwriter, she had to have a good imagination. This can translate into being very flexible to the needs of the students. During the discussion, it was obvious that that imagination and being able to do your own thing means a lot to her.

Even when she was sitting in her room for this interview, she was very animated. She has a pleasing habit of gesturing and talking excitedly as if we were doing the most important thing in the world right at that moment. Her energy and exuberance shone through clearly, and she didn't drone on the way many other educators do. I'm sure everyone knows what it's like to have a teacher who cannot connect the subject he or she is teaching to the students who are in the classroom. The key to teaching, she said is to, "Find a student's passion. You can hook any student into it and make them really interested in what's going on.” Her wide-ranging interests are surprising. She is interested in everything from novels to politics to travel to fitness.

Hickey is genuinely interested in the welfare of her students. Her particular way of teaching is one that has rarely been witnessed. All of her students will appreciate her skills and ingenuity. And she certainly has a lot of it.