Madame Claire Borge teaches French I and II in A-7 and, while she’s been teaching for 35 years, she is only in her second year at Armijo. Madame Borge’s favorite subjects when she was in high school were “of course French, history, math and English,” she said. “I had a lot of things that I liked.” Her favorite thing about teaching is her students. “I like my students, I like helping them learn about French language and culture.”

After 35 years, it is easy to recognize that Madame Borge enjoys teaching but what does she like most about it? “I liked when the light bulb goes off in my students’ minds. I really wanted to pursue teaching because it was fun,” she said. Both of her parents were teachers, so she knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy job.

Madame Borge decided she wanted to be a teacher when she was getting her Masters’ degree. She did not want to get a PhD but hadn’t committed to what she did want to do. “I was good at teaching,” she said. “I taught at UC Davis. I liked teaching, but I didn’t want to go on all that I would have to do to I would’ve had to do to teach at the college level, so I got a teaching credential. I started teaching at Grange Middle School. I taught French I, French II, U.S. History, and World History. There wasn’t just one subject that I taught…I always try and do things a little differently… I don’t like doing the same thing every year.”

Advice that Madame Borge has for students in general is to “always keep doors open. Don’t close doors, because you never really know what you’re going to be when you grow up. Try a lot of things.” She also suggested that students make sure that, whatever they choose to do as a career, it is something that they enjoy. “It’s really important that you find something that you love, so that you’ll always look forward to going to work… I like what I’m teaching, the people I’m teaching it to,” she said. She’s known many of the people that she works with for a long time. “It’s fun to work with them every day. Students at Armijo are great, and I have a good time with them.”