History teacher finds teaching at Boone to be a blessing

Elle Weinstein, 24, is one of Boone’s new and bright teachers. As a recent college graduate, she is just starting her teaching journey.

Weinstein started working at Boone in the 2020-21 school year as a history teacher. She began teaching geography to freshmen.

Currently, she can be found in room 109 teaching world history.

Weinstein, an Ohio native, attended Bowling Green State University (BGSU) to earn her degree in integrated social studies with a minor in political science.

During her time at BGSU, Weinstein also worked as a student teacher at Ottawa Hills Junior High in Toledo, Ohio. She primarily taught 7th and 8th graders, though she said her true passion was teaching high schoolers.

The main difference in Weinstein’s eyes was that “(high schoolers) actually understand the content, and you can have real conversations with them.”

“With younger students, it’s more teaching them social skills,” Weinstein said. “I was always interested in teaching content first.”

Weinstein said she chose Boone simply because she “needed a job.”

However, Weinstein said what was originally a simple job opportunity turned out to be “a blessing in disguise.”

“I think (Boone) has given me a lot of life experience that I don’t think I would’ve got from other schools,” Weinstein said. “This is a very diverse school and it has really helped me become a better educator.”

Weinstein mentioned that she had learned about working with the ELL (English Language Learner) population in college, but now that she teaches at Boone she has gotten first hand experience.

“I now know how to actually help my English-language learners who are from a different culture than I am,” she said.

For Weinstein, running serves as her main stress relief.

“Running is nice for relaxing after working, and whenever I get stressed out or anxious, it’s really nice to be able to go on a run and just not think about anything for an hour or two,” she said.

At the moment, it’s just casual running for Weinstein, but she mentioned that she wants to do a half marathon in September.

“The last (half marathon) I did was on Thanksgiving and it was freezing rain and cold … I want to do one when it’s not going to be that type of weather, I just have to start actually training for it,” she said.

Weinstein is also an assistant track coach at Boone.

In her free time, Weinstein mentioned hanging with friends, watching movies, and going out to eat as some of her favorite things to do.

Weinstein’s favorite place to eat is TAGLIO, a pizza joint near her home in Columbia-Tusculum.

“It has the best Detroit-style pepperoni honey-hot pizza. It’s amazing,” she said.

Weinstein has a bright future at Boone , and many students have shown their admiration for her.

“Ms. Weinstein is the single greatest teacher I’ve ever had,” senior Jonathan Jimenez said.