One of the very few teachers who can make learning fun, catch our attention, and make us laugh with her funny and interesting personality, resides in room 1302. She is the one and only Ms. Kow.

Teaching at Miami High

Mrs. Kow has been teaching world history at Miami Senior High for the past 3 years, but she began her teaching career in 2000 at Miami Springs Middle School where she taught Civics, Geography, and American History.

For her, the best part of being a teacher are the students, especially when that “little light bulb goes off and they figure out or truly understand the content.”

The hardest part for her, is “the politics behind teaching.” This is when people who have never been educators that come into a classroom and tell the teacher what to do, when they have no knowledge on anything pertaining to teaching students.

Upbringing

Ms. Kow was born in January of 1975 in Matanzas, Cuba, but she came to Miami in 1980, a week before the Mariel boatlift, and grew up in Miami like many other Cubans.

She had a good childhood and her parents were happily married and raised her the best they could, even though they were tight on money. Her mother worked in a factory and cleaned houses; her father worked in construction, but even with the families’ low income, she still got everything she needed such as clothes and school supplies. In her youth, Ms. Kow liked to knit, look at architecture designs and copy them. Like any other kid, she loved watching kid shows such as He-man and Transformers.

Life Before Teaching

The only challenge that Ms. Kow faced as a young adult was getting financially stable. Her first job, at age 14, was making piñatas and only getting paid $3 an hour while minimum wage at the time was $3.80. When she was 16 she worked as a hostess at a café; she worked there until she was 19. When she was 19 she worked as a teacher’s assistant at Miami Senior High until she was 25.

Ms. Kow graduated from Miami Senior High School in 1993. As a college freshman she was very undecided. ”I didn’t know what I wanted to major in my first year. I just went to my classes,” she said.

She decided to give nursing a try, but she believed working as a nurse and being in a hospital just weren’t for her. After taking an American History class in college, the subject won her over. She also found it interesting to learn about the different areas of history in college. That is when she finally decided to be a teacher and teach history with a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership.

Life Outside of School

In her free time, Ms. Kow enjoys going to a few different places such as the library, movies or her favorite restaurants which include The Big Cheese, Jimmy Johns, Seasons 52, and Market 17. She is also part of a book club, and some books she would recommend are The Light Between Oceans, The Stranger in the House, The Silent Wife and The Couple Next Door. She also enjoys taking her two children ages 6 and 3 to science or history museums. She is a married woman and enjoys time with friends and family whenever she can.