Ms Moran Staff Spotlight

Approaching their final days of Year 13, the class of 2020 plastered ‘Guess Who’ posters for different teachers around the school as part of their senior prank day. A poster that stood out to the little Year 8s (now in Year 12!) to this day was this one:

Could you guess the teacher in the photo? 

For those lucky enough to have her, this could only be one teacher.  Crowned the ‘Most Motherly’ teacher of KGV, Ms Jodi Moran has been an active member of our school community for a whole 18 years, not only demonstrating her mad teaching skills in media, but most importantly, reflects our school values of honesty, courage and empathy to each and every one of her students and colleagues. 

Joining the school in July 2007, Ms Moran was a teacher in English, film, drama and literature. When she arrived, she was told by the then Headmaster, Dr Wickens, that she was KGV’s first ever American staff! For almost two decades, Ms Moran has seen major changes around campus, such as the building of the science block and single mobile rooms around the piazza to hold foreign language classes. Not to mention, teaching KGV’s first cohort of IB students. In her interview with The Lion’s Crest, she mentioned feeling a bit like an outsider at first, because although KGV is an international school, back then it still felt “very British”. She felt like her colleagues were side-eyeing her and staff members were “clutching pearls” when they saw the Shakespeare tattoo on her arm.. 

Ms Moran has always had a passion for the entertainment industry, even from a young age (her exact words were “I wanted to be a Motion Picture Film Director” at 17 years old). She and her husband are also major sci-fi geeks and adore 70s films. 

Beyond Ms Moran’s KGV experience, we also talked about her family and home life.

“Parents have different opinions, and some would never want to work in the same school as their kids.” But for Ms Moran, this was never the case. In fact, all three of her children went to KGV! During the interview, she reminisced about having the classroom full of her children and their friends, the carpools in the morning, chaperoning their proms, and seeing them around campus.

“I’m an empty nester!” She said in the interview, “The house is really nice and tidy, but I miss the energy, which is one reason why I fuss over and connect so much with some of the other kids”. 

It’s clear that Ms Moran’s motherly instinct didn’t leave after her children graduated, and she never fails to make each one of her students feel like they have a second mother at school. To my surprise, she revealed that

she was not always this way! When she first started out as a teacher after graduating from university, Ms Moran liked telling her students “Look, I’m not a mom, I’m not a parent, I’m not gonna mother you”. How things have changed for the better! 

There is no doubt that Ms Moran lives her successes through the success of her students, often saying that teaching is her ‘first love’. 

“I was adopted… so when I found my birth mother… you know what she is? She was a teacher. Her sister was a teacher. So it’s in my blood, you know?” 

Apart from her life as a teacher, it was astounding to hear some of Ms Moran’s crazy lore. Did you know, she was dubbed ‘Miss Monclair’ in 1984, which paid for her first semester at California State Fullerton University? How cool is that! (Leave a comment if you want to see the full clip of the show!)

Or how her heart stopped for 3 minutes in 2019 (due to a pulmonary embolism), and Ms Stamer came to the hospital with ‘Where’s Waldo?’ and Star Wars toys? And how the doctor who treated her was in fact her GCSE English student Joyce Wong? Crazy stuff. 

We can't continue Ms Moran's article without acknowledging Mr Moran. Although he isn’t a teacher at KGV, Mr Moran has greatly influenced her students. He's attended their film festivals and taught Ms Moran how to use Premiere Pro and Photoshop, enabling her to pass that knowledge on in the classroom. Honestly, a true power couple in the KGV community. “He’s just as supportive of me, my job and my students as I am of his! He’s always super helpful, and he never says no to anybody.”

If there’s one thing to take away from this article, is to know that Ms Moran is a teacher that embodies nothing but love, kindness and support. So the next time you see her, smile and say hi! I’m sure that you’ll be greeted with the warmth of her motherly smile. As students, it can sometimes be easy to forget that our teachers are full blown human beings with lives outside of KGV. But that’s exactly how it is! And boy, are some of those stories interesting. 

Do you know a teacher with something to share? Are YOU a teacher with stories to tell? Fill in this form and get a chance to be featured in our next issue! (https://forms.gle/QuvZ1ZDu35igz1pY9 )