KIRKCALDY

Hi everyone, I'm Jim Kirkcaldy, the social studies teacher in Cluster 3. This is a picture of my mother, father, sister, and I from when I was in high school.

I am of Scottish heritage - my dad’s side of the family comes from there. There’s even a town called “Kirkcaldy” in Scotland. I don’t play the bagpipes, but my dad used to!

My first name is James, but I go by “Jim.” I am the third “James Kirkcaldy” in my family. Although, we all have different middle names.

My wife’s name is Yinan, but she goes by “Jen.” (She’s originally from China, so “Jen” is her English name.)

I have a 7-year-old son also named James and a 5-year-old daughter named Alice.

I live in Weymouth, MA, which is about 45 minutes to 1 hour away from Watertown.

This is now my fifth job here at Watertown Middle School. I started out as a substitute teacher, then became an Instructional Assistant, then taught seventh grade Humanities (English and History combined) for one year, then taught sixth-grade English for six years, then came back to seventh-grade two years ago.

We have a busy and interesting year ahead of us, and I can’t wait to get started. I am really looking forward to getting to know you better over the next several months and to working with you and your parents to have a successful year.