---

Teacher Statement:

I have been dreaming about being a “real” teacher since I was a little girl. I used to sit at my childhood desk and pretend to talk to my students for hours. On my journey from childhood into adulthood I had many opportunities to teach and did so in multiple capacities: Sunday school teacher, preschool teacher, dance instructor, home-school teacher, substitute teacher, writing tutor, mom etc. but it wasn’t until my oldest son graduated from high school that I finally took the steps to get my certification in Secondary English Education.

I decided it was time to take my love for writing and reading along with my love for young adults, to the next level. I wanted to share my excitement for literature and the joy I get from everyday writing with others, and it just made sense to do that by working with students who are navigating their own journey into adulthood.

I truly believe that reading and writing are essential to our everyday lives, and both are things that we do naturally. Most students disdain for English classes come from the fear that they are not good enough to write or that they don’t enjoy reading. Once we understand that reading for pleasure and reading for academia don’t have to be binary tasks and that writing, is more often than not, about simply having a conversation, our opinions begin to change and our horizons begin to open up.

I want my students to know that what they have to say matters. I want them to know they are important and that I hear them. I want to foster a love for the English Language Arts by exposing my students to real-world experiences and also help them make personal connections.

Life is full of opportunities to grow and express ourselves, and what better way to do that than through the love of language and literature. It is my job as an educator to teach my students how to think, not what to think. When we expose our students to multi-literacies and provide opportunities for them to reflect, we are fostering their ability to understand the world around them, empathize with those they encounter, and positively contribute to society. We are encouraging them to soar.

---

Example of Student Work:

One Assignment I enjoyed doing with my students last year was the Companion Animal Advertisement. My CT during my student teaching experience shared this activity with me as a supplement assignment to our Of Mice and Men unit. We were discussing the theme of companionship. Students were asked to work in small groups to create a companion animal and explain how they would offer companionship and comfort. Their companion animals did not have to be real. As you can see from a few of the examples, they had a lot of imagination. Click here for the assignment details.

---