Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Katie Burnett. In the fall, I have IB Theory of Knowledge (TOK) HL-2, and CP English 11. And then in the spring, I’m going to have TOK year one and then IB HL12.

Why did you decide to teach English?

I went into with my major undeclared, but I was taking a lot of English classes and thinking that maybe I wanted to be an English major, and once I got into the classes, I was like, ‘Yes, absolutely, this is the right thing for me’. And my original plan was to get a PhD and go into academia, like university professor. But then my last year of college, I got a job tutoring at a middle school, and figured out how much I liked it there, and I saw really, really good teachers that I was like, ‘Oh man, I could do amazing stuff like those teachers’. And then I saw some teachers that were struggling, and I kind of had ideas for like, well, if I was teaching that class this way, and I ended up, very last minute, deciding to go get a teaching credential. In the year 2000 when I started, there was a teacher shortage, so I went to a job fair and was hired almost on the spot, without credentials or anything, just like jumped right in. 

What do you like most about teaching English? 

Discussing the literature. I think, if it’s about teaching English, specifically  teaching in general, I’m going to say, you know, working with young people. I love working with the kids in my classes, kids all ages. But in English, it’s the discussions and the analysis and really getting into [the] you know what. Especially when students start to, like, come up with some of those original ideas, and they see a text in a way that they haven’t seen it before.

Do you have any book recommendations?

Oh my gosh. I mean, my list is always so long, I probably want to know, like, what kind of book you’re looking for. First, what is really interesting to you. Gosh, people always ask me, ‘Oh, what book do you recommend?’ I never know off the top of my head, because I’m always reading so many things. Right now, I’m reading the memoir, Wild. So I don’t know if that would be like a favorite, but I’m reading it and I’m liking it. So yeah, I’d probably ask, like, what kind of book are you looking for? And then it would get me thinking about what I would recommend. 

In your free time, do you have any hobbies or interests that you like to do outside of school?

So I just moved here very recently. So before moving here, I did a lot of volunteer work. I volunteered working with foster youth. I was an advocate for foster youth, and I also volunteered at a children’s hospital. That was definitely one of my favorite things. Monday nights, I would go to Children’s Hospital and hold babies. So yeah, you sit there for three hours and they hand you a baby, and you like, kill the baby. And so, you know, since I’m new in the area, I haven’t made those connections yet, but volunteer work was definitely some of my favorite stuff. I mean, obviously I like to read. I crochet a little bit. I like kind of artsy craftsy stuff. And I’m hoping I can find places to volunteer again.

How do you like the Granite Bay environment and campus so far?

So far so good. You know, I’ve lived in Orange County my whole life, so everything here is really new for me. And I’m living in Folsom, which is pretty close by and I drive here, and my drive in the morning is so pleasant because it’s like you could pass by little farms and it’s just kind of pretty everywhere you’re driving. So that’s really cool and different from where I was living before. And I kind of felt like the start of the year so far is actually less stressful than other schools that I’ve been at. So that’s been kind of neat. I’ve definitely started the year with a lot more stress than some other places, and I can’t even put my finger on why, but it seems like it’s starting really smoothly, so that’s been nice. 

Is there anything else that you would like people to know about you? 

Not off the top of my head, no. I mean, I yeah, I like to be involved. I mean, at my other schools, I was involved in a lot. I was an advisor for NEHS. I put on a Shakespeare Festival. I ran the peer tutoring program at my last school. So, I mean, I guess I’d like to get involved again. So that might be something to know about me.

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

My name is Caitlin Doolittle, and this year, in the fall, I’m teaching two sections of Beginning Journalism and one section of Advanced Journalism. And then in the spring, I’ll teach Journalism one and English 10, and then Advanced Journalism, again.

Starting off with English, what made you decide to teach English?

I really loved reading and writing when I was in school, and I really wanted to become an English teacher. And so I knew from about when I was in high school that I wanted to become an English teacher, and so that’s what I’ve been doing for a couple of years. 

Did you also think about teaching journalism as well, or was it just English at first?

So, I always wanted to teach English, but when I got the opportunity to work at Granite Bay, that’s why I jumped into doing the journalism stuff. I did a literary magazine in college, which was really fun. It’s a little bit different than journalism in the sense that we’re publishing poetry and short stories, but it’s in the same lens of getting people’s voices and a creative outlet. And so that’s why I’m excited to be doing that too.

What do you like most about teaching English? 

I like hearing my students’ ideas as we read the books. It’s really fun when there are twists and turns in the books and they’re coming to their own conclusions about how the world works, about how like new perspectives that they hadn’t thought of before. And then I love helping students improve their writing, because their writing is their voice, and it’s a way for them to connect with the world. And so listening to them improve those voices and get better as writers. It’s really fun.

Do you have any like favorite books or like books that you would want to recommend to

I think one of my favorite books to teach is the Great Gatsby, and Their Eyes were Watching God. I taught that one at my old school, and it’s really fun. We did a whole day where we did a field trip into the book, and so everybody got snacks, and we read the book together, and felt like we were in Eatonville, which is really fun. 

And in your free time, other than books, what do you like to do? Like, do you have any hobbies or interests?

Yes, I have two cats, so I like cuddling with my cats, and I play the piano and I crochet. I often crochet like blankets for gifts for friends and family. So like, the last blanket I crocheted was for my baby nephew when he was born. I made a baby blanket for

Is there anything that you’d like people to know about you?

Interesting question. I think taking journalism with me or taking English with me, you’ll get to explore that aspect of gaining your own voice as a writer and improving as a writer.

Can you tell me a little about yourself?

Okay, so my name is Amy Matt. The district is calling me Amy Hino. I’m going through a divorce, so everybody’s calling me by my maiden name. So that might be why you see two different names. I am currently teaching English 10, and I co-teach with Ms. Martinez, and I also teach ELD too.

Why did you decide to teach English?

So I loved writing. As a kid, I hated reading, and in high school, I felt like all of my teachers did a really bad job with writing. Everybody felt discouraged and it was super boring, and most of my friends hated going to English class, whereas I loved it, because I loved writing and so I wanted to be the teacher that I needed that I never had.

What did you like most about teaching English?

I love getting my students to be excited and have confidence as a reader and writer. So I believe that students should be able to read and write anything that they want with support and guidance. So for example, right now, we’re doing independent reading. I have 1000 books in my classroom library. Students can read anything of their choosing. I give them time, I give them support and ways to think about their reading, how to work on processing and writing about their writing. And then also, we’re doing like a writer’s workshop type unit, where I’ve got lots of different prompts, and I’m just letting students try to become writers again. So it’s almost kind of like what we used to do in elementary school, where you would just have time to write and then work on it and process instead of just always writing an essay. And that’s the only time that you actually write, which, in life, those are not the only times that you write essays.

What’s your favorite unit to teach in English?

Oh, so I do love independent reading and writing, but it just is a small unit to set off the whole rest of the semester. I will say I have two favorite units. I love the dystopian unit because students get to read very high interest books, and most students really enjoy dystopian and then. But the one that I am super passionate about, that I’ve taught for probably 15 of my 18 years is a holocaust unit. So I teach the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel, and I’m actually an educator with a holocaust group, and so our president is a survivor, and we work with children of survivors to come speak in classrooms. We work with the Museum of Tolerance to have their mobile unit come out and present to classrooms. I’ve done a lot of my own education around it, and how can I be a better educator of this big, sensitive topic, and, and it’s usually a very interesting topic, students really like it. And I feel like it’s one that I’ve spent so much time doing that I do it very well.

In your free time, besides reading books, what do you like to do? Do you have any hobbies or interests?

I love to craft. I love to create things. I’m super wouldn’t say I’m artsy, but I’m crafty, and I love decorating for all the holidays and making my own crafts. I also have a six year old daughter. She’s about to be seven, and so she also just fills my days. I run her Daisy scout group, and so I do that. I spent a lot of time with family. I like to work out. I like to read!

How do you like the Granite Bay Environment so far?

So far, I love it. I am so happy. So this is my first year here. I spent one year at 12 Bridges High School. And previously, I spent 16 years in the San Juan district in Carmichael area, and I already feel like home. I feel like this was the high school that I attended with the amount of school spirit, the way in which students are just so polite and respectful. I will say that there is much more empathy and openness that I see than in my era of students. Students are very open and welcoming of others, which in my time of growing up was not really. I mean, there were, you know, cliques and lots of people making fun if you were different in any way. So I love how open and accepting everyone is. Everyone is so polite. I mean, my birthday was, like the fourth day of school, and I had two students bring me gifts, and then Student Government made me a sign. Admin is super supportive, and all the teachers just seemed happy to be here, which makes it great.

Is there anything else that you would like for future students or just people in general to know about you?

I think it is more important to build relationships with students before curriculum. I can teach anything, and I can get kids to do anything, but if I have that relationship with them, then I can get them to reach higher and do better than if I were to just focus on academics first. So I’m a teacher who believes in relationships over curriculum, and that everything I do is intentional has a purpose, even though it might not seem that way at first glance, like some people might look and say, like, oh, independent reading, independent writing that looks so cute and fluffy, but really it’s gonna set these kids up for success later.