In an era when technology has become such an essential part of daily life, it may be easy to question the importance of studying English. Upper school English teacher Ms. Marielle Alexander—who is joining this year to teach English II and English IV—disagrees with such pushback.
“Everybody’s writing something at some point,” Ms. Alexander said. “Whether you have a job where you send a lot of emails, or you’re a scientist writing up a research paper from whatever experiment you’ve been doing … you have to have the vocabulary and the mechanics of writing in order to convey whatever it is you’re thinking.”
Ms. Alexander argues that the historical context of classics written hundreds of years ago is valuable.
“When we learn from history, [about] how people handled situations, or thought about different things, we can either emulate that or push back and say, ‘No, that’s not going to work for us now,’ and learn a lesson from that,” Ms. Alexander said.
Originally from South Carolina, Ms. Alexander moved to Pennsylvania for her undergrad at Villanova, where she later obtained a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Education. Then, she spent a year teaching at Monsignor Bonner & Archbishop Prendergast High School and nine years at the Academy of Notre Dame. Ms. Alexander cites her upbringing as a cause for her love of literature.
“At the end of the day, in addition to hopefully learning to love to read, being able to find your own voice and articulate your thoughts and questions is essential to any English class.”
Ms. Marielle Alexander
“I [was] raised by parents who really valued reading, so my earliest memories are […] my parents making up stories and telling them to me,” Ms. Alexander said. “We had books all over our house, and a lot of our conversations were around books. [Reading] was always something that I loved to do, and [teaching] my students to love to read and talk about books is something I’m really passionate about.”
Ms. Alexander emphasized the importance of such discussions.
“Over time, what’s interesting is that students start to realize they can disagree with things being said by their peers, or disagree with something they’ve read the night before,” Ms. Alexander said. “They can interrogate it, question it. At the end of the day, in addition to hopefully learning to love to read, being able to find your own voice and articulate your thoughts and questions is essential to any English class. That’s what I really hope my students take away.”
Ms. Alexander also describes how she not only teaches but also learns from her students.
“I genuinely don’t view myself as the be-all and end-all expert in anything,” Ms. Alexander said. “The reason I’m a teacher is because every time I teach something, even if I’ve taught it before, even if I’ve read it a hundred times before, I learn something new about it from the perspectives of the people in my classroom.”
“Last summer, I [lived] in Oxford, England. Anytime I have time off from work, I’m always going somewhere new.”
Ms. Marielle Alexander
Thus, Ms. Alexander also encourages mutual engagement in the classroom.
“Don’t be afraid to tell me what you truly think about something,” Ms. Alexander said. “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and engage in discussion. I’m just a person too, and I’m learning from you, and you’re learning from me.”
Outside of teaching, Ms. Alexander enjoys many activities, is multilingual, and has visited over 30 countries.
“I really like to draw [and] swim,” Ms. Alexander said. “I can speak Spanish [and] I love to travel a lot. Last summer, I [lived] in Oxford, England. Anytime I have time off from work, I’m always going somewhere new.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.