Our Wildwood, Volume 50

STUDENT PERSPECTIVE by Chloe C. ‘25 and Deb Christensen, Upper School Humanities/Modern U.S. History

Answering the Essential Question As Chloe C. ‘25 wrapped up her internship with Wildwood’s Advancement Office, she was presented with one final project: interview a favorite teacher, and find out what makes them tick…

own learning. That’s part of why we talk about strengths and stretches. If your stretch is writing, then you learn how to advocate for yourself in that area, and how to ask for support. It’s not embarrassing or shameful. Just last week, there was a student who came into my classroom Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons to work on a writing assignment together, because they knew it was an area that was difficult for them. Likewise, I don’t do my own taxes. I need help with that. DEB: I would describe my teaching as relational. I want to have really open, honest, and respect-driven relationships with students. I often say that I have a set of three R’s that I teach. The first one is relationship, and the second one is routine (I always put the agenda up on the board so that when students walk into class they know what’s going to happen). Those two R’s allow us to get to the final —rigor—asking hard questions and doing hard work. CHLOE: How would you describe your classroom environment?

CHLOE: What inspired your interest in U.S. history?

DEB: My undergraduate degree is in English, and so naturally, I was an English teacher for the first portion of my teaching career. After about fifteen years of teaching English, I was in a team-teaching situation with a history teacher, teaching something we call American studies. My partner Michell was amazing—so smart—and I wanted to be just like Mitch. So, I went back to school to get more training just to be a history teacher. From there, I went on to teach American studies—this time as the history half—and I’ve kept learning and growing from other peers since. CHLOE: With so many aspects of modern U.S. history, and the ever-changing world around us, how do you create a curriculum that prepares students for life after high school? DEB: I don’t know that anything can fully prepare you for life after high school. Honestly, there are so many changes going on that what I really hope to do is have students own their

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