This year, three new additions to the South English department were hired. Each teacher has their own unique teaching style, classroom ideals, and priorities in their classes. 

First I sat down with Ben Carpenter, who isn’t exactly new to South. Although this is his first year as a licensed full-time teacher, he is no stranger to the hallways and people of South High. Carpenter was a student-teacher here for 12 weeks in the open program under Theodore Fabel during the 2017-18 school year. He also has experience volunteer teaching, and was an academic apprentice during college where he taught a couple of classes, and helped out every day. 

When asked if he had any specific teaching philosophies, Carpenter responded by saying that student relationships were very important to him, “I think that relationships are the most important part of being a teacher. I think if you get to know them, and they trust you, they’re more likely to buy into what you’re teaching them.” Having good teachers at South is very important to not only every student, but also every staff member, and having a teacher who prioritizes students, and his relationship with them, is no doubt beneficial to everyone involved. 

“I also try to make my curriculum as relevant to my students as possible.” Next, when asked about why he wanted to work at South, Carpenter explained that he loved his time as a student-teacher here. “I student taught here, and I loved it. I love the culture here,” he is very enthusiastic about being apart of South “I’m excited to be here, I like being here, and I hope I can stay here for a while.”

Next, I interviewed Courtney Antone who is a new addition to the open program, teaching ninth and tenth-grade English. She has spent the last ten years in classrooms. She has a variety of teaching experience with a wide variety of students. Antone has worked with all the way from little children up to seniors, and even has some Special ED teaching experience. Additionally, Anyone taught English while she lived in France. She attended the University of Colorado, and obtained her teaching degree from Metropolitan State University.

Antone shared that one of her priorities is students seeing the personal relevance of what she is teaching them. “I want my students to see their own story in every part of our curriculum… I think that schools should be places where we discover ourselves, and discover the world in ways we feel stimulated and excited about. I hope that school in my classroom feels like a place where people get excited about learning.”

Then, when asked her about why she wanted to work at South, Antone had a very interesting insight. “I asked a question that I thought was a tough question to answer… How do people talk about students when the students aren’t in the room. How do the staff members talk about students? And South had the best answer,” Antone said. Antone admired the way South staff spoke of their students: “They said we love our students no matter whatever challenge we have with any person in the building. We always talk with love about our students. That impressed me.” Finally, when asked what else she would like to share, Antone ended on a very positive note: “I love being here so much, I love students for everything they bring every day, It’s all love.”

The last interview I conducted was over multiple emails with Anneke Louder. Although we didn’t end up talking in person, Louder had some really unique perspectives on school and the classroom. For example, in regards to her teaching philosophies, she stated that she thinks it is best to “teach the student, not the content, think outside the box, and may all that I say, do, and teach work towards making this world a better place. I hope that my classroom is a safe and welcoming place for all.” 

Louder has a history of teaching. She was a History major, as well as an English Minor in college, and this is her 11th year of teaching. Louder has worked with grades 7-12 in both private, and public schools in Minnesota as well as Michigan. This diverse teaching experience has given Louder a plethora of different points of view when it comes to teaching. 

As well as being an English teacher, Louder is also a 9th grade Humanities teacher, and when asked her why she wanted to work at South, Louder said, “I want to work at South because it is a school of doers, not just thinkers…I love the creativity, the social justice focus, and the intentional community.” 

Finally, with a kind-hearted statement that seems to match her personality, Louder said, “I am so thankful to be teaching here at South. I have the best Humanities team and the students are kind, thoughtful, and hardworking, even if I miss having windows in my classroom, it is worth it for the experience I’ve had so far!”