Anna Collins is a new addition to the English department this 2023-24 school year. Collins is teaching on-level freshmen and seniors, which provides a gap for her when it comes to teaching styles. With three senior classes and two freshman classes there is a variety of what Collins experiences when it comes to her first year at Perry.
When it comes to her appreciation for teaching, she voices how her favorite part is “super cliche… [When she] see[s] a student get something for the first time, you can always see it on their face.. All of a sudden that look pops up on their face.” Though Collins feels that this is a cliche response her genuinity is anything but.
When it comes to teaching, the positives will always come with the negatives. Every school year teachers are given a new set of students to teach, with that the beginning of the year requires a lot of talking and reiterating rules, “the start of the school year, having to go through everything and work on behaviors together… The constant reminders are not my favorite…reminders are not teaching to me.” As the year progresses however, students get the swing of things and classes become less full of reminders and more full of what they are meant for; learning.
Though bribery is not allowed, appreciating your teachers is never not permitted. Collins jokes how, “it would be hard for them to get, because they just discontinued them but Bath and Body Works does a moisturizing hand sanitizer that is my favorite thing on the planet… so if my student showed up with my favorite smell of Bath and Body Works moisturizing hand sanitizer, I would be very excited.” Sometimes a kind gesture makes all the difference when it comes to appreciating your teachers and all of the effort they put into educating.
Every year the Open House allows for parents to meet and talk to the teachers of their students. In retrospect, this allows for teachers to communicate with the parents. Collins expresses how “building relationships for student’s success is really important.. whether that is the relationship between the teacher and the student, or the teacher and the student’s family… they get support from all sides,” meaning that Collins prioritizes her students and their success above all else.
