Teacher Stories
Mrs. Chapman

For the November segment, we interviewed Mrs. Chapman to receive a better insight on her personality, as well as her approach and perspective on teaching.  

Q: What subject do you teach and how long have you been teaching? 

Chapman: "English, and 28 years." Mrs. Chapman answered. 

Q: What inspired you to be a teacher? 

Chapman: "My mom was a teacher, and my 9th grade English teacher inspired me to become one as well. "

Q: What is your favorite thing about being a teacher? 

Automatically she answered, "Definitely relationships with the students and getting to know them. It's so interesting to see how different all of them are."

Q: What is your favorite book? 

She pondered this for a while, and then ultimately responded "Hmm…, I don't really have a favorite book. I have a million of them! I can't just pick one. I feel like I would be cheating on the others." She joked.  

Q: What do you do outside of school? 

"Um.. I like to spend time with my family, but I guess that's what everyone says huh? I don't wanna sound too cliche." She laughed, and then thought about it for a while longer and said, "This is going to make me sound like a nerd, but I guess that's not a secret. I love researching stuff and finding something interesting on the internet to read about, it always keeps me occupied and interested."

Q: What is your dream vacation destination?

Although it stumped her at first, she responded with, "I would love to go back to Europe. I went to England, Wales, Scotland, but I also really want to go to Greece. It's so beautiful." 

Q: What do you think is the most important quality a person can have?

"Honesty." was her immediate response.

Q: What do you hope that students take away from your class?

"That they should climb into someone's skin and walk around in it," she listed first, quoting Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, continuing with, "and that they should NEVER write an essay in the first-person perspective, and that reading is not a horrible thing." 

Q: What book do you wish was required for us to read in school?

After thinking about it for a moment she decided on The Perks of Being a Wallflower, going on to elaborate that "...it reflects on so many issues that are so relevant to today's teenagers." 

Q: What are your plans for Thanksgiving break?

Chapman: "I'm going to San Diego to visit my husband's family, decorating for Christmas, and will be catching up on all my Netflix shows." 

Thank you Mrs. Chapman!