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“Every color has its place: it’s all about what the color’s doing and what its purpose is.” Those words got me thinking about my own favorite colors and how they tie in with my own varying passions.
“I don’t think of myself as an English teacher. I’ve taught AP World History, AP Research, and AP Literacy. I think of myself as a humanities teacher.” From traveling to poetry, full of color and passions herself, Ms. Rowley has had a wide scope of different experiences that she hopes to implement in her teaching here at Masterman.
Previously, Rowley taught at Brooklyn Tech, a prestigious technical STEM high school in New York City, for fifteen years. Compared to Masterman, which is only one sixth the size of her previous schools. Rowley recalls that there was just "more room to do things" at Brooklyn Tech. “Masterman is smaller, it’s nice, [and] it has a good sense of community,” Rowley stated, “But because Masterman is under construction it’s like we’re cramped here.” Rowley teaches eighth and ninth grade English at Masterman and is the Literary Magazine Sponsor. On top of the significant size difference between this school and her last, there's also the age difference in the students she normally teaches. “I haven’t taught eighth and ninth grade in eons,” Rowley exclaimed. Despite this, there were some aspects of this new environment that were not so far from home: “I’m a Philadelphia public school graduate myself. I went to Central and [J.S.] Jenks,” she said.
Every teacher has their own story; most know what they want to teach and some have a specific inspiration. But few teachers have traveled a straight path to get to their destination(s). “I don’t know,” Rowley thought for a moment, “I like to read and write and travel.
That’s why I teach.” Most teachers were inspired by their previous teachers but Rowley explained, “I actually didn’t have any good teachers until I went to graduate school. Maybe one or two but no one really stood out. Some of the best teachers I've had [were] way later in life.”
As a former student of Central and J.S. Jenks, she shared her thoughts on the public school system in Philadelphia, explaining there is a lot of frustration, especially as students and teachers adjust to in person learning: “As Philadelphia public school students, you know what it means to not have everything—like building wise, supplies wise, classroom size. I think that the same is true for teachers, so what I want my students to know is that a lot of the frustration they feel about the education system, I feel.”
Not yet out of the grasp of Covid-19, Rowley expresses her experiences while teaching virtually at her previous school. “I spent a lot more time community building and I didn’t spend as much on the standard curriculum. I was definitely more focused on my mental health and social emotional life.” Covid-19 has changed the school system and it has also played a role in her vision for the English department. “My goal for my students is to develop critical thinking skills,” Rowley stated, “and I would like to… help incorporate in the English department more analysis of text—from how we use social media and how it’s affecting us to advertisement to visual literacy to visual media.” She expressed her love for reading books and added, “the world is changing. As literature and media continue to evolve, the big question becomes how do we read these new texts?”
As an avid reader and published poet, Covid-19 not only impacted Rowley’s teaching, but also halted her plans with the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences Fellowship in Vermont. “It was started by Robert Frost [and] it’s attached to Middlebury College… I’ve been living in these cabins and running around with different artists, writers, musicians, and I write poetry.” It was moved online last summer which made it “a little disheartening, but it was full of surprises too,” she continued. Despite the drawbacks, “it was full of surprises in terms of connection,” Rowley added optimistically. “It happened to be an all women’s group so there was some cool stuff that happened just being in an all female space.” As a poet, some of her recent favorites which “blew [her] away this summer” include Patricia Smith’s Blood Dazzler and Natalie Diaz’s Postcolonial Love Poem—both of which are books of poetry.
Every color has its place according to Rowley and her own color palette has given her the opportunity to find her passion—to achieve
Photo courtesy of Ms. Rowley
her goals in life. “I’ve lived and taught in Hawaii and Korea and New York and Philly,” she exclaimed. If it has not been made obvious enough yet, Ms. Rowley holds traveling dear to her heart. “I spent my junior year abroad (which I recommend for all of you seniors) at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland: [the University of Pennsylvania’s sister school],” she smiled. Rowley lived in South Korea for two years after undergrad as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. She “took the long way home… and traveled,” taking her a year to come back home. Having traveled to several European and Asian countries and a couple Central American countries, Rowley explained that on her “biggest next trip,” she “would want to go to Africa: South Africa and Botswana and Mozambique.”
This passion goes hand in hand with studying religion, more specifically Asian Religion, a course that she pursued in her undergraduate studies. Not to be confused with theology, “religious studies concerns itself with the history of religion, comparing religions, religion in violence, women in religion, etc.” Rowley explained, “I was always curious about the nature of our existence and what different cultures had to say about it… as a kid. ” Her “long way back” after her two years in Korea made her even more interested in religious studies. “I basically settled on [getting] a PhD in Comparative Religions so I went to the University of Hawaii in Manoa (UH Manoa)… [and] studied Asian studies with a focus on hinduism and Sanskrit,” Rowley said. “If anyone is interested, they [UH Manoa] have the best Asian studies in the world, certainly in the country,” she added.
“It is still my passion,” Rowley stated. She taught World Religion and History of Christianity on a college level and she wants to continue teaching courses on religion. “I think that most people in the world aren’t that literate about other religions… I think that a lot of conflict stems from ignorance… I think that if more people understood other traditions and values and beliefs—not to convert anybody just to understand it—that would be great,” she shared with a deep, hopeful passion in her voice. “Don’t ask me about religion because I’ll keep talking,” she laughed.
“I like to travel—I probably know more about various cultures than people would maybe think I do.”
Though the school year has just begun, Rowley can’t wait for summer. “In the summer I’m free,” she sighed excitedly, “and I run around the world and I read books and I travel and I write… When are we done? June 15? June 16? I will be by a mountain side or an ocean.” Well-rounded and colorful, Rowley hopes “to have a great year with [her] students.” She added, “I would like us to make room 11 beautiful—still working on it—[and] I would like to get to know everyone.”
“Every color has its place—even grey. It's about what the color’s doing and what the purpose is,” she stated. “On the Lunar New Year I would want to get a lot of red envelopes but I wouldn’t want to paint my bedroom red.”
Everyone is painted with the colors of their passions; everyone has their own place where they find that they are happiest.
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