Farewell, Mrs. Maxwell!

Post date: Apr 28, 2017 9:33:15 PM

As a part of our last series this year for the 2016-2017 school year, we interviewed the teachers near and dear to us leaving after this year. The first teacher we asked questions is Mrs. Lynne Maxwell. Mrs. Maxwell has been a teacher at Central for years and teaches AP Literature, Mythology, and Etymology. She is headed into retirement. We asked questions on what she plans to do and advice she has for future students and teachers.

1) What did you do before you came to Central?

I got married, raised 2 kids and a bunch of pets (rabbits, guinea pigs, cats, dogs. etc.), gardened, sewed, served my church and my community whenever I could, and taught English at Middle Tennessee Christian School for 20 years. So I'm pretty tired.

2) What has been your favorite book you have read and why? What's your favorite book to teach?

My favorite book is usually whatever I'm reading at the time. However, I do have some old friends that I read again and again: Jane Eyre, Alas Babylon, To Kill a Mockingbird, the Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters, all of Mary Stewart's mysteries, In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead, Nevada Barr's Anna Pigeon mysteries, The Haunting of Hill House, 11.22.63, The Age of Miracles, Quiet (Susan Cain), anything by Shakespeare, and countless others.

My favorite work to teach has to be Hamlet.

3) What are some goals you have now that you are retiring, what do you plan to do in your free time?

After I retire, I plan to finally get some writing done. I will also do lots of fun things, like gardening, quilting, reading, drinking coffee, re-watching all the Downton Abby seasons, and such like, all during the middle of the day while all of you are at school.

4) What is your advice for upcoming seniors taking English? What about new teachers at Central

My advice for students is to READ what your English teacher assigns. You will be astonished at what you find in those old books. People have not changed in thousands of years, and Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Fitzgerald are just as relevant today as are contemporary authors.

My advice to new English teachers at Central: Listen to your students. Approach your reading as peers instead of teacher/students when it comes to interpreting and enjoying the texts. Your students are smart and have probably thought of interpretations and observations you would never have dreamed of. Yours is not the only interpretation of a text. And make sure when they write, they care about what they are saying. Writing should always be relevant and important, or else, why are we writing?

We wish you luck Mrs. Maxwell, and we'll miss you!