Introductions

 

Salutations! This is, at least, how I addressed my students during my practicum. My name is Kaitlin, and I am a high school English teacher. I teach books by day, and practice work-life balance by burrowing in books at night.

Growing up, my greatest literary influences were perhaps Mary Pope Osborne and Jeanette McCurdy, then J. K. Rowling and Melissa Marr. Moving into adulthood, I found Victorian Gothic fiction and Modernism. Many of the classics* I read today stem from this part of my life.  

My reading nowadays shows more a meandering journey than a straightforward route, as I step in and out of genres and time periods. It reflects the reading of a teacher, I feel, and thus positions me to (hopefully) attempt to do this Capstone justice. But I will always find solace in letters penned by Ranier Maria Rilke. I will always find a home away from home in Carlos Ruiz Zafon's Barcelona. And smile at the quirky cast of Neil Gaiman's characters. And remember why it is we teach literature when I'm immersed in the writing of John Fowles, Elena Ferrante, John Irving, Margaret Atwood, Graham Greene.