Emily Stewart always loved English.
In high school, she took AP English classes and often found herself connecting the strongest with her English teachers. Coupled with a long family history of female teachers, it only seemed right to go into teaching herself.
"My mom was an elementary teacher for several years and her mom was a teacher," Stewart said. "I also have teachers on my dad's side, female teachers mainly, and so I have that strong foundation of female role models. All the strong women in my family were teachers. So (teaching) was a natural direction for me to go."
Stewart grew up in Placerville and attended UC Davis where she majored in English and minored in education and philosophy. While completing her degree, she did an internship for one of her education classes at Woodland High School.
"That's kind of how I first got introduced to Woodland and the school district," Stewart said. "I was working as a tutor in their learning center."
Stewart also completed her teaching credential at UC Davis and earned her master's degree in teacher education. In the first summer after completing her teaching credential, Stewart returned to Woodland High to teach summer school. Not long after, she was hired on by Lee Middle School and has been there ever since.
Stewart is now in her 12th year at Lee where she currently teaches seventh and eighth grade English. Stewart said she loves teaching the middle school level because of the variety, flexibility, opportunity to be creative and of course, her students.
"The students are so fun. Every day is different for them too," Stewart emphasized. "I love that middle schoolers are kind of at that point in their lives where they're just starting to really engage with the world around them and understand more and be able to talk more about issues and have opinions.
"The kids definitely keep all of us teachers on our toes, but you know, that's what makes the job interesting."
In the classroom, Stewart said she likes to keep her students as busy as possible to decrease boredom.
"We switch up activities a lot," Stewart explained. "I'm pretty structured, but I have timers going so that we keep the pace up in class every day so it doesn't feel like they're just sitting there watching the minutes tick by. All my favorite teachers growing up were the ones that made the classroom experience fun and positive so I try to bring that in as well."
Principal of Lee Middle School Shelley Friery described Stewart as "super positive," praising her ability to use effective positive reinforcement with students.
"Emily is such a positive presence on our campus," Friery said. "She is so supportive of other teachers and very collaborative with her colleagues. She develops great relationships with students and pushes them to achieve at high levels in her classes. She is a key part of our school leadership and is someone that other staff know they can go to for help at any time."
Stewart also works as the AVID coordinator. AVID's mission is to close the opportunity gap by preparing all students for college readiness and success in a global society.
In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Stewart has also coached Lee's girls soccer team for the past 10 years. Stewart played soccer competitively through high school before she joined the competitive club team at UC Davis.
"When I got to Lee, I don't think I even realized that would be an option," Stewart said. "But after my second year here, they needed a coach and so I stepped into that role and I've been teaching the girls ever since and that's been really, really fun."
Outside of teaching, Stewart is a mom of two little girls who are almost two and four. On the weekends, she enjoys getting together with her friends and getting outside with her family by spending time at the park and going on camping trips.
For Stewart, one of the best parts of teaching at Lee has been the opportunity to build lasting relationships.
"I've just been really happy here," Stewart emphasized. "Lee has been a great home away from home for me and for the kids too. I kind of feel like our school site here at Lee, we're definitely like a family and I've just really enjoyed my time being here at Lee."
Stewart said she hopes she can teach her kids more lessons than just the academic ones by the time they leave her at the end of the year.
"I'm trying to help them really grow into their confidence as students and as people," Steward said. "Just how to be good group members, good partners and being kind to each other and to themselves. For my eighth graders, I'm trying to prepare them for high school, which again, is not just academic. It's who they are as people as well and helping them to realize they're being set off into the world soon and four years is going to go by fast. So we're trying to prepare them to be good people also."
No comments:
Post a Comment