A dream comes true! English teachers Julie Brown and Erin Hanley meet Jason Reynolds, author of “Long Way Down,” at a writer’s convention. The novel is taught in Hanley’s Honor’s English 1 class. The experience was surreal for both teachers.
Have you read “House on Mango Street” or “The Kite Runner”? How about “Othello”
or “Romeo and Juliet”? If the answer is “yes” to any of these books, then you have most likely taken an English class taught by Julie Brown.
Currently teaching in Room 910, Brown presents an array of stories, poems and novels for her students to study, encouraging analytical minds. After teaching at several other schools such as Bolingbrook and Serena, Brown found her place in the 500 hallway of OTHS. Though she has since moved rooms, her advice for education and her values have remained the same, and she continues to bring joy to those around her. “I often hear her lessons, and I love getting her off track and making her write poetry,” social studies teacher Pam Cronkright, Brown’s teaching neighbor, said. “When she’s stressed, she makes the best poems,” Cronkright said.
From when she was young, Brown had thoughts about becoming a teacher, especially when she and her brother pretended to teach school lessons. When high school rolled around, she presented a career fair project on elementary education, but quickly realized high school was the route she would take. After deciding this, she attended college, where she started as a math major—she panicked when choosing a major—until switching to English.
Brown discussed how earlier years of teaching are easier because of the ability to relate to students. “As you get older, you feel more like a mentor,” she said. Above all else, she believes technology has been the biggest change throughout her years of teaching and mentioned how her final project in college was to make a PowerPoint on a disk. How times have changed.
Not only has there been change in the teaching world, but there has also been change within Brown’s own world at school: the move from 500 to 900. She claims that the upperclassmen give 500 “a different feel”; the freshman, on the other hand, are much more “animated” and talkative, always moving. Brown said that 500 is, in fact, a different atmosphere than 900. “500 is cooler,” she said, “if you catch my drift.”
Through the years of teaching, Brown has picked up valuable advice for new teachers who she herself was once like. “[The phrase] ‘don’t smile ‘til Christmas’ is real,” she said. She believes that one of the most helpful tactics to keep a class under control is to set a tone and routine for that class and maintain those. “Kids respond better when they know what to expect,” she said. She went on to stress the importance of greeting students in the hallway with a smile, saying she believes this act strengthens the teacher-student relationship.
One’s mind may be drawn to books such as “The Great Gatsby” when there is mention of Brown, as it is her favorite. Although she does not teach the novel anymore, there are several others that have become her favorites to teach, most notably the works of Shakespeare. Teaching both “Othello” and “Romeo and Juliet” allows for class participation by acting out the play, which Brown highly enjoys.
Along with Shakespeare, author Ray Bradbury of “Fahrenheit 451” has quickly become a favorite of hers to teach; the novel was added to the curriculum this year. She claims reading science fiction is necessary for students to realize that predictions of the future can happen; she believes that it is important for students to branch out from young adult novels to gain a broader expanse of knowledge from different perspectives of numerous authors.