English can be a tough subject. From SLDs to essays about complicated literature, it can be overwhelming at times. One thing that can make or break a challenging English class is the teacher.
Mrs. Allen is a HHS teacher that perfectly demonstrates the qualities of a fantastic English teacher.
Before Mrs. Allen was an English teacher that could bring life to the most complex and grueling lessons, she never thought her life would be like this. Mrs. Allen started out as an English major at Boston College where she also held a role on the track team and cheerleading squad. After graduating, she went into the business world and took a role as a media buyer at an advertising agency in Boston. However, the events of 9/11 really affected Mrs. Allen and made her realize that she was not passionate about her job and wanted to do something more purposeful and fulfilling.
She thought teaching might be her real calling, so she took the teacher’s test and in 2004, became an English teacher at Hingham High School. Her goal was and still is to be part of something bigger, educating the next generation.
Mrs. Allen explained, “I find it fulfilling to help students reach their potential and to feel like I can make a positive impact on their lives. It is meaningful to me to help kids improve upon communication skills like reading, writing, and speaking. They can then articulate what they are thinking and feeling and can become lifelong learners, productive members of society, and conduits for change.”
Almost as soon as she walked into her classroom for the first time, she began bringing positive change to the school. She coached the cheerleading team and the track team for a couple of years, as well as served as a class adviser. After a couple of years at HHS, she became the Freshman Advisory coordinator, a program which helps freshmen at Hingham get oriented to the workload and culture of High School.
Even recently she has been working to improve this program. This year, she was excited to work closely with Mrs. Lytle and the Mentor Program, a program that assigns freshman an upperclassmen that helps them with adjusting to high school.
When asked what she loved most about being a teacher, she replied, “What I love most about teaching is the relationships that I forge with students. I still keep in touch with students who now have kids of their own! I also love helping students find a book or genre that they love. One of my favorite emails that I have received was from a former student who, after moving into her college dorm, sent me a picture of her stack of Agatha Christie novels.”
Her love for building relationships with her students is what makes Mrs. Allen an HHS favorite. She is not the type of person to forget her students after the year is over and is not afraid to remind them during the next year to still greet her in the halls.
Nate Kenniston, a sophomore who had Mrs. Allen when he was a freshman, remembers, “Class never really had a dull moment and there was always something fun she had to share with us, like a personal story related to the book we were reading, or some fun facts about the stories we were reading.”
Not only is her teaching fun, but so are the courses she teaches! She offers an elective students can take as seniors called Detective Fiction. The class gets good ratings from students and she recommends it to all seniors.
