Every school year brings changes, and this year has brought a change to the English department, change in administrators and a change in teaching staff.

For this school year the English department decided to alter its ways. Teachers gained new roles and moved into new positions. Sharon Crane, Christy May and Amy Larson are all teaching different classes this year than they have before.

Crane, who normally teaches only ninth grade English, is teaching tenth grade AVID, Read 180, and basic and honors English III this year. Crane was involved in AVID when it first started and was excited to become reunited with the program.

“I have always been a member of the AVID Site team here at the high school and it was a heartwarming experience to see my 7th grade AVID students graduate this year and go on to college,” Crane said. “Teaching AVID was a wonderful experience and when the administration approached me about the position, I was eager to become re-acquainted with the program.”

Crane is teaching Read 180 for the first time this year. Read 180 is a researched based reading intervention course that uses curriculum that aligns with the Standard Course of Study, according to Crane.

“(Read 180) has been proven to raise reading achievements for struggling readers,” Crane said. “Having recently finished my Master’s Degree in Reading Curriculum and Linguistics, I was excited to work with Read 180 to help students improve their reading Lexile scores.”

Along with AVID and Read 180, Crane has basic and honors English III. She has always loved teaching American Literature and was excited to be teaching it again in this class.

“I have been teaching ninth grade English since I began here at FFHS, so I am really enjoying American Literature in eleventh grade,” Crane said. “Plus, it’s a lot of fun having some of my freshman students in my classes again, this time as juniors.”

While Crane stopped teaching ninth grade English this year, May gained it as a new class. This year May took on the English I class and is teaching freshmen.

“I was ready for a change and with the adoption of the common core, it seemed this year would be a nice time to transition,” May said.

May has found the transition from eleventh and twelfth grade English to ninth grade English to be smooth and is enjoying teaching the new class. She is hoping to interest students in her class through a project-based approach.

“I am really enjoying the students and literature as I am only teaching ninth grade this year,” May said. “I am hoping to reach all my students through my project-based approach to learning and focus on writing, media literacy, and technology integration.”

Larson also teaches English I, but this year she is also teaching AP Literature for the first time. The class is usually taught only by English teacher Amy Powell, but Larson is teaching a semester block of the class.

“I was excited about the opportunity to teach an upper level English course,” Larson said. “I love reading literature and I wanted to discuss literature with upper level students.”

Larson received a degree in English Literature from Virginia Tech and knows that having that background will help her teach the class. Larson said the hardest part about teaching the course is the preparation and time it takes.

“(The hardest part) is keeping up. I had become so used to teaching freshman English that I would do it with my eyes closed,” Larson said. “Its a challenge to keep up with the reading and come up with new assignments but it is fun.”

Larson has enjoyed her time teaching AP Literature and was happy to see the English department make the changes they did.

“I have fun with the students. It’s a nice break from having only freshman classes,” Larson said. “(The students) get my jokes and are all smart and motivated. They are generally the kind of students that are a pleasure to teach.”

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