With an art degree from Northwestern University and teaching experience from Japan, English teacher Brenna Killeen uses her non-traditional path to teaching as a way to be innovative in the classroom.
Killeen majored in art with an adjunct major in animation and a minor in creative nonfiction writing. Despite not having majored in English, she believes the art program taught her skills that transcend all subjects.
“It’s funny because, actually, those skills that I learned as an art major are sometimes more applicable to teaching,” Kileen said. “Just like gathering information, thinking critically, sorting things and then drawing relationships between them. That’s mostly what we did in the art department, which is exactly what we do when we read something and talk about its meaning.”
The diversity of her studies led Killeen to better consider the perspective of her students, who also have a variety of interests and skills.
“I think the disciplines are great, like we have English class, we have math class, we have science class, like it makes sense,” Killeen said. “But there are so many people whose actual talents lie somewhere in between. There are so many kids who are really interested in writing but they might not love literature, and we assume those are the same thing but they’re not really[…]so we should all work together more. I would love for us to do some interdisciplinary stuff.”
Art is not the only source of inspiration Killeen pulls from to improve her teaching methods. After being introduced to a teaching abroad program by her Japanese professor, Killeen decided to apply to teach English to kids in Japan.
“I taught English in Japan for three years, so that’s where a majority of my classroom experience is,” Killeen said. “I thought this was my chance, I’ll just go for a year and then I’ll come back and this will be my study abroad experience that I never got to have. But then I just loved it so much and I just kept renewing my contract.”
According to Killeen, the Japanese school system differed greatly from the American system with a focus on more archaic teaching methods.
“Japanese school is really different,” Killeen said. “The actual teaching was sometimes frustrating because it was pretty old fashioned. I didn’t think it was always the best way to teach English.”
Despite a lack of contemporary learning, Killeen says that a Japanese education has one value not taught by the United States: It’s better to try and fail than to succeed without trying.
“There’s a lot of importance put on putting forth effort,” Killeen said. “It’s not about doing things perfectly, it’s not about being the best. It’s just about, did you earnestly try? You don’t even have to succeed.”
Killeen didn’t just internalize these lessons and move on, she applies them every day to her English classes as a way to share Japanese values with her students.
“To my second period I said we were going to do this Japanese style,” Killeen said. “So at the beginning of every class there’s a spokesperson who says ‘everybody stand up’ and then we all bow and we say good morning and then we all sit down. There’s just something great about having it be a cultural value to not be shy. Or like you’re allowed to be shy but you try anyway.”
Before teaching in Japan, Killeen had reservations about becoming a teacher. But her teaching abroad experience taught her that you can instruct students and still show your personality.
“I thought that to be a teacher you had to be authoritarian and you had to have a façade all the time and you couldn’t be yourself, and I was so goofy so I didn’t think I could do it,” Killeen said. “But then when I finally got into the classroom and was teaching in Japan I realized this is actually really fun.”
Looking back on the trip, Killeen explains that her uncommon classroom experience is what allows her to teach with confidence in her English courses.
“I think [teaching in Japan] made me a better person, it definitely made me a better teacher,” Killeen said. “I got over a lot of shyness and being reserved and not wanting to be goofy.”
Killeen uses her unique perspective on learning as well as support from other teachers in her department to overcome some of the challenges of being a new teacher, like sharing three different classrooms and student teaching and interning simultaneously.
“One of the nice things is that I get to see different classroom setups and different seating setups, and it’s helpful for me as a newer teacher to see what veteran teachers are doing,” Killeen said. “Switching classrooms is stressful time management-wise but I think it’s a good experience for me to see what other teachers are doing.”
As somewhat of an inexperienced teacher, Killeen welcomed advice when she first arrived at Marshall in the fall, and English teacher James MacIndoe stepped up.
“Mr. MacIndoe, before I even taught a first class, just like popped his head in and said ‘I’m going to give you two pieces of advice’ and he gave me two awesome pieces of advice and shared two articles with me that I should read. He was like, ‘Let me tell you one thing you’ve got to do: Never shout over kids, because if you start shouting you’re going to have to keep shouting.’ And that’s such good advice.”
Killeen may not have a typical backstory as to why and how she became an English teacher, but the lessons she learned from studying art, teaching in Japan and being open to advice from veteran teachers has allowed her to flourish as a new educator.