“I studied history and government in college, and in grad school I was studying social studies education. My first year teaching, I was teaching honors world history, psychology, and American literature. I was qualified to teach one of those three classes (laughs)… I ran my English class like a social studies class. After every reading, I’d be like “So what can we tell about the culture that wrote this?!”— I treated them like primary sources… which was fun— well, I had fun (laughs)— I don’t know how much fun they had. But… that was tough. One of the big things I learned was how to ask other people for help. I had to go to friends of mine in the English department and be like “please, for the love of God, tell me what to do!” And, what I found was that teachers are really helpful, and will offer each other advice. I legitimately would not have gotten through, particularly the English class, without the ability to humble myself and ask for help.”