Ms. Maggie Kelly is a new addition to the PA Distance team as a 9th and 10th grade English teacher. She graduated from La Roche University in Pittsburgh, PA with a B.A. in English Education: Language & Literature and is certified in English 7-12. Now a teacher at PA Distance, Ms. Kelly covers a wide range of topics including novels that make her students think like Fahrenheit 451, the drama of Shakespeare, and the creativity of writing their own autobiography.
“I knew I wanted to be a teacher because I had a lot of people in my family who worked in education. I could see the impacts they could have on their students,” she said. “That really pushed me to go into education, too.”
“My parents instilled a love of reading and writing in me as a form of expression and I followed that,” she added.
Right now, Ms. Kelly is pursuing a Master’s degree in Reading & Literacy from Duquesne University, which she is set to finish in May. With her Master’s, she hopes to use her Reading Specialist and Literacy training to help students with reading disabilities and challenges.
“Being a student while being a teacher at the same time is super helpful,” she said. “It helps me think the same way my students think so that I can make changes to my lessons or teaching practices.”
Her 9th and 10th-graders have been working on many reading and writing projects throughout the year. Ms. Kelly, and her students, also benefit from working with other PA Distance English teachers to expand lesson content and to welcome different ways of thinking and doing things.
“I really enjoy teaching Shakespeare, and helping students make connections to modern culture and movies,” she said. “When my students begin to understand what each text is all about and get really into it and make connections, that’s really cool to see.”
“It’s been really interesting to see how the grade-levels vary with their writing development,” she explained. “Watching my students find their voices are really cool and seeing them get to know an author throughout their educational careers is awesome.”
9th-graders completed their own literary analysis, which was planned collaboratively with Ms. Donofrio. “I try to give my students the opportunity to choose what they want to read and what they want to write about,” she noted.
“My 10th-graders had to choose a person to interview for the biography unit,” she said. “I love reading about my student’s lives and how they make connections within their community or with a family member or friend. It keeps them engaged but keeps it relevant, too.”
Ms. Kelly notes that her favorite part about PA Distance is the benefits of a cyber education and the community of students and staff.
“I think I can better communicate with people outside of school with the skills I’ve learned at PA Distance,” she said. “I’ve also gotten to know these kids, their stories, and their backgrounds and with that, know how to serve them better.”
“It’s also such a benefit for students to have such a large community of people from across the state,” she mentioned. “It’s something that people don’t think of before coming here.”
“Everybody talks and learns from one another and that benefits the students in the long-run. We constantly have opportunities to grow and become better educators. I haven’t seen that at other schools,” she added. “When we say PA Distance is Where Teaching Still Matters we really mean it.”