My name is Bethany Tomes, and I am a Secondary English Education Teacher. I graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a major in Secondary English Education and minors in Social Justice in Education and English. Throughout my years at Penn State, I have volunteered in downtown State College at The Mid State Literacy Council, where I have tutored and taught emergent bilingual college students and adult learners. Additionally, I have tutored emergent bilingual middle school students in the Hazelton Integration Project (HIP) program through Penn State. In my student-teaching experience, I taught 10th-grade English Literature, and I currently teach 8th-grade English in my first year of teaching. In my free time, I enjoy going to the gym, finding new volunteer opportunities, writing, reading, baking, and painting on the weekends. You can read more about the literature I enjoy reading, my teaching philosophy, and my teaching experiences below and on the remaining pages
Miss Tomes’ Reading List
As an English teacher, I believe that being consistent in my own reading habits is crucial in continuous learning. The books below are currently on my reading list.
What I Love to Teach: What Excites Me About Teaching
I love the joy that I witness when readers find themselves in stories, and the connections made in the classroom when we can read from multiple perspectives. We learn through our own perspectives and experiences, but we can also gain insight into what it means to build community by listening to the stories of those around us. We learn to love, and we learn to be part of a larger, diverse story. In teaching, I’ve found that the best stories, poetry, and speeches have been from young people. I value the lessons that come from teaching in connection to real-world topics and issues. These beliefs of student joy, diverse perspectives, collaboration, community, and real-world connections are at the core of my teaching practices. I believe that teaching and learning can be fun, and I’m always excited to teach new topics and learn new ways to incorporate student culture and joy into lessons.