Katie Speller

All the way from Long Island, New York, the school welcomes new English teacher, TCU graduate Katie Speller. Wingspan sat down with her to find out more about her journey in life so far and how she would like to impact her students this year. 

Wingspan: What subject do you teach and how long have you been teaching?

Speller: “So this is my first year actually teaching. I’ve student taught and I’ve worked for years throughout schools but it’s my first year actually being a full time teacher and I teach English. Currently, I am teaching English 2 on-level and AP Literature and Composition.”

Wingspan: How do you feel about school so far?

Speller: “I absolutely love it. I think that it is definitely an interesting year and it has taken a while for students to adjust to all of the changes. But I think everyone is doing really great and we’re all learning a lot.”

Wingspan: If you were not a teacher, what else would you be?

Speller: “I think I would be a vet. I absolutely love animals and I’ve always had an interest in becoming a vet. But my problem is that I love animals so much that I get so attached and I think that I wouldn’t be able to emotionally separate the work from myself. I wouldn’t be able to not be devastated if I had to put down an animal or if I saw really bad neglect cases or things like that. So I think that I am just too emotional to be a vet.”

Wingspan: What was the best and the worst moment in your life and why?

Speller: “The worst moment in my life was probably when I lost my older brother. He passed away at the age of sixteen and I was nine years old. However, he wasn’t supposed to live past the age of two. He had a neurotransmitter disease, so the fact that he was able to live so long and have such a great quality of life and did amazing things was kind of a blessing within itself. So, while that was really hard losing him, I definitely was grateful for all of the time that we did have because it was so much more than we had expected. Oh the best moment in my life, that’s hard! There’s one moment that I can pinpoint just thinking to myself, ‘wow! This is such an amazing moment and I’m fully at peace and fully content.’ And it was when I was studying abroad and my friends and I went to Interlaken, Switzerland. We decided to camp out by this lake and we brought a little grill and we were making food and we were sitting there looking over the lake listening to music for hours, just talking and watching the sun set over just these beautiful mountains in Interlaken. I remember thinking to myself, wow! I am so happy right now, this is so peaceful, what an amazing opportunity that I have to be here and share this moment with such incredible people.”

Wingspan: What is the meaning of life to you?

Speller: “Yeah! I mean the meaning of life to me. I believe that we all have a purpose here and I personally feel as though I connect really well with other people and I’m made to make a difference in the lives of others. I think that is why I chose a career path working with students. Especially this age group because I think when you are in high school, you’re at such an impressionable age where you’re going through so many different things. You need a support system and you need someone that believes in you, even when you don’t believe in yourself. So I really think the meaning of life is just doing what makes you happy and doing what you think will make a change in this world for the better.” 

Wingspan: Who is the most important and influential person in your life and why?

Speller: “I would say that, oh, I don’t know If I can choose one. But I would say definitely my parents. I think that, If I had to choose one, I’d say my dad because he came from nothing and he was able to work his butt off to create such a beautiful life for himself. He has the most positive attitude and outlook on everything. I’ve never met someone else that just knows as much as he does. I can always rely on him and call him when I need something and I feel like he  always has the answer and knows what to do. Whether it be something around the house, he can fix that or whether it be I’m in a sticky situation, he’ll give me advice. I think he is just a wonderful role model and I think he built such a great life for himself despite losing a child and having to spend 16 years going in and out of the hospital doing clinical trials and experimental treatments. Having to watch their son go through this, I think he remained super positive and still was the best father for myself and my brother. He still always made time for us. He would never miss a softball game of mine, he would never miss a school play that I was in, he would leave work early to pick me up. He always prioritized us and just is an amazing role model in my life.”

Wingspan: What was the most memorable moment in your teaching career?

Speller: “The most memorable moment in my teaching career would probably be when I had a student that did not like to participate much and didn’t really put in any effort. I finally got through to him and was able to find his personal interests and relate topics back to him. We were doing a play and I gave him a role in the play and from then on, he was so interested in the topic. He even volunteered to read for another character who was out that day. He went from not participating at all to being the first one to volunteer. It was just seeing that growth in him. Once his interest peaked, his grades went up so much. I think seeing that growth and of course seeing all my students grow is incredible and I love it. But this is just one specific moment that I can think of. I really just sat back and I was like, oh my goodness, I’m so proud. This is why I do what I do.”

Wingspan: What is your favorite genre of books and why?

Speller: “Oh my goodness! That would be so difficult! I really think that it just depends on my mood and it depends on what i’m currently going through. I feel like it shifts a lot. I feel like I will go a few weeks or few months with one genre that I’m super into and then I’ll kind of  move on from it because I get a little sick of it and i’m like I need something else. And then i’ll move on to another genre and another one. Then eventually I’ll go through all of them again. Currently, i’m really loving thrillers but I know that’s also because my english 2 class is also currently reading thrillers. So I was like, of course I need to read a thriller along with them! So that would be my favorite at the moment, but it really does change all the time.”   

Wingspan: How would you like to impact your students this year?

Speller: “I would like to help them understand english more. I want them to see that english can be fun and to see the beauty of the English language and literature. I would love for my passion to take over them and show them that it doesn’t have to be this intimidating and boring thing. English is a topic you’re going to be using no matter what stage of life you’re in and what field or occupation you go into. You’re going to need to know how to read, you’re going to know how to write, how to make an argument and back it up with examples. I think that being an English teacher isn’t just teaching  specific things like grammar. But it’s teaching students how to think for themselves and how to come up with their own opinions and back up those opinions.”

Wingspan: How do you imagine your life in the future?

Speller: “In the future… I want to continue teaching throughout my career, I definitely want to get married and have children. I also want to continue on, I have a masters degree but I would love to continue because I love learning. I would really love to get a PhD in English literature. I would go on and do that while still teaching high school. And maybe do research and teach some college classes over the summer and online classes while I still teach high school.”  

Wingspan: Why do you like traveling and where do you really want to go? 

Speller:  “I love to travel because I’m very interested in different cultures, different environments. I’m super interested in it and I love to see how other people around the world live and I compare it to my perspective and think about why I see things the way I do. I think about things based on my social and cultural context. I’ve been to 25 countries. But I have not been to Asia, so I would love to go to some country in Asia. I’ve really been interested in going to Thailand and doing something with elephant rehabilitation there. I think it’s just a really cool environment. So I would love to go there!”

Wingspan: Ms.Speller is…

Speller: “I would hopefully say kind! I think that kindness goes a long way and it’s really important to show kindness to every person you meet. You never know what other people are going through. A simple act of kindness can completely change someone’s day or even someone’s life.”