Interview with Ms. McKee

By Belle Beauchesne ’25

Meet the new, cool, goofy, and in her own words “weird” teacher who is making English class fun for everyone, Ms. McKee! Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. McKee about her job as an English teacher and what she likes to do in her spare time. Ms. McKee is originally from St. Louis, MO and this will be her sixth year as a teacher. When asked about something cool her job allows her to do, she stated, “teaching is a really special, weird thing in that it allows me to go to work every day and feel like a kid again.” Ms. McKee has fond memories of eating lunch in her classroom and watching Marvel movies, which made her think, “Who else is watching Iron Man at lunch every day? Like that’s so cool to me.” Ms. McKee’s favorite thing about being a teacher is “getting to hang out with really funny, clever, interesting young people,” and knowing that she gets to send them out to the world while being a part of their lives.

One important thing to Ms. McKee is having her classroom “feel like a home space,” and she really hit the mark. The whimsical style of her classroom makes for an entertaining and creative space where her students have the privilege of being able to learn in the environment that Ms. McKee has created. As a “big believer in incorporating young-adult literature into her curriculum,” she values books with an age-appropriate voice to tailor them to each of her classes, which includes sixth graders, ninth graders, and tenth graders. She feels that reading out loud to teenagers in high school is important because she wants to model bringing life to the books that her students read. During class, Ms. McKee does an amazing job of balancing teaching and learning, not only when it comes to English topics, but also topics that come up that aren’t related to her class curriculum. Outside of school, Ms. McKee enjoys hanging out with her dog, Freya, who she claims, “Instagram has deemed the Queen of Hebron,” playing video games, watching movies and TV, making crafts, and going skiing. One other thing that she enjoys doing, which is very fitting for an English teacher, is reading, specifically “garbage fantasy romance.”