English teacher at Fitch named Groton's teacher of the year
Groton — After being selected as teacher of the year for Fitch High School, English teacher Amy McKenna has been named the districtwide teacher of the 2017-18 school year.
The designation came after Principal Joseph Arcarese asked teachers to nominate colleagues earlier in the year. In May, a committee visited the classrooms of the teacher of the year winners for each school and read applications to select the districtwide winner.
McKenna said she was honored because "there are some very highly respected teachers in my school and highly respected teachers throughout the district that also were nominated."
She spent a lot of time in high school working with kids at the YMCA and, after getting her undergraduate degree in English from Providence College, she decided to give teaching a try.
After continuing her education with a certificate program at the University of New Haven, she began a teaching internship at Fitch in 1997. It was her connection to the Fitch High School Class of 2000 that inspired her to stay in the teaching profession.
She remained at Fitch as a teacher for a few years before working at other area schools and then returning to Fitch about five years ago. McKenna holds a master's degree in English from Trinity College.
McKenna will be teaching junior and senior English courses this year, along with a writing intervention course. When she teaches ninth-graders, one of her favorite books to teach is "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.
"I think there are so many parts of the book that speak to ninth-graders regardless of generation," she said. "There are new issues that I think are more pressing today than maybe they were when I started teaching the book, but I think that's a testament to a great book. It transcends time."
Some of McKenna's favorite teaching-related moments come from seeing students after they graduate, either when they come to visit or if she sees them around town.
"You really do get to know your students every day — almost every day — for an entire year, and then they move on, and they go on to great things," she said.
McKenna likes to ask Fitch alumni, "Were you ready?" because that "always leads to great conversation, but it also allows me to reflect upon my own teaching."
McKenna, who is originally from Westerly, lives in Mystic with her husband and three school-age children.
The teachers selected at the schoolwide level for the other schools in Groton are Shaun Farquhar at Charles Barnum Elementary; Caitlin Miner at Claude Chester Elementary; Jennifer Anthony at Catherine Kolnaski Magnet School; Laura Hoinsky at Mary Morrisson Elementary; Brenda Williams at Northeast Academy Elementary; Karen Mitchill at Pleasant Valley Elementary; Jacquelyn Wilson at S.B. Butler Elementary; Kevin Mazzarella at Cutler Middle School, and Tara Jones at West Side Middle School.
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