After working at camp KO over the course of many summers, English teacher Dawn Metcalf has had the pleasure of beginning to teach at KO while English teacher Michelle Caswell is on maternity leave. A sign on her office door reads: “Now playing the role of Ms. Caswell: Ms. Metcalf.”
Ms. Metcalf did her undergraduate studies at Washington University in Saint Louis and studied cultural anthropology and English literature, focusing mainly on mythology and sex and gender studies. She later received her Master’s in independent education and sex and gender studies focusing on adolescents at Harvard University.
Ms. Metcalf has mainly taught in independent education schools, so going into a classroom setting, she focuses on the students’ independent stories and their individualized learning habits. “I want to hear your narrative voice,” she said. “I want you to be able to develop a voice so that the way you express yourself comes off in your work.”
When in a classroom setting, she really enjoys watching her students form their own voices and thoughts. “I really love listening to how people think,” she explained. Along with teaching, Ms. Metcalf writes young adult novels and is excited to share them with her students this year.
Since Ms. Metcalf has only seen KO through a summer lens prior to starting this school year, she was pleasantly surprised with how strong the community is, and she is looking forward to the year ahead of her and the discussions that students will spark in her classroom.
