English department welcomes new teacher

Hereford welcomes a new member, Carol Brown as the newest addition to the English department. Brown began her time here last year as a long-term substitute for English and Yearbook teacher Jamie Burgess.  

Brown began her education at Virginia Tech, finishing with her master’s in Curricular Administration of English. She spent 20 years teaching in Virginia before moving to Maryland with her two kids. Brown believes that English is an important foundation for teenagers future years of education.  

“English has a huge opportunity to let kids find their own voice,” Brown said. 

English can be one of the most difficult subjects to teach teenagers, but Brown has an intriguing teaching style. She feels that it is important to find current issues that students can relate to. She also makes efforts to make a unit strictly for the student’s interests; this is a great way to keep her students engaged and active in class activities.  

Brown provided a learning environment that encourages students to deepen their proficiency in English. Some find it hard to be given an article to read and be forced to comprehend the content, so she likes to show a fair number of videos along with articles to keep the students intrigued. She makes sure everyone has a full understanding of the content before continuing with the lesson. 

“I really enjoy the content; she makes it fun and interactive. She allows us to do group work and speak with our peers frequently, Hannah Sebelist (’20) said. 

With multiple factors of stress affecting students throughout high school, having a teacher that is understanding is important. On the first day she made it clear to be honest with her about having trouble meeting deadlines. Her charismatic personality also makes her classroom inviting and students look forward to her class.  

“Ms. Brown shows an immense amount of care towards each of her students. She has been nothing but kind, understanding, and compassionate towards my class,” Sebelist said.  

Every day she writes the homework and objective on the board as well as what is due for the day. This provides students with techniques for them to stay organized. Brown teaches an English 12 course which is full of seniors who are worried about working on college applications.  

“She takes into account that as seniors we have a lot of work to do for college. She made it clear on the first day that we can always talk to her and ask for extra time on an assignment which is nice,” Georgia Cowie (’20) said.  

Along with teaching, Brown enjoys spending time with her kids, sponsoring clubs, and going on field trips. She has recently been inspired by the concerns for the environment and the search for new ways to reduce trash around the world. One project recently took on was starting an online store that sells plasticfree products. 

Brown is looking forward to the rest of the school year and all it has to offer. She hopes to broaden student’s thoughts on English and encourage them to learn more about literature.