Levi McConnell

I was raised by parents who read to me. I was lucky enough to have elementary teachers who cared enough to establish strong reading skills in their students. I was blessed to engage with high school English teachers who challenged my ideas, taught me how to receive stories from sources beyond myself, and helped me to realize how interwoven my story was with the world’s ever-evolving tapestry of stories. The art of storytelling, both telling and receiving stories, is an art of connection, honesty, and love. When a student better understands how to break down, analyze, and empathize with the stories they read in books, or watch in movies, or listen to in music or a podcast they have the capacity to approach the world, approach people with similar stories, with an open, compassionately curious heart. English classrooms are spaces where stories are told, created, listened to, and read. Therefore, English classrooms are spaces where we teach the next generations how to connect, how to be honest, and how to love their own stories and the stories of lives they will inevitably encounter on their journeys in and outside of St. Teresa’s Academy.