Lett into Reynolds

Photo+provided+by+Natalie+Lett

Photo provided by Natalie Lett

Mary Catherine Colo, Online Editor

As the school year kicks off and Reynolds welcomes students back to in-person learning, it also welcomes multiple new teachers, including first-year English teacher Natalie Lett. Ms.Lett has been loving her first few weeks as a part of the demon community. 

“I love the students, I love the English department, and I love how much personality there is here,” Lett said. 

Originally from Birmingham, Alabama, Lett student taught in the area through the 2020-2021 school year, while virtually getting her degree from Wake Forest University.

“I did not always think I wanted to be a teacher, but I did always love people, and I really liked english.”

Lett has learned to love teaching, as it has helped her change the lives of her students. 

“To me, teaching is the most tangible way I can make people feel like they matter and give people skills that they will need in their lives,” Lett said. 

She specifically chose to teach English because she finds it to be a subject that people use in their everyday lives.

“English is one of those things where we are doing it all the time. You are communicating with people, using body language, or voice inflection to communicate. You are telling stories or hearing stories, our life comes to us as a story.” Lett said.

As students find their way back to the normalcy of in-person school, it has been difficult for them to get back into their old routines. Lett has seen that group activities have had to be structured differently because students haven’t worked together since early 2020.

“Needing to structure things a little bit more is what I have learned this past month. People need some structure to know what’s coming next,”she said. 

With the first semester underway, Lett values her new role in the English Department and is confident that what she is teaching will help students beyond just the content they find in the books they read.

“All the things that we are doing in English, I feel like they teach us how to be people, and teach us how to understand ourselves and our life,” Lett said.