Amanda Nail talks about her inspiration for English and why it holds an important part of her life. She discussed her experience in a different part of her career that brought her to TJC. While illustrating her mother’s struggle that made it difficult for her to complete her education.
Q: What specifically drew you to teaching?
A: Growing up, education was always a big priority in my family, because my mom did not get to finish school. She got pregnant very young, at around the age of 15, and that meant she had to drop out and become a mom really, quickly. I think because of how much she missed out on growing up, education was always made a really big priority in our house, particularly for me. My mom just always encouraged me to go to school and be excited about school. School became a place where I could excel and feel good about myself, and it was a place I loved to be. It was my safe space. I guess a mix of loving school as a student and then also seeing all the possibilities and doors it could open to be a part of education made me want to be a teacher so that I could help bring those opportunities to other people and other students like me who came from sometimes difficult situations.
Q: Can you describe an experience that inspired you to become a teacher?
A: It’s hard to say. I don’t know that there is one individual instance I could think of that inspired me to be a teacher. The truth is, I just always really admired every teacher. This is really going to be exceptionally nerdy, but I can still remember the name of almost every teacher who ever taught me, from K through 12, and when I graduated high school. I wrote handwritten letters to every teacher I had through high school, because I just I admired them so much. I was lucky to be surrounded by a diverse group of educators who were passionate about what they did, who loved their students, who made learning fun, who made school an exciting place to be and who shared just enough of their life outside of school with us that it made me realize that teachers are some of the most interesting people in the world. They don’t just teach; they are lifelong learners. I thought, I want to be that. Teaching is a kind of learning and learning always opens doors for me. If I could continue to live a life with open doors and learning, that’s what I wanted.
Q: How do you stay current with new and relevant literature?
A: I have a terrible confession to make. All right, I listen to a lot of audio books. I’m a mom of three kids. I’ve got an 11-year-old, a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old. And so right now, I’m in a season where I don’t get to read as much as I want to. As far as keeping up with new literature, I am a part of a book club, and I keep up with literary circles online and people I went to graduate school with. I’m lucky enough to work with well-read professors so I take book recommendations, mostly from those circles.
Q: What type of topics or ideas within the field of English spark your curiosity?
A: Oh, that’s such a good question, I think, to me, the thing that is most curious about English, specifically as a writing professor, is understanding the power language has to shape worlds. I think people understand that innately, when it comes to fiction, words can create worlds in which readers can live within. I’m realizing more that to have power over language is to have power over the physical world, as well. It really does shape realities, both internal and external. It builds worlds and tears them down, quite literally. I think that that’s really fascinating being able to harness language in such a way that it can alter the world as we know it, or the lives of others in influential and inspirational ways. That’s really fascinating to me.
Q: Did teaching around East Texas and up North change your perspective?
A: I’ve taught all over East Texas. This will be my twelfth year in a classroom. I got my start at Christian Heritage Classical School in Longview. I taught there for just one year while I completed my teacher certification. Then I taught at Pine Tree High School for one year. Then my husband got a teaching job over at what was Robert E. Lee High School as a theater director. Because he worked here, I thought, our whole family should go to Tyler. There’s a lot of cool opportunities. I tried to apply for a high school English teacher [position], because that’s always what I did. High school English, theater and debate but nothing was available. I landed a three-year position at Moore Middle School teaching seventh grade English. I transferred from there over eventually to Legacy High School, where I taught a myriad of English classes. I taught ESL [English as a Second Language]. I taught creative writing. I taught practical writing. I taught American literature, British literature, and then I eventually ended my time there teaching AP literature and composition. I went to East Texas Baptist University for undergrad. I double majored in English and theater, and then I did complete my graduate degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University. I guess having all of that teaching experience in and around East Texas and then getting to see what education was like up North I don’t really, sincerely know that it has. I think really, it’s just confirmed what I’ve always believed, that knowledge really is power. I know that’s a very trite statement. We say that like, ‘oh yeah, knowledge is power,’ but it really, truly is. I think particularly when I’ve taught students from smaller cities, smaller towns and their world opens up because of literature, or they’re able to see lives and perspectives from people that don’t look or sound like them through literature and seeing how that changes their understanding of the world and themselves in the world. The diversity of my education, both as a teacher and a student, has just confirmed to me that no matter who you are or where you are education is necessary. It truly has the potential to make us better people, not just for the sake of the self, but for the sake of our community and our world. So that’s kind of what it’s confirmed for me.
Q: How was working in freelance after transitioning?
A: So, I got my very first freelance writing gigs while I was still in graduate school, which was also while I was still working full time as a teacher. That was a very busy season of my life. I started with local publications like “ETX View,” which is a local magazine here. I started with some online blogs that just wanted me to write copy for them. It was fun getting to write in very different styles for very different purposes and it was challenging. When you find work you love, it’s never really challenging in a difficult way, but in a fun and engaging way. The biggest challenge was mostly just time management. By the time I graduated from Johns Hopkins, I’d gotten my first assignment for a national publication, and I got to write for Texas Monthly. The most interesting thing about all this freelance work, whether it’s for national, private or very small journals, is just seeing how different every publication is run, even though the journalism itself is the same. You’re doing the same process, you’re doing the same method, but the way you’re interacting with the companies, not the subjects, is what’s different. That was interesting to see, and it’s still interesting to see just the inner workings of so many different organizations.
Q: How has your freelance work shaped your passion?
A: It’s so addictive. Once you do it once, you want to keep going because I think that’s just the nature of journalism. When you’re a naturally curious person, journalism has the ability to open doors for you to meet people you would never think to meet or get to talk to. Every time I talk to a new subject, it not only makes me want to seek out other true stories, but it’s often inspiration for fictional work that I also do. My graduate degree is dual, so I have a double major, essentially in fiction and non-fiction. I could never pick a side. I love both.
Q: What led you to TJC?
A: Ever since I was a little girl, I wanted to be a professor. If you had asked me back in 2008/2009 when I was finishing my first undergraduate degree, I would have told you I was going to be a professor of theater that focused on plays, play writing, film theory, and the literary side of theater but that didn’t happen. Life took a different turn because of family and having children, and so I went back to the thing I always loved, which was English. I’ve always been a writer and drawn to English classes since sixth or seventh grade, when I realized that language was magic. What led me to TJC now, I think is just the memory of that childhood dream I had and being in a place not just academically, but as a person, where I was ready to make that transition. My family was in a good space for it and I was. TJC is right in my own backyard. It’s not just a matter of convenience, but an amazing opportunity that’s convenient. I’ve never heard of another community college like TJC. I applied here first before I applied to any other nearby institution, because of how prestigious it was and how much they value and love students. That’s really what I care about more than even my subject of English or writing is students and so finding an institution that shared that passion was important to me. TJC, I think does it best, so that’s what brought me here.
*This Q&A has been lightly edited for clarity and grammatical errors.*
