Name: Kristin L. Wolfe
School: Wooster School/Independent

 

How do you use Shmoop?

With literature courses, both my sophomore level Humanities course and my senior AP Lit course, I have used Shmoop as a great warm-up before having students dive into texts individually. For my more sophisticated students, it serves as a fun, modern, useful perspective; for my reluctant students, it is a less intimidating approach to literature and analysis. A great starting point. I have never felt like my students were cheating by using Shmoop. For one, it is created by, as the kids say, a "legit" source; and two, my students are still expected to get "intimate" and work with the actual text.

Too legit to quit...learning.

What is the coolest experience you've had using Shmoop?

When watching the Lord of the Flies video, one of my students who hated the book played the video over and over again. He warmed up to the topics we were discussing because he enjoyed the video so much.

What is your favorite item in your closet?

Favorite item in my closet has to be my upside down Eiffel Tower shirt. It reminds me of myself: an attempt to be refined and be a force to be reckoned with, yet with a major, silly, dorky side.

What's the nicest thing a student has ever said to/done for you?

Excerpted from "Ode to Wolferine," something a student wrote for me this year when I, myself, applied to go back for another Masters. An MFA I'll now be getting from Columbia starting this fall:

"Ms. Wolfe was my teacher; she is my teacher. But she is also my editor, my listener, my mentor, my friend. She is the paragon of thoughtful, from the comments her students read on their report cards to the ideas she brainstorms during class. While sharing her coffee may be questionable, she will always be one to share her heart and her mind. Clearly, this was not just any sophomore English class, and clearly, anyone who has this much to share has even more to offer."

Keep sharing (maybe not the coffee), and good luck at Columbia.

Do you know a Shmooperstar educator who should be featured on Shmoop? Have them apply. Or, you know, nominate yourself.