Welcome to my Teacher's Page!

Hello! My name is Stacy Michelle Walker. I have the great good fortune of being the drama teacher and director at Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego, California. Not only am I currently the teacher of the drama program at MCHS...I used to be a student there!

Teaching at my old high school is strange. Some of my old teachers are still there! But mostly, it's an amazing experience, and my students love that I was once "one of them"--I was president of the drama club when I was a senior!

I never thought I'd be back, but a serious of twists and turns has brought me here, and I'm so, so grateful. And tired. It's a big job.

I took the personality test and learned that I am classified ENFP: Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.  I found a very well thought-out resource about these "personality types" here. According to the site, ENFPs are Champions.

"Champions often speak (or write) in the hope of revealing some truth about human experience, or of motivating others with their powerful convictions. Their strong drive to speak out on issues and events, along with their boundless enthusiasm and natural talent with language, makes them the most vivacious and inspiring of all the types."

That's all very flattering, of course! I think my extroverted nature, coupled with the intuitive/feeling/perceiving parts of me that feel comfortable and confidant dealing with emotion, growth, need, and connection, make me a great fit for a large theatre program like the one I run. I tell my students all the time that we are in the business of becoming better humans, utilizing creativity, collaboration, and compassion to understand ourselves, our colleagues, and the greater world.

I think art is noble! And powerful! and I think it's the connective tissue that ties together all the other parts of academia. I think I could have a beautiful time teaching any subject--so long as I mastered the content first!

My personality definitely affects my relationships with my students. I am aware that my over-the-top energy can be overwhelming for some students, so I've learned to tone it down and go after the one-on-one experiences more. Then later, when I'm in front of a crowd of 600 on opening night, those student know that it's an "act," and still feel connected.

Likewise students open up to me easily and often. Because I run an arts program that deals with feelings, and change, and interpersonal relationships, I have a lot of students coming into my office and unloading stressful, secret, and sometimes scary situations on me. I've had students come out to me as queer and as trans, I've had students explode into tears about school and relationships and parents. In my one year of teaching, I've had to call CPS multiple times.

I feel very privileged to be a resource for them, and I take it seriously.

My serious face.

According to the Felder and Solomon Learning/Teaching Styles Assessment, I am:

• More Active than Reflective
• Decidedly Intuitive versus Sensing (I ranked an 11!)
• Slightly more Verbal than Visual
• Slightly more Sequential than Global (shocking!)

 I think in all of these, balance is key, and interrogating my lesson plans and activities to make sure that there are different pathways to accessing material and mastering content is crucial. Knowing that my personal preferences can affect how I design my lessons is a good reality check.