He’s a city kid from Philadelphia, passionate about English, volunteering and improv, and yearning to make a difference in the teaching world. As the 2014 school year gains momentum, the English department gains a new asset: Mr. Jeff Miller, the new British Literature teacher.
Despite recently being qualified this year as an official teacher, Miller is no rookie to the building. In years past he’s garnered experience from student-teaching alongside Mr. Scott Swindells and long-term substituting Mrs. Summer Seiler’s classes, all the while shaping his own teaching styles at Westchester University.
“Working in an actual classroom… taught me more than four years of college. Working with students one on one, working with a class, seeing the eb and flow of a classroom taught me more than West Chester did. It was learning to do and doing to learn.”
After graduating in December of last year, he began searching for a place to expand his teaching career. And this past summer, he happened to be given an opportunity at North Penn.
“I was actually at a music festival in Tennessee and got the call for [the full time job] and couldn’t have been happier. So throughout the summer I’ve been working on lesson plans and things like that.”
However Miller’s story cannot be complete without appreciating his past. It goes far back into his days at Roman Catholic High School, located in Center City Philadelphia.
“I loved going to school every day. I don’t know what it was about it, but I think it was just being there in the city and the teachers that I had were really inspirational. I met a lot of great friends that I still talk to today. Those things inspired me.”
With each class and instructor he had during his high school years, Miller took careful notice to his teachers. That’s ultimately where his teaching career matured the most.
“I also had the bad teachers, you know… the teachers that weren’t very good. I thought that I could do a better job than that and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do now. I’m trying to do the best job that I can and learn from the good and bad examples as far as teaching goes.”
His adoration for English funneled him toward the subject, and once he was intrigued, the rest came easily for him.
“I love English class because there’s so much discussion to be had and it can go in so many different ways. There’s so many ways to learn and contribute. I just love that aspect of it.”
Miller’s ability to write also drives his passion for the classroom. He was always told he excelled at writing when in school, and that ability has stuck with him and served him quite well in his pursuit in the educational field.
“I always enjoyed [writing] and never dreaded it, especially in college when I had to write longer papers and things like that. I look at writing and I tell students this: writing is like your masterpiece. When a film director creates a movie, that’s their masterpiece. They want it to be the greatest it possibly can be and I look at every piece I write in that way.”
As for hobbies and interests, well, Miller has plenty of them too. He is a skiier and is looking to work with the ski and board club, along with aiding the improv club at the high school. He is also very adamant about community service, sharing his experience in the past year with the KEY club from when he was the vice president of a fraternity volunteer group called ‘The Friars’. And just sitting back on the couch with a worthy paperback is always a popular pastime with Miller.
“I always saw kids in the classroom setting last year but this year I’m excited to seeing students a little bit more using their creativity outside the classroom. That’s what I’m looking forward to doing more of.”