Teacher Appreciation Column: Mr. Boylan

Logging into Mr. Boylan’s Zoom, his students are greeted with cheerful good morning conversations, over the hum of soft instrumental music. Mr. Boylan’s English class has looked different this year. While his home school is West High, Mr. Boylan has been working hard to teach entirely online classes of students from all over the district. 

Besides the fact that my English class was an all online setting, Mr. Boylan gave me a different English class experience than what I had previously had. Throughout the year, we dove into many types of literature and other media, with a big focus on looking at societal factors within the material. While discussions over zoom can sometimes be scary, Mr. Boylan does a great job of initiating conversations and always encourages us to make deep analyses and connections. 

Mr. Boylan makes class interesting and engaging, going beyond what I imagined English class to be. When at first I was apprehensive about his assignment of turning personal essays into podcasts, it turned out to be a fun way to show my personality and creativity. Last trimester, Mr. Boylan guided me through writing my first big literary analysis paper. Through assignments like these, Mr. Boylan has done a great job of transforming his virtual classes into environments where students grow and challenge themselves. 

Mr. Boylan focuses on the individuality of his students, saying that he hopes his classroom is student centered, with students having the loudest voices. He is always allowing room for personal opinions and suggestions, and asking his students what they want to learn. I appreciate that he always gives multiple options within assignments, so that I can choose to learn about the thing that most interests me. 

Despite the challenging school year we have had, Mr. Boylan has not only made English class fun, but has helped me in transforming my skills as a reader and writer. From your friends here at City High, thank you for everything you do Mr. Boylan!