Hello! I'm Amanda Matthews. I am thrilled to be coming back to Westgate Community school as the High School English teacher for the fourth year in a row and the advocate for the new incoming class of 9th graders! This year I am teaching English 9, English 10, English 11, and other electives. I read a book every day for two weeks, visited with family in New York, saw Hamilton on Broadway, attended two weddings, and visited Tampa, Florida, and then Universal Studios in Orlando. 

 

I graduated from Buffalo State University in New York with a BA in Media Production with a minor in Literature. My capstone class inspired me to begin my journey into education. On the morning of our first day in that class, my professor asked, "What will you do with the tools you were taught? Will you accept a job from a company whose job it is to sell to consumers?" We were moving into a world that was rapidly being filled with media consumption, I thought, "No! I must inform others of how to think critically!" 

 

Upon finishing, I took time and traveled through Europe for 6 weeks with an 85L pack, a journal, and a good friend. Shortly after returning to the U.S., with my travel bug at rest, I got a dog and moved to Colorado for a Masters in Education at Naropa University in Boulder. I started my career in education teaching early childhood education and as I expanded in my studies so did the ages I taught! I taught at a Title I school, building SEL skills with elementary students before joining the Westgate Community staff. 

 

At Naropa, I studied various philosophies of education both in the eastern and western worlds, this changed my lens of education, from what it should be to what it could be. I believe in the mission of Westgate to achieve success by focusing on individualized goals. I believe in nourishing students in their talents to bring forth their best. My favorite novel to teach is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I learn something new each time I read it. My favorite area of English is plays and dramas and I love seeing shows in the theatre. 

 

 “Education in the true sense is helping the individual to be mature and free, to flower greatly in love and goodness. That is what we should be interested in, and not in shaping the child according to some idealistic pattern.”

— Jiddu Krishnamurti