Ensights Magazine

Melissa Fogaros teaching math

Faculty Profiles: Melissa Fogaros, Middle School Math Teacher

Editorial Staff
Ensights sits down with beloved Middle School math teacher, Melissa Fogaros.
What inspired you to become a teacher?
Middle school itself inspired me to become a middle school teacher. Most adults remember a junior high experience riddled with uncertainty, insecurity, and the search for meaning and identity. As a Middle School teacher, I want to help guide students through their formative years. They desire to be known and recognized as individuals, but they also want to have a group and blend in. They want everything to be exciting, but they also want a routine so that they won’t be caught off-guard. I try to do everything I can to provide an environment where they can grow up to be the best version of themselves. 
 
 What drew you to Ensworth?
When I first visited Ensworth in the spring of 2004, I was teaching in a much larger school. I was immediately attracted to Ensworth’s smaller class sizes, beautiful facilities, and K-8 environment. Once I toured and visited with Dean of Students, Brooks Corzine, though, I was won over by the sense of community. Speaking with faculty members about their love of their students and their excitement about the High School that was set to open in the fall, I saw enthusiasm and joy not typically seen in a school atmosphere. I found that all of the students seemed to know each other and every adult on campus, and it felt as though everyone was relaxed and comfortable with everyone else. In my experience, this was not a typical middle school setting. I knew I wanted to be a part of this group of people who all cared so much for and about each other.
 
What is your favorite part of the day?
It might seem funny for a teacher to say it, but my favorite part of the day is lunch. Ensworth’s lunch period is unique because the teachers stay in the cafeteria with the students. We aren’t there as monitors or supervisors and we don’t rotate in and out; we each have a designated table where we sit every day and simply eat lunch with the kids. The students are assigned to rotate through our tables in mixed grade-level groupings so that every week they sit with a new group of students and a different teacher. It sounds awkward, and even I was not sold on it when I first came to Ensworth, but think about it: there’s no “cool kids” table and no one has to feel left out or look for a place to sit. With this setup, students can get to know kids and teachers they might not otherwise see during their typical school day. Just a few weeks into my first year, I came to wish every school held lunch the way we do. I believe our lunch routine is a key contributor to that inexplicable community feeling so many mention when they describe Ensworth.
 
What is one of your best Ensworth memories?
My favorite Ensworth memory is actually very recent, from last spring. As both an eighth-grade teacher and eighth-grade parent last year, I had firsthand experience with the disappointment of students and teachers as we all stayed “safe at home” for the last quarter of classes. Aside from a few birthday parades and Zoom-class meetings, most of us saw no one but our families for quite some time before we came together again. When we did come together at the end of the school year in the form of an eighth-grade drive-through “Goodbye,” all of my daughter’s teachers, kindergarten through eighth-grade, lined the sidewalks and parking lot at Red Gables as I drove in the caravan of eighth graders and their parents. The tears and smiles were immeasurable that day as my daughter and I rode past her teachers and administrators waving and shouting their goodbyes. At the end of the line, I parked and jumped out of my car to join in and wave at my own students as they exited the parking lot. I cannot express how grateful I was for the love of the Ensworth community on that day.
 
How does Ensworth effectively promote civil discourse among students and prepare them to engage with others thoughtfully and respectfully? 
I think that Ensworth aims to help students learn to comfortably express themselves through its course offerings as well as through the way classes are presented. Many classes require presentations, debates, and discussions, but they also intentionally prepare students for those outcomes before they occur. The Harkness Method, with its preparation before speaking, turn-taking, and rules of order, helps students to learn to think before they speak and to listen to others. Additionally, the face-to-face interaction created by the physical setup of sitting in the round promotes civility in a way that a discussion in a face-forward classroom of desks cannot. It allows participants to observe each other’s reactions and to see when others would like to speak. It creates a space where the speaker cannot forget they are involved in discourse, rather than a presentation.
 
Share 3-5 facts about yourself that others might not know.
•  I love to read, but I never do so during the school year because I am too distractible. In the summer months, though, I usually read 20-30 books!
 
•  I spent most of my childhood in Colorado, but I never went skiing until I moved to Tennessee and went back to Vail with my husband.
 
•  I love teaching Algebra, but I am a writer and a grammar-lover at heart; I would be an English teacher if the grading weren’t so subjective.
 
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