Teacher Spotlight: Stephanie Kleid
Teacher Spotlight: Stephanie Kleid
Stephanie is an English teacher with a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing. She started teaching at MEK Review this summer after having instructed at the college level for the past three and a half years. This summer, she is teaching MLC Writing 6, MLC Critical Reading 8, Exam 8 English, and Foundation English at MEK. Stephanie is passionate about reading and writing poetry. One of her poems was recently published by the University of Miami’s MFA program in their online publication, Sinking City. She has more work forthcoming in Sunflowers at Midnight and Sugared Water, also online publications. When Stephanie isn’t teaching, you might catch her doing a poetry reading in the city or see her at the beach with a good book.
The following is an interview between her and our content writer:
Career Path
Interviewer: Where did you go to college? What was your original field of study?
Ms. Kleid: I went to Manhattanville University in Purchase, NY. I received my bachelor’s degree there in English, with a concentration in Creative Writing. Then, I went back there for my master’s degree in creative writing. While I was there, I actually fell in love with teaching. I wasn’t originally in the works to be a teacher in any capacity, but they had offered me a fellowship to teach academic writing at the college level. It helped me pay for grad school, I ended up falling in love with it, and I’ve been teaching ever since.
Interviewer: What inspired you to become a teacher?
Ms. Kleid: It kind-of just fell into my lap, but I have always thought that education is really important. I think that having a really good teacher, one who is willing to support you, even through your tough moments, is really important. I’ve always been the type of person that likes to help other people, and it kind-of felt natural. Being able to watch people grow and learn and see something in themselves is really inspiring, and is part of why I love teaching so much.
Interviewer: How long have you been teaching?
Ms. Kleid: The first class I taught was in 2021, so 3 ½ years teaching at the college level. This is actually my first semester at MEK.
Interviewer: Are you still teaching at your alma mater?
Ms. Kleid: Yes, I am.
Interviewer: What brought you to MEK?
Ms. Kleid: I really appreciate the flexibility that MEK offers. I was also looking for an opportunity that was a little bit different from what I was already doing. I’ve spent so much time in a creative space, and specifically in college classrooms, I just wanted to try something else and see how I liked it. The cool thing about MEK is that I work with students in a wide range of ages. I work with 6th graders, 7th graders, 8th graders, and high schoolers. I think MEK was attractive to me because I like being able to work with a wide range of ages and abilities.
Teaching at MEK
Interviewer: What is your favorite part of teaching at MEK?
Ms. Kleid: At MEK specifically, I love that I get to work with a wide range of students. Different ages, different skill sets, different topics…I’m not just teaching exam prep, for example. I also have an MLC class in writing that I absolutely love. It’s fun to do different things.
Interviewer: Has anything about teaching at MEK Surprised you?
Ms. Kleid: Yeah, I think that…It’s the same with any level. I’m always surprised at how much better students do than I expect them to do. Not in a negative way, I just expect them to come in with less knowledge and then I will help them gain more knowledge. A lot of them come in at every level already prepared with the things that I’m prepared to teach them, so it’s interesting to have to make those adjustments. So many of them are so dedicated, too. Not that it’s surprising, but it’s really heartwarming. I love seeing so many students who want to work hard, because not every student does.
Advice for Students
Interviewer: What do you think it takes to be a successful English student?
Ms. Kleid: I think that mostly it takes patience, it takes an open mind, and it takes a willingness to be wrong. We have to be willing to accept that we might have a different interpretation of a text than somebody else, and be able to hear out why those interpretations are different and how we can eventually come to the “right” interpretation of a particular text.
Having an open mind is really important because often we’re reading texts that are exposing us to new characters or new types of people that maybe we’re unfamiliar with. Or new places or new concepts that we’ve never heard of, and so, I think it’s really important in that way to have an open mind.
I also think that patience is really important because it does take time to really learn how to read well, write well and use those two things in conjunction with each other.
Interviewer: Do you have any advice for students taking MLC classes?
Ms. Kleid: For Critical Reading: Don’t forget to answer every part of an essay prompt! And remember that we want to find the right answer. It’s really important in those cases for students to take their time to read a given passage so that you’re finding the answers and the evidence to back up those answers.
For MLC Writing students: You definitely want to apply the grammar and writing lessons from class to your essay prompts, and always read the comments that your teacher leaves on your essay drafts.
Interviewer: What are some words of wisdom you have for students taking your Foundation class?
Ms. Kleid: My words of wisdom are, “Now is the time to get things wrong and ask questions that you’re not going to be able to ask on the day of the actual test.”
Confidence and Skill-building
Interviewer: What do you see students struggle with the most in English classes?
Ms. Kleid: I think a specific skill is reading comprehension. Across the board, even at the college level, I’m often seeing students who are struggling to understand or pull the information that they should be pulling from particular passages or articles. So, reading comprehension is a big struggle. As far as what I see in the students specifically, I think that their confidence really lacks. Students who are much more comfortable in math might struggle with their confidence in a writing class. Students who think they’re “okay” at writing and reading often struggle with confidence as well.
Interviewer: How do you help students build confidence in their reading and writing skills?
Ms. Kleid: Starting with where they’re at and encouraging them from that point forward. I think it’s important to let them know what they’re doing well, and not criticize, but provide constructive criticism. Criticism in a way that’s going to help them improve and grow. Not criticism such as, “you should know this.”
Free Time
Interviewer: What do you like to do outside of MEK?
Ms. Kleid: I’m a writer and a poet. I recently actually had a poem published through a university MFA program, not my own, but a different one, which was really exciting. I also recently gave a poetry reading in the city which was also very exciting. I was one of the headliners. I like to write, especially poetry. I like to read poetry, of course. And I love going to the beach.
Pizza Topping
Interviewer: What is your favorite pizza topping, assuming you eat pizza?
Ms. Kleid: Oooh, my favorite pizza topping…? Ahhh… I don’t know. I love a chicken parm pizza when they chop up a chicken cutlet and put that on top.
Current Read
Interviewer: What was the last book you read? Do you have any book recommendations?
Ms. Kleid: I actually recently reread “The Giver” by Lois Lowry. I read this book in 6th grade, and I hated it. I couldn’t get through it; I basically threw the book across my room. Recently I had been thinking about why I disliked it so much and couldn’t really understand what my reasoning was. So I was like, I should just give it another shot, because maybe now as an adult with a fresh set of eyes and a different mind, I might like it better. And I absolutely loved it, and I’d recommend it to anybody who is listening.
I also recommend The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a series that was really important to me as a kid, and that I still reread over and over again to this day. I think it’s a really strong example of powerful women and fighting for what we think is right and having peace at the end of the day.
Interviewer: Any book recommendations specifically for high schoolers?
Ms. Kleid: As a stand-alone book, I would recommend “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky to high schoolers. I think it’s a really beautiful, sad, and poignant coming-of-age story.
Interviewer: Any book recommendations specifically for middle schoolers?
Ms. Kleid: I would recommend the Percy Jackson series for middle schoolers.
