02/10/2015
"I was lucky enough to have Mrs. Leland for 2 years at First Colonial High School. (AP English 11, and Dual Enrollment English in 12th grade)
I have always thoroughly enjoyed writing, but few teachers ever allowed me the flexibility to write about topics I actually cared about. As the years went by, I became more and more jaded.
I shuffled into the AP English 11 classroom with a 'let's get this over with' attitude. That quickly turned around.
Within about a week, I actually looked forward to coming to English class and writing. Mrs. Leland would often put on a nice, calming song in the background for the first 10 minutes of class while the students got to write about whichever topic she had chosen for the day.
Now, this may have seemed like your average class, but it wasn't. Mrs. Leland always chose a topic that left the journal entries completely open-ended. No two students ever had an entry that was even mildly similar. We would often share our entries for the day and as the year went on, it was amazing to see how much we all grew as students. We slowly but surely came out of our shells to write more honestly and with a much more solidified structure.
Her charisma is unmatched and her passion for teaching is strong, but I find her passion for learning to be the most endearing thing about her. She is one of those teachers who strives to learn from her students. She picks up a bit of knowledge and insight from everyone she meets, and this reflects flawlessly with her teaching style. It always felt like more of a guided conversation than it did a lecture when she was in front of the room. Of course, she'd also break down the facts when she needed to!
This combination of involvement, charisma, experience, and sheer knowledge made for a wonderful two years." --Hyler Fortier
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