A new year begins. New year, new teachers, new faces, oh my! This year, the English pod has introduced 4 new teachers to Hidden Valley High School. Covering AP English 11, AP English 12 and Collegebound English this year is Mrs. Biggio.
Mrs. Biggio has entered the scene after a 4-year break from teaching. While homeschooling her oldest, she decided she missed the classroom atmosphere. Starting her journey in 2009, Biggio taught for 9 years before deciding to step away for her kids. Upon her return, she initially considered a new pathway of middle school English. Yet, during her interview for a position as a middle school English teacher, she decided that her true passion lies in high school teaching.
“I really do enjoy middle school, and I enjoyed tutoring younger children, but the ability to analyze and discuss literature is my passion. And that’s at the high school level!” Mrs. Biggio exclaims.
She describes a love for the complexity of literature present in high school English. As the class is able to handle a greater level of maturity, more analytical, controversial, and serious media can be explored in higher level English classes.
The analytical nature of AP courses leads the class to a high level of interactivity. Mrs. Biggio strives to make her class an open environment for her budding writers, and she encourages the support of different perspectives on the media. This class educates on how to analyze literature, but most importantly, it teaches the way to confidently express those thoughts with others. In the end, isn’t sharing ideas what literature is about?
The students of Mrs. Biggio’s class love her style too. With one student, Lily Bratic, sharing her appreciation for the class-wide interactions.
“Mrs. Biggio makes it very interactive and fun to participate. The only thing I would change is to have more kids speak up during her class, but otherwise I really like it. At the moment it’s very quiet; I think we all have some first-week shyness.” says Lily Bratic (11).
Now on to some fun facts about Mrs. Biggio!
As an English teacher, she certainly has her favorite books and texts to read. In her words, “I really love the Lost Generation; Hemingway, Fitzgerald. I also enjoy Irish political literature, and more specifically, James Joyce.”
For more information, James Joyce was an Irish author and literary critic responsible for the novels Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Ulysses harbored a unique style of interior monologue known as the stream-of-consciousness technique. It worked to further accentuate the perspective of the character. Meanwhile, Finnegans Wake is known for its circling plot and reputation as one of the toughest works of literature to chomp on. Pretty fascinating stuff!
Yet, we all have the things we love on the side, too.
“I love to travel, especially if there’s music involved. Traveling to different cities to see concerts is by far my passion. I’ve been to places in Italy, and Ireland. I’ve been to a lot of places in the Unites States: California, Nevada, Texas, all up and down the east coast. My most recent concert trip was to Greenville, South Carolina. I’ll go to big cities, small cities, but I absolutely love to travel,” concludes Mrs. Biggio.
