The quality education and welcoming environment she experienced as an undergraduate student at SUNY Brockport helped guide Angela Purtell ’21/’24 as she started her master’s program in English Adolescence Education. Throughout her time here, she built relationships and completed significant projects that would help contribute to her career.
A highlight of her time here was the opportunity to work alongside professors. In spring 2023, Purtell co-planned and co-taught a literature circle unit for her 9th-grade honors English class, with Dr. Cody Miller, associate professor of English education.
“The overarching theme of the unit was how we can use literary lenses — such as a feminist lens, Marxist lens, and New Historic lens — to analyze literature and better understand the world around us,” she said.
The pair presented their work in a lecture entitled “Forging Paths Between Pop Culture, Current Events, and Secondary ELA” at the 2023 New York State English Council (NYSEC) Conference.
“You will read many textbooks that review educational philosophies and practices, but no book can prepare you for the real students in front of you.”
Angela Purtell
Purtell was able to find a home at SUNY Brockport, and this home presented her with many opportunities. She gained valuable knowledge on what it meant to be an educator and what some of the best practices are when it comes to teaching.
“The best way to learn how to be an educator, as well as best practices in instruction, classroom management, and social-emotional learning, is to start teaching. College can only prepare you so much for the job, but most of what I’ve learned has been from working in the field,’ she said. “You will make mistakes, but these are all learning experiences to better your practice in future years. You will read many textbooks that review educational philosophies and practices, but no book can prepare you for the real students in front of you. Use college as a foundation for your practice, but allow your students to help you grow each year,” Purtell said.
Purtell now works as an eighth-grade ELA teacher in the Spencerport Central School District. In the future, she hopes to participate in more partnerships and share some of her classroom work at conferences.