Teacher Focus - Ms. McIntosh

Anyone who has had the pleasure of being in Ms. McIntosh’s class knows that learning takes effort. While some may interpret that as something to deter them from trying, most understand that Ms. McIntosh’s teaching style prepares students for the world. As a seasoned teacher with 25 years of experience under her belt, she understands the importance of student connection and finding solutions to problems among the new generation of students. In our fruitful interview with her, we discussed her life and her concerns about rising issues among students.

Ms. McIntosh has been teaching Honors English 10 and AP Language for 20+ years, and within her teaching career she has also taught a wide range of different levels of English classes. She shares she has always wanted to teach, as since kindergarten she was always ready to learn. Ms. McIntosh shared a story about how when she was in kindergarten, she would come home from school and teach her stuffed animals what she had learned from that day, and she remained eager to learn more. 

While she always had a love of learning, she decided she wanted to teach English in high school because her Honors English 10 class left her always ready to learn more, and she enjoyed the fact that she could always improve, and that there was a way to relate English to the other aspects of one's life. 

Changes Since COVID-19

Since COVID-19, there has been a clear shift in the dynamics of school and the dynamics of the classroom, which can be seen even by students. As a group students have grown accustomed to avoidance of engagement and have grown more anti-social. When asked about changes she has seen in students post lockdown, Ms. McIntosh discussed (about early on in her teaching) the eagerness of students to talk with each other, and how that has changed over time, but especially since COVID-19. 

Since then, she talks about how technology has really affected this, and students use technology as a way to avoid one another. We also explored how those attending high school right now, missed vital years of development during COVID, which may be a cause for the lingering effect of being anti-social. 

 Another topic discussed with Ms. McIntosh was pushing through discomfort. She shares how now it is a lot harder to push students to go outside of their boundaries and to leave their comfort zones academically, presumably due to the pandemic. She tries to push her students to learn new topics and become independent without making them feel anxious or stressed out. We have been students of Ms. McIntosh for two years now, and we have been able to experience how she combats this rise in apathy. She is one of those teachers who catches the engagement of students because of her genuine delight in the subject. She recalled her own experiences in school, where she felt less interested in certain subjects because she found that her teachers were teaching because they had to, not because it felt like they wanted to. To increase engagement, she puts an emphasis on her own fascination with English to draw in students. From personal experience, I can say this approach works. 

AI in English Class

Anyone who has had Ms. McIntosh knows she has a very strict AI policy, rightfully so. When discussing AI, she does not think AI alone is a bad thing, however, it is the way that students have decided to use it that becomes a problem. She thinks AI can be used for good, like being a creator and making things with it. She finds the issue to be that instead of AI being a tool to help flesh out ideas, it is being used to fully generate assignments with a complete lack of unique identity. 

One of the largest concerns surrounding the topic is how uncontrollable it is. 

More and more kids are using AI for smaller assignments as well as huge projects. As someone who has unfortunately had to deal with AI-generated assignments, McIntosh has come to terms with the fact that not much can be done to prevent it and waits for time to tell how serious it will be in the future. One thing to keep in mind is that teachers always know, don’t act surprised when a completely generated assignment is flagged as AI.

What Comes Next for Ms. McIntosh?

While there may be many unknowns in the future, one thing that remains is McIntosh’s dedication to teaching Patriot’s students. She is always willing to joke with her students, creating an open and welcoming classroom environment. English is such an abstract, inexact subject, but the clarity in her explanations to questions leaves students with a better comprehension of the task at hand. Both authors of this article have had McIntosh for two years, and we have learned so much that we don’t know exactly how to say goodbye. All we know is that she leaves a definite imprint on each student she teaches.