Bethany Phillis Email & Phone Number

Hendersonville High School

High Point, North Carolina, United States

The NC Governor's School is a 5-week residential program for academically gifted rising Juniors and Seniors in high school. As the GSW Dean of Students, I oversee the residential and behavioral aspects of NC Governor's School West. As an Area III instructor, I teach a class that focuses on Self and Society. Students explore their history and how it has shaped them into the person they are, and examine their beliefs on difficult issues, including education, racism, social justice, gender and sexuality, and politics. In 2013, my goal for my students it to facilitate discussions taht help them formulate their worldview by the end of the summer. I want them to be able to answer the following questions.1. How did the world get here?2. What is the nature and purpose of humanity?3. How do we know right from wrong?4. What is the origin of suffering?5. What is the solution to suffering?6. What happens after we die?

I teach English II under the new Common Core State Standards for Education. English II focuses on World Literature. I have taught the following texts: Night, A Long Way Gone, The Kite Runner, A Doll's House, Siddhartha, The Alchemist, Oedipus Rex, and The Breadwinner. I focus on reading comprehension and analysis strategies. All of my students also participate in independent reading programs. I have developed a paragraph writing curriculum that uses the hamburger analogy for writing a paragraph (the bun is the thesis, which occurs at both the beginning and end of the paragraph, the meat is the main piece of evidence supporting the thesis, and the condiments are the details that further explain the evidence). My Honors students write a paragraph every night. My standard students write a paragraph every week. I teach vocabulary using Greek and Latin roots. I teach grammar using writing samples from students, and use mini-lessons to go over the rules for specific issues: capitalization, indentation, homophones, and commas.

Master Of Arts (M.A.), Secondary Education And Teaching

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), English Language And Literature, General