Mrs. Melson was asked to be in an interview for the CCCHS Coffee Press and she graciously accepted. The majority of the new staff at CCCHS are to be interviewed in the next couple of weeks; however, Mrs. Krislyn Melson is actually a returning teacher.
The first question she was asked was, “What made you want to become an English teacher?”
Her response was, “I’ve always loved English in high school, I knew very early on that I wanted to be an English teacher, and when I went to college I was not prepared for the level of writing that I needed, so that became something I was very passionate about.”
She was asked, “Where do you think you would be right now if you weren’t an English teacher?”
She responded by saying she would be back home with her kids, living that stay-at-home life.
The next question she was asked was, if she wanted anything personal to be shared, like kids, or where she has lived, etc.
She shared that she went to school at the University of Tennessee, she’s taught in Knox, Williamson, and Coffee County. This is actually her second time at Coffee County. Melson has three kids, and she played in the band when she went to and graduated from CCCHS.
Melson was then asked what are some of her opinions that some other people might not agree with. An example could be how to run a classroom or how to teach.
“I’m not a huge fan of technology, so I don’t use Chromebooks a ton; we do a lot of by-hand stuff, like a lot of writing.”
What made you want to teach at CCCHS and what do you think of it, was the next query.
“Well,” she said, “I graduated from here, I have family here, I’ve kind of always wanted to just be down here, and my kids are now in the Coffee County School system.”
Back to her technology response, this question was asked: what do you think a phone policy should look like?
Melson’s response was, “It’s a hard battle, it’s one we are constantly fighting, I wish it wasn’t, I wish students would realize how rude and disrespectful it is to be on phones in the middle of class, I’ve just always been pro no phones, just because they’re a distraction.”
What would you say is your proudest accomplishment, came the next question in the interview.
“I am very proud of the relationships I have with the students after they graduate,” Melson elaborated. “I’m really close with students from every district I’ve taught at. I go to their weddings, I actually have a wedding next month to go to. A former student, we watched the Bachelor together, like I am just really proud of these beautiful relationships.”
The following question entailed, “I know that you teach ACT prep and you have tutored students for the ACT, is there anything you think all students should know or do about the ACT or why do you take such a special interest in it?”
Melson explained, “I think it’s a really specific test, and I think for students who aren’t great test takers it can be really discouraging, I think it is important for them to know that it is a single moment in time, an ACT score only measures how good you are at taking one single test, it tells you nothing else about yourself. I want to help students because I’ve learned how to take the test and I’ve learned strategies that can help, and if we can get them scholarship money then let’s do it.”
