Ms. Catherine Snow, the new 7th grade English teacher at Bromfield, wants to develop student relationships through focusing on social-emotional learning and bringing awareness to different cultures and backgrounds. 

Snow went to college undeclared; she felt like something was missing: children. In high school, she volunteered at an afterschool camp for kids. This experience pushed her to be a teacher the most. She became a teacher because she wanted to work with students and “[impact] people’s lives for the better.”

Bromfield is the third school where Snow has worked.  Her first position was as a 4th grade teacher in Brookline, where 70% of the class was first-generation American. The school was also in a small community, just like Bromfield.  She prefers working in this type of close-knit community. 

Before coming to Bromfield she worked at Westford Public Schools, teaching 6th grade English and helping as an Academic Coach. She said for a typical middle school there is “less understanding of where education is leading you” compared to Bromfield, which has a combined middle and high school.

Reflecting on the last year, Snow celebrated the fact that, because of the coronavirus, there is a greater focus on social emotional learning (SEL), and she hopes this will stay because “[teaching] to the whole child” is important. She noted that when she was in school, it was important for her to have trust in her teachers, so she could develop relationships with them.  She feels it is important for students to communicate with teachers when they may be having a bad day. Bad days “happen to everyone” and “teachers expect that to happen from time to time.”

Snow has two other goals for her teaching: increasing parent involvement, and promoting themes of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in her lessons. Every month, she publishes a monthly newsletter, which she says helps her succeed as a teacher. She also wants students to connect what they read to their own lives. She said, “In the 7th grade curriculum, we read a lot of books that have diverse characters,” including a narrative about Frederick Douglass and Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor.