Ms. Eileen Carlson

Welcome

Welcome to a new year and a new start!  This is my 30th year teaching in this district and my 37th year in education overall, but every year brings new choices, new challenges, and new successes.  I’m sure the same will be true for you, so make the decision to make this a great year for yourself.

My Education and Professional Background

I earned my BA from St. Ambrose University way back in 1987.  Substitute teaching was my first gig before I moved on to full-time teaching in Dyersville, Iowa—yes, the home of the “Field of Dreams”—and eventually here in Savanna.  Over the years I have taken a variety of courses relating to education, English Language Arts, and coaching.  My experience includes varsity and junior varsity volleyball coaching along with teaching every age from 7th grade to 12th.  This year I am teaching English 2, English 2H, Creative Writing, and Novels.

My Educational Philosophy

 I like my students to think of me as a resource.  School is their job right now, and I’m here to help them do their job.  That means not just becoming a better reader or writer, but also becoming a better thinker and worker.  “Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not. It is the first lesson that ought to be learned and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly.”― Thomas Henry Huxley, Collected Essays