By Rachel McKay – Staff Reporter

Mr. Healy is an English teacher at Jonathan Law High School. He teaches the Advanced Creative Writing class and allows the students to publish their writing in an annual book. This year the book is titled “The Fine Art of Messing Up.” Advocate Staff Reporter Rachel McKay interviewed Healy about his experience as a teacher and how he feels about his classes, particularly the Advanced Creative Writing course.

Rachel McKay: Is there a particular class you enjoy teaching the most? If so, why?

Mr. Healy: It changes from day to day, class to class, but when the advanced Creative writing class is cooking, it’s really fun. It’s awesome to see the most creative ideas we have going here at the school, and to have conversations about how to enhance and bring those ideas to fruition, day in and day out. There’s just so much variety. Each story presents its own unique challenge, and since I’m not the writer, I don’t have all the answers, but that’s the beauty in it. I’m there as a coach and facilitator, and I get to watch some really high level problem solving going on.

RM: What is your favorite thing about teaching?

MH: It’s the kids. You all are so interesting and just like all the stories, so different from one to the next. I feel like teens have this intense paradoxical mix of confidence and insecurity that can spike wildly, and I feel like teaching is about helping kids find the places where their confident selves can shine through, and those insecurities can be minimized and worked on. Plus, I think it’s part of human nature to want to teach people things because it just feels good, and because I’m a great teacher, I get that feeling all the time.

RM: How excited are you about the Advanced Creative Writing book, “The Fine Art of Messing Up?”

MH: I’m pumped. Your class has been such a unique group and the stories this year have been so different, yet all so interesting. I never had a class choose a title so fast but I love the ethos behind it. It’s like we all mess up, how can we turn that into something that’s beautiful? How can we learn to embrace those mistakes?

RM:  What’s your favorite thing about the Advanced Creative Writing class?

MH: I think I covered this one in question 2, but another thing I love about it is that I get to have random but interesting conversations everyday. I’m the type of teacher that likes to go on long tangents anyway, and when I’m teaching English 1, I have to make sure I don’t just talk the classes away because we have a curriculum to get through, but with ACW, those random conversations are part of the creative process.

RM: Has COVID-19 impacted your classes and teaching? If so, how?

MH: Oh COVID-19. How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways. I mean being remote has been shown to not be good for the majority of students. Some kids thrive in it, but most kids really struggle with the lack of structure. As a teacher, it’s been near impossible to replicate the classroom experience, as hard as I try. Let me end on a positive note though. COVID has helped me reevaluate what’s important, and I’ve made more time for writing conferences and collaborative activities, even with this shortened year.