Every red day at roughly 8:45 in the morning, I wearily trudge into Katherine Bentley’s Duel Enrollment Composition class, not knowing what to expect and still half asleep. The only thing I have learned to expect is that, however strange and eccentric Ms. Bentley’s agenda for the day ends up being, it will keep me entertained. So far this school year, we’ve played bop it, competed in a cat drawing competition and pretended to ride a carousel around the classroom. While they are seemingly bizarre and irrelevant, Bentley has a way of using these exercises to disguise the complicated curriculum we learn over the course of her class.

While it is not uncommon for teachers to incorporate activities and exercises into their class curriculum, Bentley has a distinctive and enthusiastic way she goes about it that ensures her students leave the classroom thinking about the lesson.

“Class is very interesting because we do a lot of things that most language arts classes wouldn’t do,” said DE Composition student junior Luke Hales. “For instance, a mock trial or keeping track of class points on a scoreboard.”

Bentley explained to me how she feels that for students to truly learn, it is necessary for them to be comfortable in class and feel like they can be themselves. Sometimes, this means forcing them to be a little weird.

“In high school, there is so much pressure for kids to try to be normal or cool or fit in,” said Bentley. “I just think you’re gonna be so much happier in life if you’re weird and you’re just yourself so I try to force weirdness in a way that lets kids just relax. No one’s going to be cool in DE Comp!”

Bentley grew up in the country outside of Philadelphia, surrounded by cows and pigs. It was in high school that she first became interested in teaching, finding inspiration from her Latin teacher. Bentley credits him as her main inspiration for becoming a teacher.

Aside from teaching, Bentley is also interested in working with veterans. She majored in both history and political science for her undergraduate degree at the College of William and Mary, and she began teaching after graduation. However, after two years, she moved to London and pursued a masters degree in war and psychology before returning to teaching in 2015. Bentley began working at Alexandria City High School in 2018.

In her classes, Bentley strives to create students who are able to examine and explore what they are learning. She believes in many ways English class can become a “thinking class,” which is why she enjoys the subject so much.

“If you make it fun, then kids will actually learn and they’ll like learning,” she said.

She believes that fostering a positive and encouraging classroom environment is vital for students to feel comfortable and feel like they can express themselves and enjoy learning, and that this process starts with the teacher.

“As a teacher, you gotta just be happy to be here. You gotta just start the day happy and be excited about your content.”

She explained to me how all of the content and media they study in class are things she enjoys, and when this passion is apparent to the students, it gets reflected in their work.

“It’s always really exciting when you see a student who didn’t really like English or didn’t really like talking at the beginning of the year,” she said, “to, by the end of the year, [enjoy] Socratic seminars and be willing to talk about books and find ways that it is fun to read literature.”

Socratic seminars and group activities are a common occurrence in Bentley’s class, which sometimes makes it, in her words, an “introverts nightmare.” Nevertheless, these are the activities that she believes are most vital to students and, whether they like it or not, are important components to the class.

“[I believe] that you actually get to know other people by doing productive work with them,” she said. “[Then] you [can create] a community where learning is fun and where people know each other and are willing to work with each other and be a little weird.”

Another belief that drives Bentley in her teaching is the idea that students at their core truly want to learn.

“I think it’s really sad when kids are in classes and are like ‘This class is boring’ because human beings actually love learning,” she said. “I think that my motivation factor is proving to these kids that learning is fun. That life is interesting and you should want to know about the world around you.”

The books Bentley gives her students exemplify these beliefs as she consistently finds stories that challenge them to be curious and encourage them to explore new perspectives. As she expressed her love for books, Bentley also shared how often it’s through reading these novels that her students find their motivation and their voice in her class.

“My favorite thing is when kids admit that they like the books that we read,” she said. “I pick good books and they say ‘That was a good book’, and I’m like, ‘Thank you!’”

Bentley shared one of her favorite memories of this that occurred when she taught English 11 at a school in Miami.

“I was teaching kids who were in eleventh grade, but on like a fifth grade reading level, so that’s always a bit of a struggle when they can’t read as well,” she said. “[We read] “Among The Hidden” [which] is a middle school book. Kids used to get really into it when I taught it, especially, like lower level kids who could actually read it and then they were like, ‘This is crazy!’… I had this one group of four kids who finished like seven books [in the series] that year and just cranked through them.”

“Among The Hidden” is just one of the many books that have captured Bentley’s students and sparked discussion within her class. Bentley shared with me how this is exactly what she wants to happen and how she feels so lucky to be a part of a school community that gives her the freedom to let her kids explore all kinds of stories from various cultures and perspectives.

“I think we’re blessed in that we have a lot of support from the community, from parents and from admin to keep doing what we’re doing,” said Bentley. “We’re gonna keep talking about stuff and [keep] making sure that the books that we choose are a wide range [of voices].”

While sharing her appreciation for the ACHS community, Bentley especially emphasized her love for her fellow teachers.

“I really like the English team here. I think we have a lot of really smart teachers who you can steal stuff from,” Bentley said. “And they’re willing to share stuff! … As a teacher, knowing that the other teachers are helpful and nice and really smart and good at their jobs, that’ll keep you at a school for a long time.”

Everyday, Bentley shows up and makes her passion for teaching clear to her students in the activities they do and the messages she conveys.

“Something that shows that she is very enthusiastic about this is just her attitude,” said Hales. “She’s very engaging and makes these activities very fun. It’s probably one of the most effective ways to learn.”

Bentley closed our interview with some final advice for aspiring teachers:

“I would say go for it. If you’re doing it right, teaching is really, really fun. It’s hard and there’s like annoying things about it, but you’ll never be bored. … Every time I come to class, I genuinely have a good time.”