Interview with Ms. Logan: Balancing studies and more

Tell us a bit about your background education? I.e university, what course, where, experience etc.

Yeah, so I went to my local state school, and then after that - I obviously did a levels and then I looked around a lot about where to go. I obviously went to Oxford and Cambridge, but I realised that they just definitely weren’t for me. I wanted to focus on the course itself rather than an institution and I really wanted to study philosophy and politics because that’s just always what I’ve cared about. 

I didn’t really enjoy economics. It was just really dry and boring, and I thought I’d be replaced by a computer in like 10 years. So yeah, I wanted to study philosophy and politics and the best course in the country was at Durham, and I really liked that as well because Durham has a really international focus. So when you do politics there, you’re doing international relations and politics at the same time.

Not a lot of my family went to university, so I didn’t really have like a very good perspective of it. Durham had a lot of private school kids and I was quite different to that. So I had to work my whole time at university and serve my classmates at the pub, which was… yeah.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and I’m very glad I went there and I’m really glad I got the education I got.

Why did you move to Madrid in the first place? Was it a difficult adjustment for you? Have you done any teaching before coming to Runnymede?

This is interesting. So, I taught in London for five years: I taught at various public schools and I would work 11, 12 hours a day and it was really exhausting and London life was just exhausting. Although I was achieving everything I wanted to in my career teaching I just wasn’t getting anywhere in terms of having a work-life balance or living standard in general. I think I realised that’s what matters more to me - having a good living standard - and I wasn’t doing that in London.

I mean, the weather’s terrible, you work too much, spend half your time on the tube and half your money on the TFL and as a result I just wasn’t as happy… well, I was happy, I had so many friends there and a really fantastic leaving party, but I realised life is more than just the grind and even though I like teaching it was just not making me happy. In London, I was getting further and further away from actually spending time with children and teaching English, which is what I love doing. 

I moved to Madrid for some sun… (looks at the pouring rain out the window) but also mostly for the better standard of living and work-life balance, but also I think I got to fall back in love with teaching. I really love sharing my passion with others and with the kids here.

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement? This could be in Runnymede or outside.

That’s really difficult. I think that when I was younger I would always have placed it on academics, that’s something that really mattered to me like many of the kids here. But I think now, honestly, my biggest achievement is being a good friend. I realised that’s what matters to me the most: I want to be someone who shows up for people. I care about people, I want to be there for people and I think that’s my biggest achievement. It’s something I’ve worked on to try and be the best version of myself. For me, it’s not about a thing I’ve done, but more about something I work on every day.

What’s something we wouldn’t know about you? 

I feel like I’m quite an open book, there’s nothing that would surprise you very much… Maybe that I’m a huge cinefile. I love, love, love the cinema. It’s my favorite place in the world. I’m massively into film and actually one of the best presents I’ve been given was a cinema ticket as a kid. My dad gave me a cinema ticket, so I could just go to the movies whenever I wanted to. In that year, I think I watched about 50 films. After school, I’d just get on the bus into town and go to the movies.

I think in a different world, I would have loved to be a film director or something like that. It’s something I’d love to do: just shouting around and complaining 

What are your other hobbies?

I’m part of a book club, love that. I also love karaoke. I love love love karaoke. Mostly just spending time with my friends to be honest and the cinema.

Do you have any role models?

Yes, my mom. She is my greatest role model. She escaped poverty and didn’t get a chance to go to school and didn’t have all of the opportunities that I was afforded. She is so strong, so intelligent, so funny, so empathetic, like she’s crazy but she’s a really good person. She has dedicated her whole life to raising her children and giving us an education. I would be nothing without her. 

Have there been any challenges that you’ve had to overcome? 

Well, lets be honest, my Spanish isn’t great and moving here I’ve had to practice it and that’s been a lot. I never learnt Spanish at school or anything, only on Duolingo. But challenges I would say I have always had to balance like how much I work. Like when I was at sixth form I did four A-levels, an EPQ and also worked for 24 hours a week at KFC and had to do my driving lessons and just everything else. So, I think that’s something I’ve always had to do, balance work and its really difficult. Probably the hardest time of my life were my A-levels, I was just so overworked. But, no I’ve had a pretty easy life [laughs]. 

What is your favorite part of teaching?  

Children. Like the students are hilarious. Obviously there’s a range of funny. But I just love the students and changing their minds on stuff like Shakespeare. Because students will be like ‘oh I hate that’ and then like ‘he’s the funniest guy’ and like every human emotion can be seen in every Shakespeare play. So, just changing students’ minds, interacting with them and sharing opinions and seeing how funny and witty these students are. 

Why would you encourage people to take English?

Well there are a few reasons: one i think there’s nothing at the age of A level to know and understand who you are in the world around you. Like thats one of the most important parts of your age group like that coming your age time of life. And that is what English is. English is figuring out who you are and how you view the world and what you think of different things and in this time period when we can’t really trust a lot of sources or students aren’t sure where to get their information or any of this kind of post true society life. 

English is fantastic because it makes you a critical thinker. You know your information and you understand the right intentions and you understand different critical perspectives. I mean that's really important. Also, I think it makes you a writer, it makes you the best writer you can be which is important for any other essay subjects such as history or drama and it helps you when you get to university. 

Also I just think it's really fun. I don't think anyone who says ‘oh it's so boring’ no one who does English says it is boring. Like the texts are great, the stories are great, sometimes some are a bit longer and sometimes you get stuck on the same act but it is still super fun. The texts we do are really exciting.

I also think the students here worry about their future and jobs and English is always a fantastic choice for the future and it will always be something that people are looking for at university and beyond. I don't think it will be replaced unlike other subjects in terms of jobs. 

Do you like the syllabus and books that you teach or would you ever teach anything else?

I love a lot of the books I teach, I love Othello. I think it is my favourite Shakespeare text. I love a lot of poems that we do. I think they all make you think of a different human experience in different ways. 

Further along I would love to do loads more Shakespeare. I'm a real Shakespeare head which may come as a bit of a shock because i'm not really a classicist. Im just like very modern but I think Shakespeare has such power to inspire children through the acting, the drama, through the difficulty of uncovering his lines and then when you do understand it I feel as though it is very fulfilling and the just the depth of human emotion you can get from all of them, I think thats very interesting to. 

Then also it’s so closely woven with history and drama. I think any kind of Shakespeare is what I’d like to do more of. 

What do you have to say about the rumours regarding your unspoken rivalry with Ms DeBeauville?

I think the rivalry is more to do with our Yr12 classes, even though I know my Yr12 class is the better one, we do snack fridays and our entire class is a community. I mean do we fight sometimes? Yes. But ultimately were a family and our class will beat Ms DeBeauville’s class in anything. Tug of war on sports day, lets go. But I think its a rivalry between our classes, were both very competitive but also very proud of our students. 

If you had to describe your relationship with Ms De Beauville in one word what would it be? 

Fun. 

Now, closing question, who’s the better teacher?

Mr Baxter is the answer. Mr Baxter is the best teacher at the school.