Written by Lilah Purucker
Growing up in Lowell, Megan Porter found her love for English and teaching.
“I went to high school at Lowell and that is still where I live now,” Porter said. “It was the place where I decided I wanted to become a teacher.”
She is very passionate about her job but teaching wasn’t always her dream.
“I wanted to find a way to get paid to read for a living. My first dream job was being an editor. I wanted to work at a publishing house, but then I realized I lived in a state where all of the publishing houses were online and I knew I didn’t want to live in a big city,” Porter said.
After some deliberating, Porter decided that being a teacher was the best choice.
“I decided that I really did love kids and I loved reading, writing, and English so much that teaching was really the only option I had left,” Porter said.
Teaching comes with many ups and downs, and Porter has advice for incoming teachers.
“You have to learn to thrive in chaos,” Porter said.
Although she typically has a more easy going, don’t care demeanor, Porter loves her students very much. Her goal by the end of the year (like many teachers) is for all of her students to pass.
Over the summer, Porter got married. Married life has been both exciting and stressful. On top of being newly married, Porter and her husband are building their house in her hometown of Lowell.
Other than Porter’s love for her students and teaching, she is very passionate about books. She wanted to get paid to read for a living, and teaching English gives her this opportunity. Her ‘trapped on a deserted island’ books include:
Where the Crawdads Sing, the first Harry Potter, The Cuckoo’s Calling, The Vanishing Half, and Daisy Jones and the Six.
Porter is a very enthusiastic teacher with deep love and appreciation for her students and peers. Although she isn’t pursuing her initial dream, she has found that teaching is a dream come true.