One of the new teachers this year at Tosa East is Ms. Salameh, a recent college graduate from Madison’s teacher ed program and the new Forensics coach. During the interview, Ms. Salameh was excited to talk about her path to becoming a teacher, why she decided to teach in our district, and why she thinks sloths have it pretty good. 

How has your experience been at East so far?

It’s been really lovely. This is my first year teaching, so my job right now is my first gig as a whole classroom teacher. I began teaching as a substitute, then as a student teacher, so this is all very new, but I’ve gotten so much energy from the kids, from my fellow team of english teachers, and it’s been an exciting place for sure.

Have you ever subbed in the Wauwatosa School District?

I used to sub around the Milwaukee area. I worked at Elementary schools though, so it was not at a high school, and not here.

Why did you decide to work in this school district?

I chose Wauwatosa because although I got a couple of different offers, I felt that Tosa kind of signified my values the most. It’s a suburban district, but also close to Milwaukee, so it serves a unique population. It’s also around the area that I grew up in, so I feel like I’m more connected to my students because of that.

Why did you decide to pursue a career in teaching?

So I graduated from my undergraduate in 2020, and then I applied to law school. I spent a semester there, but I found it was not well suited to my personality or my interests. When I was in law school, I was constantly thinking about what else I would rather do. I found myself thinking back to the people that inspired me in my life, which were some of my English teachers and English professors. So, I quit after my first semester of law school and applied to UW Madison for their teacher ed program and decided to become a teacher.

Was English your favorite class in high school? Did you always want to pursue a career related to that subject?

I think that English was my favorite class, but I never thought I would do something related to it. It was always just like my hobby. I like to write poetry and to write in general, so it’s always been something I’ve really enjoyed, but I’ve always felt myself more drawn towards social studies; especially history. I was really interested in political science at first. After my first semester in undergrad, I came to realize that it wasn’t my main interest. My interests really lie with culture, the arts, and literature.

What has been your favorite part of teaching here?

My favorite part of teaching has been being with students every single day. I get a lot of energy from the students, and there’s something new to love about them every single day. I love being able to work with them on their ideas and trying to spark a love of literature in them. We studied a poem yesterday in one of my classes, and getting students to connect with poetry can be really difficult, but when you achieve that win, it can be really nice.

What is your favorite book?

My favorite book is by Fyodor Dostoevsky. It’s called “The Brothers Karamazov” and it was written in the 1800s. I read it when I was a sophomore in high school, and it really taught me how to be a human being. It also formed my relationship with literature and the humanities, and taught me how those subjects can influence who you are as a human being as well as the choices that you make.

Have you gotten involved in anything here at East?

Against all of the advice from my fellow teachers, I have decided to become the new Forensics coach. I will be working with assistant coach and former head coach, Mr. Balcerak, and I’m in the process of training to be the head coach while also currently serving as the head coach. I’m going to do my best, and hopefully we will have a good season this year. I know Forensics has a strong history here, so I’m excited to get started with that.

If you could be any animal, what would it be and why?

I think I would love to be a sloth, which is a weird answer, but I like how they move slowly throughout the world. I think they really enjoy every single movement that they make. Since life nowadays is so fast paced and intense, it would just be nice to live like a sloth and relax, taking my time climbing up a tree or doing whatever sloths love doing. 

Portions of this interview have been edited for clarity