Kellyanne Mahoney
Kellyanne Mahoney is a Cohort 2 BTR graduate. She completed her residency at the McCormack School, and currently teaches middle school English Language Arts at Boston Latin Academy, from which she graduated.
Before she joined BTR, Kellyanne worked as a correspondent for the Boston Globe. She has also worked for the Boston Herald and the Dorchester Reporter; her experiences with the city’s newspapers led her to return to the BPS so that she could share her knowledge of writing and editing with Boston’s students.
Inspiration to teach:
The author and former teacher Frank McCourt. I was interviewing him over the phone for a story I was reporting for the Boston Globe. I appreciated his humility, common sense, wit and candor, and suspected it did not originate from his career as a writer.
About my students:
My identity as a learner was most dramatically refined during my six years as a student at Boston Latin Academy, an exam school that for many students is second choice to Boston Latin School. As a newly-minted seventh-grader, for example, I was pleased to meet other kids who seemed to share my quirky admiration for quiet suffering and empathy for social rejects. We mostly hailed from lower-middleclass neighborhoods where we discovered that it was not always advantageous to stand out intellectually. As a result it seemed the majority of my classmates fell into one of two categories: the exceptionally bright who had resisted toeing the academic line for fear of vicious social persecution; and the marginally bright who had managed to hone their academic skills despite vicious social persecution, driven by their stronger discomfort with the idea of being in the perpetual company of dullards. Being “second-tier” also required a degree of humility. We were bound to the mystery of not knowing everything.
About BTR:
All the mushy cliches I can think of are actually true. It also validated my belief that sleep deprivation builds character.
Favorite Thing in the World To Do:
Hug my daughter.
Random thought:
Pigeons are my favorite animal, and so I was horrified when I accidentally ate one in Spain.
Recently by Kellyanne
RSS Feed2.24.11 - I’ll fly away
While dubbing those who teach as “glorified babysitters” or “hogs-at-the-trough” in the comments section of an online news story, the image the concerned taxpayer/citizen journalist has in mind is unlikely that of me in the clearance aisle of Staples, forlornly clutching the last bag… [more]
0 comments so far
11.29.10 - Book report
Once upon a time there was a teacher a few years from retirement. One day she discovered that her new principal was planning to bring in observers to assess her competency in a new pedagogical method that was being mandated of all teachers at… [more]
1 comments so far
10.28.10 - Rigor
Rigor literally means to be stiff or inflexible. Think “rigor mortis.” This is something my school (meaning—somewhat coincidentally—my alma mater as well as my current workplace, Boston Latin Academy,) is historically very good at. In fact, many of my own former high school English… [more]
0 comments so far
10.21.10 - Halo
You are an island of hope.
Breakfast captain?
Sure.
Are you able to join the ILT this year?
Well, I really enjoyed last year’s professional development and would be interested in helping to plan this year’s agenda.
How about… [more]
2 comments so far
9.15.10 - Life cycle of a teacher
English teachers have the peculiar luxury of frequently being asked to define words. There is no greater joy than when this happens. In fact, we have actually dreamed about this opportunity since we were small children, sitting cross-legged on the floor while thumbing through… [more]
5 comments so far
