Fiona Murphy

Previous work experience: Teaching at boarding school in the Swiss Alps for four years

What should students know about your style of teaching?

“I think that the relationships and the rapport are really important. Especially for someone in my position because I’ll be taking over for Ms. Himmelfarb, and I think it’s really natural and understandable in that position that students want to feel reassured that their substitute teacher for a few months, me, is really qualified and really invested and is absolutely there for them, is not just kind of signing in and out of for a couple of months.”

What do you hope your students will say about you and your class at the end of the year?

“I’m hoping that they would say that I was really supportive of them intellectually and academically and personally. I hope they would say that my class was fun. I want students to have a good time. There’s a famous line by Maya Angelou, who’s a famous poet and memoirist, but the quote is, ‘People might not remember what you said, they will remember how you made them feel.’”

What are some interests/hobbies you have outside teaching? 

“I like just hanging out with my friends. I like doing yoga. I’m an English teacher, so I’m a very big reader, and I live in Evanston, which is kind of like Hyde Park, so it’s just a great, great walking neighborhood. So I love spending time in my neighborhood and I like to sketch.”