Catching Up With Fletcher

When hearing English teacher Katherine Fletcher talk about her life, it seems as if her destiny was to be an English teacher; her parents met at the Folger Shakespeare Library and her father was an English professor. As a child, she was not allowed to watch a lot of television. Instead, she spent the majority of her time reading, which is one of her favorite hobbies. However, Fletcher did not always know that she wanted to be an English teacher.

Fletcher received an undergraduate degree in English Literature at Bryn Mawr College, a small women’s college just outside of Philadelphia. As an upperclassman, Fletcher began considering a career as a teacher. She found that her college English class discussions did not mirror those that she preferred. Because of this dissatisfaction, Fletcher was inclined to become a teacher and foster an environment in which all her students would be engrossed in the discussions. Another push to becoming an English teacher was that she never found the English teacher of her dreams. “I wanted to be inspired by my teachers and I wanted to have that really special English teacher, and I sort of never did,” Fletcher said. “I think part of me wanted to become the kind of English teacher who I would have liked to have as a student.”

After college, Fletcher recalls feeling aimless; she transitioned between various jobs, such as one at a publishing company and another at Whole Foods. However, after some time, she finally decided to get a teaching certificate, describing this decision as “a leap of faith.” There are expenses accompanying a teaching degree and certification, and one must have both talent and a true love for teaching in order to be successful. Fletcher, though, immediately knew she made the correct decision: “I just got really lucky that I knew really early on that it was the right thing for me to be doing,” she said.

Fletcher attended the Teachers College at Columbia University to get a Master’s Degree in English. After graduating, she worked at Stuyvesant for the first time as a student-teacher under former Assistant Principal of the English Department, Dr. Steven Shapiro. After a year at Stuyvesant, Fletcher taught at a middle school in Long Island. The following school year, Dr. Shapiro offered her a job, and Fletcher is proud to say she has been here ever since. “Being a Stuyvesant teacher, in particular, is such an integral part of my identity,” Fletcher explained. “I have grown up in so many ways at Stuyvesant. I think that it has made me more empathetic.” Teaching, she says, brings out the best qualities in her, including her patience, warmth, and humor, all of which are integral parts of her success as a teacher.

One of Fletcher’s greatest imprints on the Stuyvesant English department is her startup of the Writing Center. The idea was introduced in a meeting with members of the department. “We were having a conversation about how helpful it is for students to work one-on-one with other people in the context of revising their writing. And someone in the room—I think it was a former English teacher named Colette Brown, who doesn't teach here anymore—said, ‘You know what the school needs? We need a writing center.’ And in that moment I thought: that is something I can do,” Fletcher recalled.

For Fletcher, the most important aspect of student English is reading. She wishes for all of her students to be lifelong readers and to find books that they genuinely love and are passionate about. The lure of the Internet and social media can be tempting, but Fletcher hopes that this temptation does not transform her students into non-readers. “Please read,” she advised. “Reading makes you a more interesting person.”

While it is clear that Fletcher’s journey to becoming an English teacher was greatly influenced by her childhood, Fletcher’s decision to become a teacher was the result of giving herself time to explore different options. Despite going through a period of uncertainty, she eventually discovered her passion: teaching. For Fletcher, teaching has been an extremely rewarding experience, and she believes that it has shaped her identity tremendously. From starting the Writing Center to teaching three different English classes, Fletcher has had a profound impact on Stuyvesant. Outside of this community, Fletcher loves to bake and knit. She spends her summers with her family on the coast of Maine, where she goes sailing and exploring.