Trudi ConnollyTucson, AZReading is thinking, thinking is living
I didn't know early in my career that I would fall in love with teaching, but when I left my PhD program in Comparative Literature and became a teacher, it was clear that teaching was where I wanted to spend my life. For the past 12 years, I have been the senior teacher in a nationally-recognized college preparatory school, where I taught Honors English, both AP English courses, and Post-AP/Capstone Philosophy.
I began my own course of study at New York University, where I completed BAs in Comparative Literature and Politics, and later an MA in Comparative Literature. My expertise in philosophy derives from the fact that NYU houses Continental Philosophy in the Comparative Literature department, while applied Political Theory is housed in the Politics Department. After finishing my MA, I became an instructor at Hebei University in China, where I taught high-level literature to students with limited English language experience. I then pursued a PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Irvine, which offered the foremost program in Literary Theory (the integration of philosophy and literary study) in the US.
Since becoming a secondary-level teacher, I have ALWAYS combined literary and philosophical study, as well as arts criticism instruction, to help students develop not only exemplary reading, research and writing skills, but also their broader understanding of the history of ideas and the real-life applications of philosophical perspectives. I am proud to have helped countless students use literary and philosophical study as an avenue to open opportunities and life experiences (of course, I'm also proud of how many of my students have continued their literary and philosophical studies at university, including at prestigious schools such as Harvard and Stanford.) Helping students thrive intellectually and personally remains a joy to me every single day!
