Anne Phaneuf Loves Her Students
Photos by Bill Hoenk
The Columbia University grad and former journalist, Anne Phaneuf has been teaching at Nantucket High School for 25 years, and in that time a lot has changed, but her commitment to her students and her steadfast belief that they can and will succeed has not.
"I think there is something quite sacred and mystical about the student-teacher relationship,” Phaneuf admits with a smile. “I just love creating an environment where they walk out thinking: ‘I said that? That was really smart! I wrote that? That was really beautiful.’ I love it. I just love it, I think it's very important work. I believe in the work.”
She believes in her students, as well. Phaneuf, who teaches English and journalism, has adopted a student-driven learning model where classes and seminar discussions are routinely facilitated by the high schoolers in her classes. While some teachers might think that this is asking too much of the students, Phaneuf believes it is in these situations that the kids thrive. “Just because [my students] are teenagers doesn’t mean they aren’t just as capable at running a class,” she says. “The best classes that I’ve taught are ones where the students were running the show.”
Phaneuf emphasizes that the classroom doesn’t belong to her but rather the young learners she is teaching. She sees her role more as guiding them and helping them feel more confident in the classroom while they are the ones who teach each other.
“I really want students to come out of my class believing that they have a voice, that they have a vision, that they have passions,” Phaneuf says, arguing that this is more important than the technical skills they may learn or the books they may read. “To quote Hamlet, ‘what a piece of work is man’—I want them to know that they’re an amazing piece of work.”
Conversations with Phaneuf inevitably branch out to cover a whole host of topics. A self-described rambler, Phaneuf talks about everything from TikTok to the French language to the recent boom in citizen journalism. Despite this, she always returns to her students—even when she is talking about TikTok.
“I’ll never be more entertaining than TikTok,” Phaneuf confesses, “but hopefully I can make [students] believe in their humanity, their beauty, their uniqueness.”
Phaneuf feels that this focus on students and their humanity was more important than ever last year as the pandemic upended education. She remains hopeful about the prospects of the kids she teaches, saying that “if they want to do well, they will do well,” and that she “doesn’t worry” about their level of educational attainment, even though their progress has been slowed by the pandemic. “I think we can get right back into it,” Phaneuf says.
After 25 years of teaching, Phaneuf is approaching retirement—but she isn't stepping down just yet. While there are days when the sound of the alarm clock makes her wish she never had to wake up at 7 am again, Phaneuf mostly just feels grateful that she gets to continue being a teacher.
“I feel so grateful I found this profession. I don’t know how many people get that. I hope they do,” she clarifies, “but I don’t know how many people find a profession they truly love the way I love teaching."